I think free trade and capitalism are amazing, but there are a few key improvements that are needed to correct some issues we’ve seen with the system:
- Money earned through democracy and capitalism needs to be reinvested into bringing more people in the world into freedom. Military intervention should be used to topple dictators or regimes that are unfree.
- Taxes need to come entirely from wealth, not income. Taxing income or sales always hurts the little guy. Taxing wealth ensures that those with fortunes are motivated to continue use it to grow or they will lose it over time.
- Reducing competition through acquisitions should be outlawed. I see tons of private equity companies seeking to gain returns by buying every competitor in a niche industry, then raising prices since they are confident they have a few years at least of monopoly power. You will also see other near monopoly companies join together and this always results in significant consumer harm. Blocking acquisitions should be the default for government.
- Boards of directors should be financially responsible for the performance of their company both now and into the future after their term has ended. Companies should be blocked from buying insurance to protect against this liability. Boards of directors should be intensely motivated to improve and protect their company.
- Lobbying should be allowed, but if lobbying by a business unfairly negatively affects others (shareholders, employees, customers, vendors, the environment, etc), than that business and the managers who ordered the policy should be financially liable for damages. If a cigarette company lobbies for looser regulations on tobacco, it and it’s managers should be financially liable to it’s customers. If an oil company lobbies against clean air regulations, it should be financially liable to the public. Lobbying by 3rd party organizations such as the AMA should make those who donate to it equally liable.
- Regulatory capture should make the company in question financially liable to others. If a bank has a top official go work for a regulator or vice versa, then advantageous and unfair rules get passed that benefit that bank, the bank should be financially liable to those affected.