In the April 29 letter “Magic of capitalism is a myth,” using Standard Oil as a surrogate for the evil of free enterprise, Ken Simpson misidentified the real threat to economic opportunity through fair competition in America. Standard Oil established itself by offering a better product than competitors. Its product was “standard” and more chemically uniform from batch to batch, and its performance more predictable than other offerings. Is that a bad thing for consumers? Standard Oil’s efficiency was higher than competitors, so their prices to consumers were lower. How awful is that?
From 1904 through 1911, before the breakup of Standard Oil, competitors had already taken away 25 percent of Standard Oil’s market share. Looks like free enterprise in action.
Real free enterprise is not the threat to opportunity in the U.S. today; crony capitalism is. That’s where businesses or whole industries derive competitive advantage through political contributions and bribes of politicians and bureaucrats (aka government as usual). Think of the dimwitted ethanol-in-gasoline requirements and the outrageously overpriced-and-underperforming F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
If you want real free-enterprise opportunity to thrive in this country, enact term limits on political offices, restrict political campaign funding, and place severe penalties on acceptance of bribes by government personnel.
