"The explosive growth in government regulations impose huge costs on productive activities. The arbitrary way in which they are enforced causes more insidious damage. It corrodes the rule of law and creates serious distrust on the merits of winners and losers in the market place. In addition, this “arbitrary” enforcement does not take place randomly. It is not the product of chance. It is the result of political machines that have perfected the art of extortion.
Peter Schweizer describes this process in his new book, “Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes and Line Their Own Pockets.” Schweizer details the structures and processes that create a state of affairs where extortion is becoming commonplace."...
My favorite example of this happened under Bill Clinton. Microsoft choose to stay out of politics and refused to donate campaign cash to any party. (Now Microsoft gives to both parties.) One of their competitors in Utah, bought the ear of Sen. Orrin Hatch(R) and he got Clinton's justice department to go after the tech giant claiming that they were a monopoly and other charges.
Now we are seeing it under Obama with one guitar company prosecuted for not supporting the party in power. Very banana republic and the Chicago way.
Some naive types here think that we need to get the corporate money out of politics. But sometimes these corporations are forced in just to protect themselves. Think corporations want to spend billions in DC on lobbyists? Shareholders would rather distribute it in dividends.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
