A Short Case for Big Business

I’m an active member on a high-school debate forum[1], and the topic of big government was brought up. A fellow user, Caleb Winn, posted a quick summary of why big business isn’t wicked and evil, and in fact is essential and incredibly helpful for everyone, including the middle and poor class. I think he’s dead on.

He based the following on the article “The Problem With Populists” by George Will:

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“I have an idea, though. Let’s get rid of “Big Business” and see how we all like a world where food is much scarcer and more expensive, and where the kinds of life-saving medications and medical equipment that have saved the lives of millions of children were never developed.”

“Big business may at times distribute wealth inequitably, but at least there is wealth to distribute, and ultimately everybody benefits even if hard-working entrepreneurs and wise investors benefit more.”

“Frankly, if Edwards really believes everything that he says, he is insane. He screams and cries about the “disappearing middle class” without realizing that the middle class is shrinking because people are getting richer, not poorer. The share of people earning $30,000-$100,000/year has indeed gone down, but the share of the population earning less than $30,000 has not increased. Most of the loss in that “middle class” bracket came because of upwards mobility, not economic stagnation. Edwards is right: there are “two Americas.” There is the America that really exist, and the America that he imagines in his delusional crusade against “evil corporations.”‘

“The liberal dream of a centrally-engineered economy is bogglingly counter-productive. The Great Society was a failure, while deregulation and the limitation of the federal footprint has caused overall wealth, per capita income, and economic mobility to rise even as crime, poverty, and welfare dependency have fallen. Increased government intervention (and the exorbitant taxes needed to pay for it) only weakens productivity and investment, decreases work incentive, limits the competition that spurs efficiency and innovation, and all-in-all strangles real economic growth. The liberal dream of imposing equality through Statist economic coercion and control is successful only by making everybody equally poor. (Though in reality, the liberal ruling elite always manage to live high on the hog even in the worst economic conditions, whether they be Stalin’s Dachas by the sea, or John Edwards’ 26,000-foot home in North Carolina.)”

“If the government really wants to do something about the conditions of the working poor, then it should get out of the way and stop hindering the economic growth that helps everybody who is willing to work.”

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Can I get an “amen”?

[1] I’m Irish Man on there. The forum not only for high-schoolers. In fact, some of the best discussions are between college students who are into philosophy and political science/theory. Feel free to join! If you do, drop me a line.