Libertarian / OWS Nexus
I continue to be fascinated by the frequent intersection of classical liberals / libertarians and Occupy Wall Street, at least in the diagnosis of what ails us. This post by Russ Roberts I linked previously is a great example. Both groups get energized by criticisms of the corporate state and crony government.
Where they diverge, of course, is in solution-making. The OWS folks see the root cause in the behavior and incentives of private corporations which corrupt government actors with their money, and thus advocate solutions which increase state power over these private entities. In contrast, libertarians like myself see the problem as too much state power to create winners and losers in the market and shift wealth from one group to another. Given this power, the financial incentives to harness it in ones favor are overwhelming and will never go away, so the only way to tackle it is to reduce the power to play favorites.
