Re: not quite so extreme, please

Whether they have cozy deals to provide services to government at inflated rates, get subsidies like many owners of sports teams do, or can charge inflated rates for their services because unnecessary regulations that they helped write prevent new competitors from offering competitive products at lower prices, these are the disgusting parasites in the system, and the truly harmful ones. The parasites receiving government benefits (or being paid to distribute them) are only a symptom of the greater problem - and I believe that most could become productive members of society if the government simply got out of the way.

Spoken like a true free marketeer. However, just because the corruption isn't happening within and as a result of government, doesn't mean there won't be corruption. If any group can make gains for itself at the expense of other groups, and with minimized or diffused consequences, what's to stop it from doing so? The banks screwed over a lot of people by making them loans to by homes that they couldn't actually afford. (Then government stepped in and made the problem WORSE and perpetuated the faulty system with the bailouts, etc. but that's not the main point). A few people got rich at the expense of many others.

No matter what kind of economic system and no matter what its relationship to government, it is certain that one or more groups will discover and exploit a method for making some profit which is to the disadvantage of other people or groups.

And going beyond the issue of people, there's environmental concerns to consider. In the short term, what is most profitable and what engages the most people in productive work does not necessarily spell long term sustainability for the human race or for the planet.

So I guess I support a limited role for government in which it protects the rights of consumers from scams and safety hazards, and in which it protects the environment from eventual destruction.

But other than that - survival of the fittest is a good maxim.