Okay, Crony Capitalism......in other words, Fascism? Or is it worse than Fascism?
Crony Capitalism from wiki:
Moreover, cronyism describes relationships existing among mutual acquaintances in private organizations where business, business information, and social interaction are exchanged among influential personnel. This is termed crony capitalism, and is an ethical breach of the principles of the market economy; in advanced economies, crony capitalism is a breach of market regulations, e.g., the Enron fraud is an extreme example of crony capitalism.
Given crony capitalism’s nature, these dishonest business practices are frequently (yet not exclusively) found in societies with ineffective legal systems. Consequently, there is an impetus upon the legislative branch of a government to ensure enforcement of the legal code capable of addressing and redressing private party manipulation of the economy by the involved businessmen and their government cronies.
The economic and social costs of cronyism are paid by society. Those costs are in the form of reduced business opportunity for the majority of the population, reduced competition in the market place, inflated consumer goods prices, decreased economic performance, inefficient business investment cycles, reduced motivation in affected organizations, and the diminution of economically productive activity.[6] A practical cost of cronyism manifests in the poor workmanship of public and private community projects. Cronyism is self-perpetuating; cronyism then begets a culture of cronyism. This can only be apprehended by a comprehensive, effective, and enforced legal code, with empowered government agencies which can effect prosecutions in the courts.
All appointments that are suspected of being cronyism are controversial. The appointed party may choose to either suppress disquiet or ignore it, depending upon the society’s level of freedom of expression and individual personal liberty.
Crony capitalism isn’t quite fascism. Under cc, an upstart still has the possibility of coming ul with something so ground shaking that if the populous adapts it fast enough and extensive enough, then it can overtake the cronies. This is seen in IT all the time.
The iPhone is a prime example. Prior to the iPhone, Blackberry was the goto phone. Apps were made for it, and the federal government used solely Blackberries...remember in 2009 how Nobama wanted to keep his Blackberrybut it was too risky?
IPhone came on, with far more things, and now bberry is an afterthought.