David Edward Garber (@DaveGarber1975)

As calls to "tax the rich" increase, this Mises Media episode criticizes not only those so-called progressives who deny that businesspeople ever obtain their wealth legitimately by freely creating value for society, but also their conservative adversaries who deny that businesspeople sometimes obtain their wealth illegitimately by corruptly partnering with political power to unjustly extort the masses, both of whom render our society a disservice. Businesspeople are not innately free-marketeers, and corrupt tycoons sometimes collude with corrupt politicians and/or bureaucrats for the state to intervene in the market in ways that advance their own special interests at the expense of the general welfare---and this includes tax breaks, corporate welfare, licensure laws, and regulatees wielding captured regulatory power to unjustly maintain their market dominance and/or fiscal profitability. This episode asserts that, when such corporatism becomes commonplace, it warps the common path-to-wealth from serving customers well (by offering desirable products at acceptable prices) to seeking political favor (or even power), and it allows crony corporations that owe their existence only to their symbiosis with the state (such as our military-industrial complex), which both reduces overall productivity and risks eventual economic collapse. Let's please keep our state out of our markets except to help defend our equal God-given rights! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62bE1C_QvLQ #Economics #FreeMarkets #FascistEconomics #Corporatism #CronyCapitalism #TaxTheRich