Thursday, October 07, 2010

Obamacare: Corporatism in action

In free enterprise, companies compete to sell their products to customers. Under corporatism (sometimes called national socialism), by contrast, companies compete for government favors that give them a privileged position over competitors. In light of that, read about Obamacare (from Bloomberg News Service):

Thirty companies and organizations, including McDonald's (MCD) and Jack in the Box (JACK), won't be required to raise the minimum annual benefit included in low-cost health plans, which are often used to cover part-time or low-wage employees.

The Department of Health and Human Services, which provided a list of exemptions, said it granted waivers in late September so workers with such plans wouldn't lose coverage from employers who might choose instead to drop health insurance altogether.

Via these waivers, these thirty companies are now have advantages that their competitors don't. In the future, if you were to plan to open a business to compete with them, remember that you are no longer competing on the better product at a better price so much as you are on the the political connections needed to let you make that product at that price.

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1 comment:

Unknown said...

I wrote about corporatism recently on my website.

It all started to go down hill when Corporations became protected under the Bill of Rights and the 14th amendment as “Natural Born Citizens” this gives them the right the petition the government and all other rights of an individual citizen.

It was not always like this, i go into much more detail in my article here:
http://www.upfordebate.us/story.php?title=corporate-america-the-real-enemy-of-the-state-1

I take an early look at the history of corporations in America and give a few different examples from the modern era. I thought you might want to take a look at this. Thanks for the good read.

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