HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Stossel: Enough Crony Capitalism!

Views:895
@ReasonVids

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.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
facebook
,
crony capitalism
,
mark zuckerberg
    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
    1007 views
    Thumbnail for Reality Show President: Inside the White House PR Machine11:57
    Reality Show President: Inside the White House PR Machine
    ReasonVids
    989 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
    965 views
    Thumbnail for Agricultural Subsidies: Corporate Welfare for Farmers8:24
    Agricultural Subsidies: Corporate Welfare for Farmers
    ReasonVids
    969 views
    Thumbnail for Groundbreaking Experiment Forced Organisms To Become Symbiotic | Anton Petrov15:16
    Groundbreaking Experiment Forced Organisms To Become Symbiotic | Anton Petrov
    invidious
    118 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
    865 views
    Thumbnail for RNC Shuns Ron Paul, Supporters Root For Romney Defeat3:45
    RNC Shuns Ron Paul, Supporters Root For Romney Defeat
    ReasonVids
    704 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
    1214 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
    828 views
    Thumbnail for The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government - Q&A with Philip K. Howard46:55
    The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government - Q&A with Philip K. Howard
    ReasonVids
    945 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
    842 views
    Thumbnail for wagging tails to go to school1:01
    wagging tails to go to school
    bestofupgoat
    434 views
    Thumbnail for Reason Mag: Sex in Arab World, Drug Courts, Real Jackie Robinson3:52
    Reason Mag: Sex in Arab World, Drug Courts, Real Jackie Robinson
    ReasonVids
    989 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
    1395 views
    Thumbnail for The face of fatigue0:47
    The face of fatigue
    bestofvoatxyz
    1038 views
    Thumbnail for It's basically free money 0:56
    It's basically free money
    bestofupgoat
    422 views
    Thumbnail for Pot Wars: Battlefield California9:19
    Pot Wars: Battlefield California
    ReasonVids
    957 views
    Thumbnail for Socialism vs. Capitalism: A Debate with Jacobin Magazine1:45:37
    Socialism vs. Capitalism: A Debate with Jacobin Magazine
    ReasonVids
    791 views
    Thumbnail for Dinner for two0:21
    Dinner for two
    bestofupgoat
    413 views
    Thumbnail for The Jungle Book1:18:27
    The Jungle Book
    lionkingrulez
    158 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
    4414 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
    963 views
    Thumbnail for Graduation Photos In American Schools Versus British Schools! | mrthomasenglish1:00
    Graduation Photos In American Schools Versus British Schools! | mrthomasenglish
    invidious
    313 views
    Thumbnail for Whole Foods' John Mackey: Why Intellectuals Hate Capitalism15:52
    Whole Foods' John Mackey: Why Intellectuals Hate Capitalism
    ReasonVids
    856 views
    Thumbnail for The jewish connection6:00
    The jewish connection
    AOUisgay
    568 views

points

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