Study of American Capitalism - Expert Commentary

EXPERT COMMENTARY

Natural Gas Industry Cozies Up to Washington

Reason
By Veronique de Rugy |
Nov 06, 2012
Public outrage at cronyism and corporate welfare is growing—and that’s all to the good. But don’t expect well-connected special interests and politicians to go gentle into that good night. Especially if they think the darkness can be dispelled via energy subsidies that are supposed to lead to green jobs, lower gas prices, and energy independence. …
EXPERT COMMENTARY

The Constancy of Crony Capitalism

Reason
By Veronique de Rugy |
Oct 17, 2012
In his 1986 memoir The Triumph of Politics, former Reagan administration budget director David Stockman wrote: “I had long insisted, to any liberals who would listen, that the supply-side revolution would be different from the corrupted opportunism of the organized business groups; that it would go after weak [corporate welfare] claims like Boeing’s, not just weak clients such…
EXPERT COMMENTARY

Debt Forecast: U.S. Will Look Like Greece By 2021

The Wall Street Journal: MarketWatch
By Antony Davies, James R. Harrigan |
Sep 06, 2012
The federal debt crossed the $16 trillion mark this week. What’s more remarkable than the number of zeros in that figure is that Washington somehow didn’t see this coming. The Congressional Budget Office is responsible for predicting the budgetary effects of policy changes. Politicians cite CBO figures when telling us what to expect in the future.…
EXPERT COMMENTARY

Health Care Cronyism

Forbes
By Christopher J. Conover |
Aug 24, 2012
On June 28th when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Affordable Care Act (ACA) constitutional, something interesting happened on Wall Street. As a whole, the stock market went down. But a few specific areas actually enjoyed a bump.…
EXPERT COMMENTARY

When Politicians Encouarge Rent Seeking

Neighborhood Effects
By Matthew Mitchell |
Aug 14, 2012
In the second appendix to the Pathology of Privilege, I list a number of questions for further research. One question is: Do governments pass out privileges because firms have developed ties with political decision makers? Or do firms get close with political decision makers because they are passing out favors?…
EXPERT COMMENTARY

How Cronyism is Hurting the Economy

Neighborhood Effects
By Matthew Mitchell |
Aug 10, 2012
LearnLiberty.org has a great new video by Georgetown University professor of philosophy, Jason Brennan. He makes the case that the “simple” solution to cronyism–giving government more power to regulate industries–may actually make matters worse since the rich and well-connected are more likely to game the political system than the relatively weak and unknown.…
EXPERT COMMENTARY

Tim Geithner, LIBOR Manipulations, and the Bailout of AIG

Real Clear Markets
By Hester Peirce |
Aug 02, 2012
At last week's hearings on Capitol Hill, Secretary Geithner was asked repeatedly about why the Fed used LIBOR even as it was purportedly trying to fix the LIBOR-setting process. If the Fed had really believed that LIBOR was fundamentally broken, presumably it would not have employed the benchmark in its own contracts.…
EXPERT COMMENTARY

Want Money Out of Politics? Eliminate Government Di