How Long Till We Get It??!

—▪ that unregulated competition destroys competition.
—▪ that mergers and acquisitions are mere façades of growth.
—▪ that too-big-to-fail SHOULD MEAN too-big-to-be!
—▪ that short-term profit mentality does not produce long-term productivity.
—▪ that “opposites attract the same lobbyists.” (So whether conservative, liberal, Republican, or Democrat, the concessions and catering to power-brokers descends the same beaten path.)
—▪ that unregulated capitalism descends inexorably to economic tyranny, oligopoly, and monopoly.
—▪ that unregulated capitalism rewards the most anti-social motivation of mankind, i.e., unmitigated self-interest which is the cornerstone of greed, hubris, sense of entitlement, distain, illusion, elitism, corruption, etc. etc. etc.
—▪ that allowing poorly-regulated profit-seekers to manage/dictate health-care and utilities is irresponsible.
—▪ that unregulated capitalism favors the unethical.
—▪ that the ideology of meritocracy and an “even-handed” market place in unregulated capitalism is a fraud.**
—▪ that managers (i.e., CEOs, CAOs, CFOs, etc.) are NOT capitalists, but highly paid employees, courtiers, and spokesman who have too often sold their ethics for a place in the economic sun (and retirement twilight).
—▪ that big-business owners have become non-participating, alienated, aggregated-yet-isolated shareholders without responsibility, power, or interest in much but the periodic dividend.
—▪ that corporate bureaucracies are as prone to inefficiency, corruption, and intransigence as government bureaucracies.
—▪ that government, powered and driven by corporate collectives, is scarcely more democratic than old communist regimes.
—▪ that communism denies the best gifts of mankind (spontaneity, ingenuity, creativity, generosity, etc.) while unregulated capitalism denies the worst tendencies of mankind (fear, greed, hubris, elitism, selfishness, corruption, etc.) giving mankind the worst of both worlds.
—▪ that wealth created through financial manipulation is extorted wealth.
—▪ that the financial sector’s denigration of government regulation is self-serving, self-aggrandizing, and untrustworthy.
—▪ that economic elitism and plunder thrive on deregulation.
—▪ that there are appropriate, wise, and stablizing levels of regulation.
—▪ that most politicians today are not re-electable without the approval of anti-regulation big-business.

*(Suggestion to die-hard, laissez-faire capitalists: Don’t saddle your high-horses so fast, if you don’t get this. Leave them stabled and take a long, slow, inefficient walk through economic history. (Just the facts, not the propaganda.) The sad truth is, appropriately regulated capitalism can bless the world. Unregulated? Well, take that long walk. Maybe begin at the South Sea Bubble (1711-1720) or with John Law (France, 1719).
**(Put it to the test. Compare the numbers? Strictly honest, fair businessmen v. unregulated profit-seekers; prophet-led v. profit-driven. Count them one by one.)

The TEN DICTATES (& Natural Selections) of the Laissez-faire Market-Place

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1. Thou shalt have no other economic theories before you.^[1]
2. Thou shalt^[2] research, develop, and manufacture goods and services, but above all, the DESIRE for goods and services; and NEVER bow to any attempts to regulate the natural order (and flow) of desire and laissez-faire markets.
3. Thou shalt not permit critics of the laissez-faire market-place to remain guiltless and uncastigated.
4. Remember the seven holy days of the market-place are scarcely enough.
5. Thou shalt honor Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman as principal advocates of self-interest, meritocracy, and pure and free-markets.
6. Thou shalt kill the competition (before they kill you).
7. Thou shalt acquire, merge, and control as many businesses and assets as possible.^[3]
8. Thou shalt steal trade secrets, market share, insider information, and anything else that thou canst reasonably expect to get away with.
9. Thou shalt bear false witness whenever brand or corporate respectability are at risk.
10. Thou shalt covet all that is thy neighbors,^[4] for only in this way can there be eternal growth, profit, and prosperity.
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[1] Yea, NOT EVEN a mix; except during unexpected crises when public assistance is temporarily necessary.
[2] With all thy heart, might, mind, and strength
[3] Déjà vu: Ahab v. Naboth (1 Kings 21)
[4] (corporate or not) including secret government subsidies, earmarks, preferential loans, favors, favoritism, special legislation, private ownership of public assets, perks, status, etc., etc., etc..