I just ordered a book today called “Obamanomics” by Timothy Carney. I watched an episode of Book TV on CSPAN this weekend where Mr. Carney gave a lecture on his book. I almost did not watch the show because of the title of his book. I did not want to sit thru another guy blaming all the trouble in the world on the Democratic Party or president Obama any more then I wanted to sit thru a guy doing the same thing to the Republicans or former President Bush. However even though I have several hundred channels to choose from nothing else was on.
Thankfully I gave him a chance. I will tell you Mr. Carney’s politics seems to be from the Right his lecture seemed not to be politically motivated. His points were things that both parties do and that affect all of us. I as best I can tell his book list examples of how big business works with both parties to make additional profits and damage competitors. This was not that surprising but the way they use the government and their armies of lobbyist to crush small companies and make it harder or impossible for people to start up.
Mr. Carney has what he calls the Four Laws of Obamanomics.
“The inside Game” This is when the business with the best lobbyists will get what they want written in the bill. After the bill is written then they will hire people from Capitol Hill or other staffers to help influence the crafting of the regulations all with the purpose of damaging their competitors or enriching their companies.
“Overhead Smash” This is when a large company lobbies for increased regulation for the purpose of driving up overhead costs to make it more difficult on smaller competitors or to make it impossible for new people to enter the industry.
“Gumming Up the Works” It is difficult for large companies to move quickly so completion is threatened to them. Because of this they will work toward regulations that slow things down. This helps them maintain an advantage over smaller companies.
“The Confidence Game” Large companies lobby for regulation in order to boost public confidence in their products or services. Lots of times any real changes don’t help protect the public they just help out the large company.
I am not sure what we can do about this system but letting people know how it really works is a good first step. I will most likely post some examples from the book after I get it.
