Bush’s corporate state

The Nation’s Kathrina vanden Heuvel points out that Bush’s policies are not laissez-faire. Instead, Bush is practicing “crony capitalism” where the government subsidizes the friends, colleagues, and supporters of the people in power. Bush’s faith-based initiative, his vouchers, his social security proposals, and his contracting out of certain defense functions all involve the intermixing of the public and private sector for the benefit of interests loyal to Bush. This should not be surprising, since, as vanden Heuvel points out, both Bush and Cheney owe their fortunes to crony capitalism.

My enthusiasm for the left’s criticism of crony capitalism is tempered by the fact that the left’s main problem with taxpayer subsides for business and other private interests is they divert taxpayer money from the bureaucracy.

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8:38 pm on January 13, 2005