How Obama hijacked the free market and is now in control of competition

How Obama hijacked the free market and is now in control of competition May 3, 2016

There is nothing more shameful than the president of the United States failing to grasp the nation’s flagship economic system of capitalism, but it’s nothing short of criminal when he uses his executive power to inject federal meddling into the free market.

President Obama has issued an executive order that puts the federal government as the decider in what is “fair” in a free market system so that it “works for everyone.” From his vantage point, the system isn’t competitive enough and needs the all-wise government to step in and supply what’s lacking.

One of the first industries that is getting “assisted” by the government is cable and satellite television providers. In one of his recent weekly addresses, Obama called on the Federal Communications Commission to “open up” manufacturing of set-top boxes to outside sources so that customers aren’t forced into a renting one from their provider. He said:

“While we have almost unlimited choice in what we watch on television, from traditional programming to online content, there’s next to no competition to build a better, user-friendly product that allows you to easily access all this content in one place. So most consumers just rent whatever the cable company offers because we have to. That means companies have little incentive to innovate. As a consequence, we need multiple devices and controllers to access content from different sources. That makes no sense.”

But the end game is not really consumers. By design, this executive action is intended to benefit large corporations like Google, Amazon and Apple. They want a piece of the pie, especially the data pie. Google has been chomping at the bit to be given a pipeline to enter this market and when they do, they will have control of even more of our data. And what a shame that the infrastructure built and paid for by the cable and satellite companies is being handed over to these big data companies on a silver platter.

And so, with a few strokes of his powerful pen, Obama made it so that the federal government is now the arbiter of competition in America, large corporations get more benefits, and consumers continue to lose their autonomy. The Pandora’s box this has opened also reveals a much more sinister agenda, as a White House statement explains:

Competitive markets also help advance national priorities, such as the delivery of affordable health care, energy independence, and improved access to fast and affordable broadband. Competitive markets also promote economic growth, which creates opportunity for American workers and encourages entrepreneurs to start innovative companies that create jobs.

In other words, Obama has hijacked the free market system to push Obamacare and his other socialist plans for the country. Not only is he deciding who and what can be competitive, he’s deciding which “national priorities” are most important.

This is another perilous step in the wrong direction for America and the free market system on which it was founded. Obamacare has proven to be one of the most anti-competitive products on the market and the president is speaking out of both sides of his mouth in saying he is pro-competition. His signature legislation has barred competition from the healthcare marketplace and has run insurances companies off with threats and penalties. Anyone who refuses to purchase his product is either fined or will see their private rates skyrocket. That’s not how capitalism works.

In reality, Obama hates capitalism and is not interested in competition at all. It’s his legacy he’s after and there’s only enough room for one at the top.


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