In National Review, What the Panama Papers Actually Show by Michael Tanner

We see something similar, if less dramatic, in the United States. There is a reason why five of the ten counties with the highest median incomes in America are suburbs of Washington, D.C. This isn’t an indictment of capitalism, but rather an indictment of big government. After all, when government claims the power to reward its friends and punish its enemies, corruption is guaranteed to follow.

Yes, of course there are crooked businessmen. And, in today’s crony-capitalist culture, too many businessmen are in bed with big government. But, by and large, the rich in the United States achieved that status by providing the rest of us with goods and services that we want. Now it appears that many of those who spend their time lecturing us on how that is a bad thing turn out to be using, or misusing, the power of government for their own benefit.

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