James P. Hoffa writes today in the The Detroit News, "Protesters blame "big government" for their woes, but their anger is misdirected. It's the big conglomerates that are fleecing them. The fact is that institutional power has moved away from government to Wall Street and large corporations."
Bryan Caplan recently posted about whether "capitalism" is no longer the right term to describe capitalism. I think it no longer might be. Whether we like it or not, words evolve and take on different meanings over time and across culture. I think this is clearly happening to the word "capitalism". Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" is probably the most appropriate example of this. The documentary, from what I understand (never saw it), should be titled "Crony Capitalism: A Love Story" or "Corporatism: A Love Story". People, I think, are more and more thinking of capitalism not as idealistic free-market enterprise valiantly defended by the likes of Smith, Hayek and Friedman, but instead as the anti-liberty cozy relationship found between Big Government and Big Business.
And they should be.
The ironic thing is the more people are upset at Washington, the more they seem to rely on it. This is what concerns me most. Government is dangerous when it is the problem, but it is terrifying when it is viewed as the sole solution.
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