Corporate Anarchists masquerading as Capitalists

Corporate Anarchists masquerading as Capitalists expect governments to decrease so they may increase, to privatise and remove bureaucratic restraints in order for the corporate kings to benefit from society's needs.  Yet when their insatiable avarice led the world's markets to the brink of bankruptcy they expected  government to bail them out.  The evil twin of government funded social welfare is government funded corporate welfare.

Laissez faire capitalists want government to privatise as many services as possible, coupled with allowing unfettered freedom to corporations; essentially a commercial form of anarchism.  Yet when they face financial ruin from their unrestrained greed, these same laissez fair capitalists, or Corporate Anarchists, turn to the government to bail them out, as they did during the GFC.  So why shouldn't government have more control over the market place?

When governments increase taxes to fund this Corporate Welfare, the Corporate Anarchists threaten the community with job losses (which increases dependence on social welfare) with removal of their businesses to other regions; something governments don't generally do when government services are not privatised.

Unrestrained Capitalism (or Corporate Anarchism) is not about competition, it is about eliminating competition.  We see this through the evolution of corporate globalisation, small businesses being bankrupted or bought out by multi-nationals, developing countries raped and pillaged for corporate profit with no conscience.  In the west we see the riches, while developing countries see the economic rape resulting in destruction of the resources and people. 

One of the ironies of those who wish for smaller government is that we are now seeing corporations become the government with their influence on politicians, their ability to directly impact the economy of nations.

The danger of privatisation of government services is that corporations are only interested in making money, not in providing social benefits.  These are the first things to go when a government privatises.  Corporations would oppose or do away with unions, they don't want workers to have rights such as when the Liberal Party introduced WorkChoices.  Corporations don't want compliance with government policy or legislation as this cuts into their profits.  We have seen the effect of this through the debacle with Victorian public transport and the subsequent reduction in maintenance of trams and trains that was regularly undertaken when those services were government run.

Many corporations do not have morals and are primarily focused on the bottom line: profit.  They have covered up toxic and dangerous practices, eg the tobacco companies burying reports that told them in the 1950s of the carcinogenic properties of tobacco, of James Hardie and asbestos, the Union Carbide Corporation disaster in Bhopal resulting in thousands of deaths and the list goes on.  Corporations will replace workers with automation at the first chance they get; putting people out of work for the sake of the dollar.  Where is the loyalty from the workers when the corporation has no loyalty to them.

I am not opposed to capitalism when it is balanced with government policy and government providing certain services for the benefit of the community.   Rather than an anarchistic market, capitalism should create a marketplace where all can fairly compete and place a high priority on Corporate Social Responsibility.  Instead of corporations focusing on the single bottom line of profit, they should focus on the 'triple bottom line' of People, Planet and Profit.