Joel Schwartz jschwartz@media.ucla.edu
Click Here for more articles by Joel Schwartz Â
Johnny enters a neon soaked casino and excitedly places his bet
on the roulette table. He’s been studying the game for years
and knows his training is about to pay off.
But before the wheel of fate that holds the roulette ball begins
to spin, a policeman points a gun in Johnny’s face and takes
a portion of his bet for entry fees, table fees and player fees.
The policeman then informs Johnny that he can only bet on certain
numbers. Finally, he orders Johnny to do a humiliating dance unless
he pays half his bet. By the time he is done, Johnny only has a few
bucks and decides to cash out and not risk competing with the huge
casino.
This disgusting situation could never happen to you, could it?
After all you’re a protected citizen of the United States,
right? People would be up in arms and the ACLU would launch a
class-action lawsuit on behalf of others who were treated without
regard to private property or civil rights. How can a policeman
justly use force to interfere with a private transaction? But when
Johnny and the casino are businesses, a good portion of America
hypocritically considers this a laudable practice.
The contemptible usurping of private rights that occurs in
today’s business world could only have happened if we have
forgotten the meaning of the word “freedom” and have
deserted our nation’s fundamental values. Society has been
fed lies about the nature of business and capitalism, while the
media spreads fear of monopolies. And so the American people grant
the government frightening powers, which in itself holds a monopoly
on using legal physical force to obtain its goals.
The idea that the public must be protected from the horrible
leviathan of big business is the moral justification often cited
for allowing the government massive regulatory power. Ironically,
any deviation from laissez-faire capitalism leads to the stifling
of competition and the exploiting of small businesses by government
and large corporations.
Just last week, two FBI agents were arrested for supplying
private and secret information to a “short seller”
while simultaneously reporting inaccurate information to the SEC to
launch investigations and regulatory actions on small
businesses.
A “short” seller profits by borrowing stock and
sells at its current price, betting that the value of the stock
will plummet. When it does, this “short” buys back the
stock at the reduced price and pockets the difference. Short
selling is legal and indeed an important market control for
unreasonable stock hikes that derive from hype or illegal business
practices.
However in this particular case, the “short” had a
personal deal with FBI agents. By spreading private information
from FBI files and having agents on his payroll direct the SEC to
launch unfounded investigations and lawsuits, the
“short” guaranteed that the stock would fall
substantially as the public lost confidence in the company. As a
result, the short and the FBI agents walked away with a nice sum of
money while innocent executives and workers were left in ruin.
Today, small businesses face enough challenges without worrying
about the government picking on them. There are zoning regulations
(see Zone D’ Erotica), licensing, massive taxation and laws
regulating who must be hired regardless of skills in the form of
affirmative action and the Americans with Disabilities Act. There
are contradictory environmental regulations from the state and
federal levels, minimum wage laws that force employers to pay more
for services than are deserved at the expense of new jobs for new
workers, and Ralph Nader. And this is an abridged list.
Had the government been forbidden to interfere with our freedom,
as was clearly manifested by our constitution, the FBI fraud case
would never have occurred. The consequences of government
regulation is massive expenses for companies who must settle or
fight lawsuits, pay taxes, and/or pay fines for transgressions of
idiotic laws. With all this extra expense, only big businesses
which can pay off debts and fines as minor expenses, and can afford
to grease the hands of politicians from both sides so that their
transgressions are “overlooked,” can possibly survive.
Meanwhile the little guy is driven from the market, unable to cover
costs. Also such regulation allows mutual back scratching of
government agents and people who would rather steal than make their
own way.
And so Johnny CEO is left in the dust, unable to provide for his
family or create new jobs for struggling Americans. Meanwhile the
big business casino and the government policeman are shaking hands,
while stuffing Johnny’s money in their filthy pockets.
“We’re really helping people by doing this,” they
assure each other. And most of America nods in agreement.