“Who wins from regulation

If you think you know what a corrupt place Washington is, think again. Author and investment consultant Hunter Lewis shows that no matter how bad you thought it was, the nation’s capital is much, much worse.

It can be misleading, Lewis suggests, to refer to the public versus the private sector, since it is so often hard to tell where one begins and the other ends. The label “government-sponsored enterprises” rightfully applies not only to companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but also to a long list of other businesses—and even entire industries, such as defense, health care, and law.

The corruption has numerous manifestations apart from the familiar one of politicians showering their private benefactors with special privileges. There is also the revolving door of Washington, where the public servants “regulating” corporate behavior are drawn from the very same corporate world they are charged with overseeing. Then, after passing regulations favorable to their own industry, they go right back to work in the “private” sector, making profits from the policies they helped enact.

Whatever the means, the purpose is to circumvent or eliminate the free market. While government bailouts are an obvious example, sleight of hand is often involved. Thus, for example, the public may be deceived into thinking that regulations are aimed at limiting corporate abuses when their effect is just opposite. The legal complexities of dense regulations alone benefit big businesses, since they “discourage new competitors, especially small companies, which have not grown big enough to afford an army of accountants, lawyers, and political advisors.”

The tentacles of this crony capitalist system—the merger of corporate and state power (which is how Mussolini defined fascism)—are everywhere. As an active player, President Barack Obama is unusual mainly for his hypocrisy, condemning the corrupt system in public statements while assiduously exploiting that system in practice.

It is disturbing enough when such massive corruption exists in the world of politics and finance. But when it comes to control over what food we eat and the medicine we give our children, the cronyism is downright terrifying.

Crony Capitalism is a companion volume to Hunter Lewis’ other outstanding work, published at the same time, Free Prices Now!  Together, the two volumes are a major contribution to the effort to correct the popular misperception that the problem plaguing the U.S. is free-market capitalism. Free-market capitalism serves the interests of us all. The real problem lies with capitalism of the elitist, crony kind.”

JEREMY HAMMOND, author of Ron Paul vs. Paul Krugman: Austrian vs. Keynesian Economics in the Financial Crisis.

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“. . . The American warfare/welfare state, funded by the Fed, has . . . greatly enriched the ‘one percenters’ at the expense of almost everyone else, as documented in great detail by David Stockman in his book, The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America, and by Hunter Lewis’s Crony Capitalism in America.”

Thomas DiLorenzo, Professor of Economics, Loyola College in Maryland (LewRockwell.com – 10/10/13)

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“. . . What we have today is not the free market but ‘crony capitalism,’ an altogether different matter. Government and business are in a predatory partnership that extracts wealth to its own benefit. The fact that many suffer under the present system should occasion no surprise. Predatory ‘cronyism’ has existed throughout history and has been the main block to economic progress. . . . Lewis explains and documents [this] to the hilt. . . . Those inclined to dismiss Lewis’s claim as exaggerated must confront the solid body of evidence he amasses.”

David Gordon (Mises.org – 9/24/2013)

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“Hunter Lewis, co-founder of the investment firm Cambridge Associates, begins Crony Capitalism in America: 2008–2012 with cautionary tales of how crony capitalism has decimated economic growth in such countries as Argentina, Zimbabwe, and Russia. He is concerned that the United States is following the same path, with dire consequences in the offing.”

Murad J. Antia, CFA (CFA Institute)

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“If there’s one BOOK you must read this year MAKE SURE IT IS THIS ONE! Crony Capitalism in America by Hunter Lewis.”

The Black Conservative (9/28/2013)

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“Crony Capitalism in America is riveting. I could not put it down.”

Jeanne Drisko, MD (Riordan Professor of Orthomolecular Medicine and director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center)

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“It’s time that we reform this system. Lewis’s book aims to do just that. . . . It’s a book that lays out all the data needed to support the theory that cronyism is rampant and that cronyism is wrong.”

Too Big Has Failed (9/1/2013)

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“Lewis gives a brilliant account of the injustices that have rocked our economy, and it’s time we stood up and took notice.”

Roxanne Kade (8/30/2013)

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“It is a perfect introduction for the recently disillusioned American hoping to become more privy to the corruption and lobbying of Washington, DC . . . . I personally find the format and writing style of the book invaluable. . . . Thanks, Mr. Lewis!”

Goodreads Review, 5 Stars, Sept. 5, 2013

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“A well-documented and extensively researched book regarding the unholy alliance of the Mussolini/Hitlarian corporativist style of fascism between government and big business that exposes many industries not only in America but worldwide.” 

Goodreads Review, 5 Stars, Aug. 2, 2013

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“Wake up, America!”

“Most people are aware that Crony Capitalism exists in the USA. If your reaction is, “So what?”, then you need to read this book. Even I, who has followed the growth of the government-industry partnership for more than forty years, had no idea of the magnitude of the corruption of the American political system.

Hunter Lewis not only describes the depth of corruption, he names the people in government and the many private sector operators who use government to eliminate competition, gain economic advantage, and maximize profits – all at the expense of the consumers and taxpayers. The depth and breadth of the corruption is stunning.

My only criticism is a minor one and doesn’t reduce my rating of the book. Because of the time period on which he focuses, the examples are heavily weighted on the involvement of politicians in the Democratic Party. A few Republican politicians are discussed, it is true, but if the time period of focus were widened to include more than the Obama administration, I have no doubt there would have been equal treatment of the two political factions. If you are a partison politico, please realize that the corruption we experience today did not begin in the Obama years. Mr. Lewis acknowledges that, but the time period covered unbalances the report.

If you dare read this book, it will wake you up to reality. What we have today is not the political system the signers of the Declaration of Independence had in mind. Is it what you have in mind? If not, do something about it!!!”

Francis H. | Amazon Review (October 18, 203)