Where Tucker Carlson Goes Wrong On Vulture Capitalists

Chick emails:

Good Morning Robert!

I hope all is well with you out on the "Left Coast". When you have the
time, would you be so kind to comment and give your thoughts (if you
have not already done so elsewhere) on this Tucker Carlson report on
vulture capitalism from a libertarian perspective? I recognize that it
involves crony capitalists in bed with government, is the solution
more government regulation? Thank you sir!




RW response:

For starters, what Tucker is doing here, as you point out, is mixing vulture capitalism with crony capitalism.

It is outrageous for a government at any time to finance the operations of a money manager, either in financing a corporation or paying off government debt. But the problem here is the government in cahoots with the money manager. This has nothing to do with free markets, which is what libertarians advocate. This is cronyism.

As far as free-market vulture capitalism where a money manager buys up assets, including corporations, and sells the assets to a higher bidder, well that makes the general economy more efficient.

Tucker doesn't realize it but by attacking such vulture work, he is advocating for at least a partial stagnant economy. You can always find people who have to change jobs in a dynamic economy. I'm sure you could hunt down people at CBS, NBC and ABC who lost their jobs because the FOX network came on the scene.

If Tucker is truly in favor of a stagnant economy, then he should resign immediately and encourage everyone else at FOX to resign to help out the poor people who lost their jobs at other networks because of FOX.

If a vulture capitalist can sell off assets to a high bidder then those assets are being used somehow more efficiently just the way FOX has been successful in providing news and entertainment from a different direction than the other networks.

If we allow the shifting of assets to the highest bidder on a general basis, then that is going to be a boom for the entire economy, even in the long-run for those who have lost jobs, and must seek new ones, because of the shifts. The more efficient an economy, as assets shift, the more goods and services it produces which raises the overall standard of living.

Life is a journey, not a government-provided guided tour.

More government regulation only sets up for more cronyism and more stagnation.

-RW