Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State
2014; Cato Institute; Volume: 34; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1943-3468
Autores Tópico(s)Corporate Taxation and Avoidance
ResumoUnstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle Corporate State Ralph Nader New York: Nation Books, 2014, 224 pp. Ralph Nader's new book, Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle Corporate State, seeks to craft a left-right alliance capable of challenging corporate welfare. Given media's focus on cronyism and ire over continued bipartisan support of favors to interests, book is timely. America, as James DeLong has noted, is becoming a special interest state, and time may well be right to restore constitutional focus on welfare of electorate. Nader, sadly, does not address roles played by full array of interests groups, concentrating only on business. Rather than using special interest state language of DeLong, Nader talks only of corporatism. But many other labels have been suggested: cronyism, crony capitalism, crony socialism (coined by Cato Institute President John Allison), and crony statism (the term preferred by Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist). Whatever label it goes by, it should end. Economic subsidies or competitor-crippling regulations not only weaken our economy, they also undermine rule of law and threaten moral basis of capitalism. Profit-side capitalism and loss-side socialism merit strong disapproval from both left and right, and perhaps a successful joint effort against corporate welfare might encourage a broader effort against subsidies to other interest groups. That possibility offers some hope that Nader's appeal might have a bright future. That appeal, however, is made less likely by Nader's anti-business views. He consistently places most blame for crony socialism on corporations, refusing to see role often played by ideological groups and governmental agencies. Moreover, his critique of corporate welfare soon expands into a general attack on corporation. In Nader's view, corporations are rapacious institutions, seeking only to maximize their power to detriment of consumers and citizenry. But modern evolved from voluntary, bilateral exchange arrangements championed by Adam Smith. The is simply a more complex array of multilateral, voluntary exchanges. It's true that corporations--like earlier economic arrangements--too often fall into cronyism. Still, power of even largest firm is disciplined by competition and pales in comparison to that of Leviathan. Nader's argument that Adam Smith himself was critical of corporation fails to note that his ire was directed at East India Corporation, more a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) than a modern firm. Few conservatives view GSEs as examples of free market. It is worth noting that, until Joint Stock Companies Act of 1844, all joint stock companies in Great Britain required a charter from crown. Until general incorporation statutes, ability to form a was an elite privilege. In his most helpful chapter, Nader outlines difficulties that must be overcome to realize a left-right alliance. I've participated in such coalitions and found his list insightful. His first point is that ideologues are passionate and find it difficult to work with those holding conflicting priorities. Moreover, right/left group leaders will likely face internal resistance to any cooperation with the other side. Also, strange-bedfellow alliances are complex and fragile, thus risky. Time is needed to develop necessary trust for any alliance to coalesce--time that may not be available in fast-paced world of politics. Even in best of circumstances, alliance participation will require some diversion of resources that might sideline some long-term commitments of group. Finally, unless handled carefully, a group's participation in such alliances may antagonize its allies and donors. …
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