The Myth of Capitalism

ConclusionEconomic and Political Freedom

Economic freedom is an essential requisite for political freedom.

—Milton Friedman

We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both.

—Justice Louis Brandeis

During World War I, as hundreds of thousands of men were dying in the trenches, the French Prime Minister George Clemenceau said, “War is too important to be left to the generals.” Today, capitalism is too important to be left to the economists.

As we have shown throughout this book, in many industries monopolies are squeezing workers, choking suppliers, raising prices, stifling the economy, and capturing lawmakers and regulators. Left to their own devices, these companies will not reform themselves. They greet more regulation as a chance to erect further barriers around their industry. They welcome watchdogs and regulators as powerful, government‐appointed allies. They shrug at the threat of antitrust laws, which they have hijacked through economists and lawyers for hire.

Because companies will not reform themselves, we must change the laws and regulations. We must remember that antitrust laws are enacted by Congress and interpreted by the courts. Antitrust decisions and policy cannot be outsourced to economists or corporate shills. The role of the courts is not to determine economic policy, but rather to implement antitrust policies enacted by the legislature.

A century ago, when Theodore Roosevelt ...