We need a "War on Crony Capitalism".

Essay by Greg Chamberlain

A bundler is a person, usually a rich, powerful and well connected one, who goes to his friends and collects money on behalf of political candidates. Usually the bundler is seeking access to the candidate once the aspiring politician is in office. Access for what? More power, of course. Many so called "bundlers" bundle money for multiple candidates for multiple offices in every election cycle, never-endingly seeking more power.

In my humble opinion, such power leads to Crony Capitalism. Crony Capitalism is not real Capitalism, nor does it foster, support or play a part in real free market economies. In fact, Crony Capitalism stymies real capitalism and real free markets.

George B. Kaiser was a bundler for Senator Obama when he was running for President in 2007 and is perhaps his most important bundler in this 2012 cycle. He is one of the top 100 richest people in America. I hate to target Kaiser specifically, when the final two presidential campaigns each have dozens of their own so called "bundlers". But he was closely tied to that solar energy company that got $500 Million of taxpayer funds. One has to give Obama credit for making the list of his bundlers more public than many candidates. However, I simply wish to point out just one case. The case is that real free markets were undermined and real capitalism was distorted when one company, out of the vast number of companies in the sector of innovative green technologies got some easy money from the government.

When any new startup comes into being with easy money from the government, the unintended consequence is that chances of success for the competition, who might have been just a few steps away from a breakthrough in the marketplace, get pushed back from unnatural market forces. In fact, those teetering on success and failure could easily go toward failure and many do. Then, because the government backed entity lacked substance in the first place, it goes out of business as Solyndra did. And what happens? They entire sector suffered as a result of foul government interference in what should have remained the real free market. The culprit? Crony Capitalism. Bundlers. Rich, powerful people and corporations who are considered people, buying access.

We need a war on crony capitalism! Not a war on real capitalism as some ill informed people in the Occupy movement are calling for as they carry their "Down with Capitalism" signs. They are wrong.

There is only one war we need. It should be focused firmly on the businesses of the crony capitalists and the politicians who created the environment in the first place, by participating in such cronyism. A huge amount of the crony capitalists are benefiting from the war economy, the one that is off limits for politicians from both sides of the isle to touch. Those politicians have been bought and paid for. Wars and the costs to support the Military Industrial Complex, Prison Industrial Complex and the lame "War on Drugs" is the biggest drain on our economy that there is. There will be financial dividends for America if we, the people, start a war on wars while fighting to end crony capitalism on all levels, in all sectors.