Cronyism vs. Free Market Capitalism


An excerpt from my talk to the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Full presentation is available through the preceding link.)



One Response to “Cronyism vs. Free Market Capitalism”

  1. Hello Mr. Palmer.

    I recently read your intro and two essays from your text “The Morality of Capitalism.” I found them interesting and frustrating, probably the same way a staunch advocate of capitalism feels when reading a scathing critique of the system.

    One point/question:

    It seems that our market system lends itself to cronyism, and that to attempt to separate the two is a bit of wishful thinking. Marx wrote “The necessary result of competition is the accumulation of capital in a few hands.” History, time after time after time, verifies that assertion. Look at the internet today- after twenty or so years of existence on a mass market scale, a handful of giants control a huge percentage of it: google, yahoo, facebook, etc. It happened with railroad companies, big oil, banks, and on and on and on.

    I guess my question is: this free market you speak of, when has it actually existed? Can I get a time span of years that you can show me a market functioning free of government interference or cronyism of any kind?

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