Dr. Paul argues that Republicans and Tea Party supporters are inaccurate when they ridicule Obama as a socialist. Instead, Congressman Paul claims Obama, like George W. Bush, should be deemed a corporatist.
So, what’s the difference between socialism and corporatism? Paul writes:
Socialism is a system where the government directly owns and manages businesses. Corporatism is a system where businesses are nominally in private hands, but are in fact controlled by the government. In a corporatist state, government officials often act in collusion with their favored business interests to design polices that give those interests a monopoly position, to the detriment of both competitors and consumers.
He claims the Obama administration, like the previous administration, has allowed big corporations to dictate policy in a number of key arenas. He says, “We see it in the financial institutions, we see it in the military-industrial complex…And now we see it in the medical-industrial complex.”
He adds, “He’s (Obama) a corporatist…And unfortunately, we have corporatists inside the Republican Party…”
It’s difficult to argue with Dr. Paul’s refreshing, unbiased candor.
After all, Obama and Bush supported the $700 billion Wall St. bailout, in which select banks and investment firms received taxpayer funds, while thousands of other banks were left to fend for themselves. Both pumped hundreds of billions into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, GM, GMAC, and Chrysler, while ignoring countless other struggling businesses. Both outsourced U.S. military operations to over 200,000 private war contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both inserted a number of Goldman Sachs elites into positions of economic leadership. The list goes on and on.
One need only glance at the list of big donors to the likes of Obama, McCain, Bush, Dodd, and other DC elites, and it’s plain for all to see. Wall St runs Washington DC, and both parties are equally complicit in this charade. Simply put, DC serves Wall St, not Main St.
If we Americans want to cleanse DC of its greed, corruption, elitism, and corporate favortism, we will have to stop electing the same old candidates, from the same old parties, who do the bidding of the same old firms on Wall St.