'Croynism,The American Way'

Vernonique de Rugy:

In their new book Why Nations Fail, economists Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson explain a country’s institutions’ impact on its wealth and economic growth. They, for instance, argue “that the ultimate cause for economic success or failure is rooted within each countries’ institutions, and that understanding how those institutions evolve is crucial for development.”

In a recent interview, which I already mentioned this morning, Acemoglu warned us about how in most countries, including the United States, the biggest rent seekers and moochers today are politicians themselves.

But nowadays in most countries, the most extractive elite is the politicians themselves. Think of Greece. You cannot understand the last three decades without understanding corrupt political system. But the same is true even for the United States. The US political system has become dominated by the political elite and the lobbying industry funneling money to them. We are seeing the costs of this at this moment.

Whether America’s institutions have now become more exclusive than inclusive is obviously an empirical question. But there is plenty of extraction going on right now. In this piece, for instance, the Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney reports on how companies like Microsoft were given very strong signals that hard work isn’t enough to do business in this country and that the right to produce and sell goods and services also requires, political contributions and lobbying capabilities.

Crony capitalism,where the government picks their favorites,is destroying America.There is no free markets when the government is involved,just coercion.