Milton Friedman: "Business people are enemies of free markets, not friends"

'We don't have a free market. Don't kid yourself."

The statement above from the master economist flies in the face of what we are so often told, that businesses want unfettered marketplaces, that they want laissez faire. Businesses supposedly want to be “free” of government meddling. We are told that businesses don’t like regulations and that government and business are on opposite sides of the economic equation. Government regulates for the good of the people and to keep business in check.

All of this, as my friend in the UK might say, is bullocks.

Businesses often LOVE government. The last thing an established giant corporation wants is a free market. A free market makes competition a greater risk. Better, from the established firm’s perspective, to have a regulated market with lots of barriers to entry for anyone even thinking of starting up a new firm. This is the reality. This is the essence of a crony capitalist system, and it is the system we have in this country today.