Hello, DU. I am a libertarian.

[R.Quinn]

40. Ah, corporations.

Let me tell you that I am not a corporate apologist. In fact, I believe some of the problems we are seeing are due to government overreach. Here are some things that I would like to see implemeted:

1) Elimination of corporate subsidies. Why is the government picking winners and losers, handing out grants, tax breaks, and other favorable treatment to some corporations and not others? This is the essence of crony capitalism. The legislators who push for these sorts of things very likely have their pockets lined with money from the same corporations they give subsidies to. It needs to stop, and it needs to stop now.

2) Elimination of limited liability priviledge. Maybe (just maybe) if stockholders were actually liable for their losses, they wouldn't engage in such risky behavior. The more ownership of a corporation one takes on, the more personal risk would be involved. The individual risk takers in management would personally compensate others for the damage they cause (e.g. BP oil spill). Having limited liability privileges in place unfairly distorts the natural balancing mechanisms of the free market. Our government tries to compensate for this distortion by providing further distortion through the suffocating use of...

3) Regulations. Sadly, the effects of regulation are often exactly the opposite of their intention. Regulations raise the barrier of entry into the business world, snuffing out the existence of innovative, small-budget start-ups that would create good competition with larger corporations, eating into their market share. Big corporations love regulations (they LOVE them) because they help to eliminate competition, since these corporations are generally big enough to absorb whatever regulatory changes may come down the pipeline, while mom-and-pop businesses are forced out of business. You want to cartelize an industry? All you have to do is regulate it to death, and that is exactly what will happen.

I hope this answers your question. What I want is an even playing field. Ironically, that's not what regulations and subsidies give us.