Both political parties are in a 3-way affair with Big Business.
When Democrats accuse Bush of being in bed with Merck, Pfizer, and Halliburton, they have some leverage. It is hardly private information that Big Pharma loves the GOP, and we also know that the military-industrial complex (MIC) has been among the largest beneficiaries of our war against Jihadis.
Of course, the DNC isn’t without its financial ties. Marriage to Big Business is no longer a GOP thing; in fact, the DNC is every bit the equal of the GOP on that front.
The Republicans are in bed with Big Pharma, most of the energy industry, the credit card banks, and much–not all of–the MIC. (Although Raytheon was definitely schmoozing with the Clintons, as evidence by their China deals.)
The DNC, on the other hand, is in bed with trial lawyers and labor unions (including those for government workers), was (illegally) in bed with the Lippo Group–which was every bit as serious as the Abramoff scandal, George Soros, and execs Warren Buffett, Martha Stewart, and Bill Gates.
As for Big Banks, both parties have ties. Both Bush and Clinton hired top dogs from Goldman Sachs for their Treasury Secretaries. (Robert Rubin served under Clinton whereas Henry Paulson is the current SecTreas for Bush.)
Republicans and Democrats, after careers in Congress, often go on to positions at investment firms, lobbying groups, marketing firms, and even consultancies.
The underlying message: if you go along with the system, there are rewards. Go along, get along, and get ahead.
Those who buck the system–like Ron Paul (R-TX)–will find the system ganging up on them when they attempt to get into position to effect real change. Thankfully, Paul continues to thumb his nose at the party that has tried to defeat him for not being a team player. His constituents have grown to love his libertarian approach to federal government.
Ergo, carping about how this party is in bed with these big businesses and that party is in bed with that set of big businesses is moot: Big Business owns both parties, because to Big Business, Big Government is the ticket to keeping new competitors from eating up market share.
This is why Hillary Clinton once sat on the board of Wal-Mart in spite of not having any corporate managerial experience, and why Linda Gramm–wife of former Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX)–once sat on the board of Enron.
Here’s a dirty little secret about Big Business: the last thing they support is free markets. That is because free markets are a threat to their dominance. Free markets encourage innovation, efficiency, and transparency. Each of those erodes large profit margins and moves markets toward perfect competition (very small–almost negligible–profit margins) as markets mature.
(This is why a new company like Google will have large stock appreciation for several years but eventually, as that market flattens out, they’ll start paying dividends as the stock price stabilizes. The dividends will attract different investors, such as retirees, as high-growth stockholders will no longer be able to buy the stock and then sell it for a quick profit.)
But big corporations–for obvious reasons–wish to maximize that high-growth period. That is because execs are paid in stock options.
(If I’m a board member or a CEO who holds 100,000 options, each giving me to buy 100 shares of stock at a certain price, it is within my interest to keep that stock price climbing as long as possible. It might even be within my interest to backdate those options–as the Wall Street Journal blew the lid on that practice–but we won’t go there.)
To keep that stock price nice and high requires more than a great business model. In reality, a really great business plan includes government as part of the strategy, as corporations team up with special interest groups, which pay lobbyists to prey on Congressmen and Senators–even the President–to pass legislation that favors their industry.
Make no mistake: this is the very same collusion that Adam Smith described in Wealth of Nations. The end-result: they keep prices high, and competitors out, so they can profit at your expense.
For them, Big Government is not the enemy; they are an integral part of the strategy to minimize competition. The ultimate loser is you and me.