"I understand how people have become mistrustful of government," Obama told his Ohio audience. "We don't need big government. We need smart government that works and interacts with the private sector to create opportunity for ordinary people."Ahem, but government-business "partnership" is just a fancy-pants euphemism for the very crony capitalism* that has gotten us into the fiscal mess we're already in.
* Crony capitalism: we'll use Mr. W's definition, taken from comments here:
I am finding that more and more good people who attack "capitalism" are actually attacking a phony form of it which we call "crony capitalism." This is the form practiced in Europe, Latin America, and backward nations, in which large established businesses "partner" with government bureaucracies. They combine to accomplish 2 things: (1) close market access to new, small potential competitors, and (2) establish a system of rules with virtually no appeal process -- in contrast to true free markets (genuine "capitalism") which always work to offer alternatives if you don't like the current rules.This is the precise formula you want if your desire is to corrupt everything, crush small businesses, eradicate the family and destroy any sense of fellow-feeling and devotion to the common good.
