Tuesday, May 13, 2003

Anti-Intellectualism in the White House
Great Alan Murray piece in today's WSJ. The whole thing is worth a read, but key excerpts are below.

President Bush prefers to get his advice on the economy from people who've been successful in the business world. Come to think of it, he seems to prefer even people who have been unsuccessful in the business world.

But relying on capitalists to keep a capitalist system humming is a mistake. Businessmen, by and large, don't like free and open markets. From John D. Rockefeller on, they have found markets to be messy, chaotic and insufficiently profitable. Whether it's oil companies seeking special tax preferences, steel companies seeking trade protection or pharmaceuticals companies seeking excessive patent protection, businessmen -- particularly when working hand in glove with government -- are among the greatest enemies of a free-market economy.

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