Charles Koch, writing in today’s Washington Post, finds a bit of common ground with Bernie Sanders. A slice:
Consider the regulations, handouts, mandates, subsidies and other forms of largesse our elected officials dole out to the wealthy and well-connected. The tax code alone contains $1.5 trillion in exemptions and special-interest carve-outs. Anti-competitive regulations cost businesses an additional $1.9 trillion every year. Perversely, this regulatory burden falls hardest on small companies, innovators and the poor, while benefitting many large companies like ours. This unfairly benefits established firms and penalizes new entrants, contributing to a two-tiered society.
Whenever we allow government to pick winners and losers, we impede progress and move further away from a society of mutual benefit. This pits individuals and groups against each other and corrupts the business community, which inevitably becomes less focused on creating value for customers. That’s why Koch Industries opposes all forms of corporate welfare — even those that benefit us. (The government’s ethanol mandate is a good example. We oppose that mandate, even though we are the fifth-largest ethanol producer in the United States.)
Marian Tupy uncovers an instance of environmentalism supplying a slush fund for dictators. Who’d a-thunk it?
Mark Perry – with help from the great Alan Charles Kors – reminds us of socialism’s lethality.
Sandy Ikeda explains Ludwig von Mises’s understanding of “regulatory dynamics.”
James Pethokoukis is correct: Donald Trump is not only economically ignorant, he’s unethical to boot. (And, by the way, Trump is also hypocritical.)
Arnold Kling is reading Yuval Levin’s forthcoming book.
Ilya Shapiro eloquently makes the case that libertarians owe thanks to Antonin Scalia.
