New Report: Business-Government Partnerships a ‘Big Mistake’

While Comrade Neanderton’s cronyistic plans to develop ‘partnerships’ with NZ businesses are being drawn up, new Libertarianz Leader Peter Cresswell highlights a recent US conference warning of the dangers of just this cronyistic nanny-ism; warnings, that Cresswell says are directly relevant to NZ businesses contemplating currying favour with the new Commissar of Planning.

“The media and political pundits want Silicon Valley to become more engaged in the politics of Washington,” warily notes TJ Rodgers, President and CEO of high tech high flyer Cypress Semiconductor, and guest speaker at the annual Cato Institute-Forbes ASAP Conference on Technology and Society.

In his just published paper ‘Washington DC versus Silicon Valley’ TJ Rodgers says:

"CEOs are constantly told to stop sitting on the political sidelines; recognize the value of "industry-government partnerships"; and become donors, lobbyists, and recipients of subsidies."

But he warns:

"We could make no bigger mistake than to "normalize relations with Congress and the White House."

"The political scene in Washington is antithetical to the core values that drive our success in the international marketplace and risks converting entrepreneurs into statist businessmen.

"The collectivist notion that drives policymaking in Washington is the irrevocable enemy of high-technology capitalism and the wealth creation process.

"Silicon Valley CEOs should withdraw from Technet, the high-tech lobbying association; oppose corporate welfare programs; and stand together to vigorously defend companies like Microsoft, Intel, and other high-tech firms when they are under assault by the government".

Basing his arguments solidly on libertarian foundations, Rodgers notes that high technology businesses have nothing to gain and everything to lose by prostrating themselves before politicians and crawling for their favour: “Free minds and free markets are the moral foundation that has made our success possible. We must never allow those freedoms to be diminished for any reason”.

The complete paper can be found on line at http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/silvalley.pdf

ENDS

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