Pro-market VS pro-business.

[AztecWilliam]

Is there a difference between being pro-market and pro-business? I suspect many people would use the two terms more or less interchangeably. But they would be wrong.

The fact is that both Democrats and Republicans seem eager to ally themselves with particular business entities so that both benefit while competitors, many of which are quite small, suffer. (By the way, that 's one reason why I decided that the GOP was only slightly better than the Democrats. . result? I registered Libertarian in 1976.)

Here is a taste of this author's incisive review of the subject.

Business, especially big business, is happy with crony capitalism, franchised monopoly, or any other device that will avoid the Darwinism of the free market. Of the billions of dollars now spent lobbying, almost none supports the free market as a concept or an institution. “While everyone benefits from a free and competitive market,” Zingales writes, “no one in particular makes huge profits from keeping the system competitive and the playing field level. True capitalism lacks a strong lobby.

www.american.com/archive/2009/october/rhett-butler-comes-to-washington

AzWm

[AlwaysAnAztec]

"Pure" anything is not good.

A real capitalist market economy requires government regulation of some sort to protect the 'little guy' whether he is a small(er) business or the consumer.

If we went back to "True" capitalism we would be back in the time of the robber baron and the trust before TR broke them up. The closest thing to that today is WalMart going into a small town and devastating the small family owned business downtown.

[cx4]

I'm on the verge of registering Libertarian, too, since I have complete disgust for both major parties. I started life as a Democrat (Dad was UAW), then business owner turned conservative. Now, both parties are equally distasteful.
It seems politics attracts wealthy, narcissistic individuals. The Davy Crockett, Harry Truman sort of politician is gone.

[aztecwin]

We need regulation but not interference and not excessive taxation. Politicians from both major parties just can't be content to take a small slice of a growing pie. They want to take a big enough slice to kill the pie and the pie maker.

[aztecwin]

Is the growth of GDP for this period an aberration or is this a sign that we are starting into a vibrant economic period? Did The Stimulus have anything to do with it or are we growing in spite of the Obama influence? Will the market follow through tomorrow or will there be profit taking and further erosion?

[aztecwin]

The market is answering some of our questions today. With the Administration being caught in a pack of lies about jobs and job creation and all the other indications that not only did the stimulus not work, it actually may have done some harm.