HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle

Stossel: Enough Crony Capitalism!

Views: 872
Established businesses, like Facebook, use government to limit competition.

---------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magaz...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
---------

Once, Microsoft had zero lobbyists. The company focused on innovating.

"Microsoft in the early 1990s was the largest company in the world. Incredibly successful ... They had no presence in Washington, D.C. Not a single lawyer," Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute tells John Stossel.

But things changed.

Brook explains how Microsoft's CEO was "literally brought in front of Congress ... Orrin Hatch from Utah ... said, 'You guys need to get involved here in Washington, D.C. You need to build a building here. You need to hire lawyers here.'"

Microsoft, courageously, didn't. Instead, Brook recounts, "Microsoft walked out of the meeting and said, 'You know what? You leave us alone, we will leave you alone ... We're busy. We're running the biggest company in the world. There's a lot to do.'"

But soon after that, Attorney General Janet Reno announced that the Justice Department was charging Microsoft with "engaging in anti-competitive and exclusionary practices designed to maintain its monopoly."

Brook says the government was essentially saying, "we're here to prosecute yo u because you're offering the American public ... a product for free. This is Internet Explorer, at a time when we were buying Netscape and paying money for it—they offered it for free, and that was deemed bad business practice."

"For 10 years they had to fight that lawsuit," he adds. "They lost, they got regulated, they got controlled. Guess how much Microsoft spends today in Washington, D.C.? … Tens of millions of dollars."

Stossel calls that "sad."

Now, even worse, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg asks government for more regulation. He wants Congress to "require companies to build systems for keeping harmful content to a bare minimum".

Wouldn't that violate the First Amendment?

Stossel says it also, conveniently, would protect Facebook from competitors who don't restrict content. It also makes it harder for them to innovate in ways that might challenge Facebook.

Stossel and Brook's solution? Smaller government: separation of economy and state.

The views expressed in this video are solely those of John Stossel; his independent production company, Stossel Productions; and the people he interviews. The claims and opinions set forth in the video and accompanying text are not necessarily those of Reason.
@ReasonVidsfollow
Thumbnail for Fake News and the First Amendment: Free Speech Rules (Episode 3)4:45
Fake News and the First Amendment: Free Speech Rules (Episode 3)
ReasonVids
983 views
Thumbnail for 100 Days of Trump: Three Best and Worst Moments of Presidency So Far3:44
100 Days of Trump: Three Best and Worst Moments of Presidency So Far
ReasonVids
937 views
Thumbnail for San Francisco's Last Gun Shop is Closing. The Reason is Appalling.2:56
San Francisco's Last Gun Shop is Closing. The Reason is Appalling.
ReasonVids
806 views
Thumbnail for Court-Packing Plans Threaten Civil Liberties and the Separation of Powers8:44
Court-Packing Plans Threaten Civil Liberties and the Separation of Powers
ReasonVids
933 views
Thumbnail for Are You Ready for 3D-Printed Pancakes? What We Saw at the Bay Area Maker Faire4:18
Are You Ready for 3D-Printed Pancakes? What We Saw at the Bay Area Maker Faire
ReasonVids
897 views
Thumbnail for Jon Favreau Defends Obama's Record on Surveillance and Transparency3:48
Jon Favreau Defends Obama's Record on Surveillance and Transparency
ReasonVids
969 views
Thumbnail for California Says Coffee Needs Cancer Warning Labels6:35
California Says Coffee Needs Cancer Warning Labels
ReasonVids
904 views
Thumbnail for The Jungle Book1:18:27
The Jungle Book
lionkingrulez
125 views
Thumbnail for Rep. Jeff Flake on US Cuba Policy: End the Embargo2:50
Rep. Jeff Flake on US Cuba Policy: End the Embargo
ReasonVids
923 views
Thumbnail for 'Tattoos Are a Way to Stake a Claim on Yourself'7:09
'Tattoos Are a Way to Stake a Claim on Yourself'
ReasonVids
803 views
Thumbnail for Graduation Photos In American Schools Versus British Schools! | mrthomasenglish1:00
Graduation Photos In American Schools Versus British Schools! | mrthomasenglish
invidious
282 views
Thumbnail for Once upon a time, you only saw ads like this in dystopian movies from the 80's. This is creepy as fuck.0:40
Once upon a time, you only saw ads like this in dystopian movies from the 80's. This is creepy as fuck.
bestofpoal
4389 views
Thumbnail for Dangus does Ten-Pin0:46
Dangus does Ten-Pin
bestofupgoat
384 views
Thumbnail for Ursus vs Homo Africanus0:14
Ursus vs Homo Africanus
bestofupgoat
38 views
Thumbnail for Donald Trump is 'Very Good at Losing Other People's Money'0:43
Donald Trump is 'Very Good at Losing Other People's Money'
ReasonVids
839 views
Thumbnail for CRACKHEAD STrength is real0:47
CRACKHEAD STrength is real
bestofvoatxyz
643 views
Thumbnail for Hans Eysenck on Race and IQ - Part 1 of 28:55
Hans Eysenck on Race and IQ - Part 1 of 2
GeneticIntelligence
1327 views
Thumbnail for Mein Kampf - Ford Translation - Vol 1, Ch.1 - [Part 3 of 3]8:41
Mein Kampf - Ford Translation - Vol 1, Ch.1 - [Part 3 of 3]
EvalionArchive
1366 views
Thumbnail for Free the 'Shine! Why it's finally time to legalize liquor5:57
Free the 'Shine! Why it's finally time to legalize liquor
ReasonVids
892 views
Thumbnail for Dain pipe under driveway cleared0:16
Dain pipe under driveway cleared
AOUisgay
546 views
Thumbnail for “Why are there so few ICU beds?” Report lambasts “patchwork” of laws limiting healthcare access10:33
“Why are there so few ICU beds?” Report lambasts “patchwork” of laws limiting healthcare access
IJvids
1185 views
Thumbnail for Reality Show President: Inside the White House PR Machine11:57
Reality Show President: Inside the White House PR Machine
ReasonVids
963 views
Thumbnail for Agricultural Subsidies: Corporate Welfare for Farmers8:24
Agricultural Subsidies: Corporate Welfare for Farmers
ReasonVids
939 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian, reason magazine, reason.com, reason.tv, reasontv, facebook, crony capitalism, mark zuckerberg
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle