I absolutely agree with Lurker that it is terrible that corporations (or more accurately, the owners and management of corporations) exert influence on government and are able to secure special benefits for themselves at the expense of others. Hell, that is the whole point of a corporation -- it is an "entity" that is chartered by the government in order to give special benefits to the people who own and run it. This collusion between business and State is such a bad problem because the State has the power to regulate the economy and make or break businesses. This power gives big business a huge incentive to exert influence over politicians. It is an issue of diffuse costs and concentrated benefits -- the benefits are concentrated in a powerful few who have a strong incentive to lobby for their pecuniary interests, while the costs are spread over every productive individual in society, who each bear a small enough portion of the liability that they have a relatively weak incentive to fight it. Besides, productive individuals are being drained by ten thousand other concentrated interests, who all want some sort of special State benefits... it is all a bit much for an individual person to fight.
But take away the power the government has over the economy by erecting a barrier of separation between economy and State, and the corruption goes away. If the pols don't have the power to make or break anybody in the market, there would be no reason for anybody to lobby them for corrupt legislation. If I had it my way, there would be no corporations. You could put together a business that operates in a somewhat similar way through good old fashioned contracts if unfettered freedom of association were allowed, but there would be no government permission slip, or special benefits/duties. The owners and operators of a business would have the same rights as all other individuals, and no more.
But take away the power the government has over the economy by erecting a barrier of separation between economy and State, and the corruption goes away. If the pols don't have the power to make or break anybody in the market, there would be no reason for anybody to lobby them for corrupt legislation. If I had it my way, there would be no corporations. You could put together a business that operates in a somewhat similar way through good old fashioned contracts if unfettered freedom of association were allowed, but there would be no government permission slip, or special benefits/duties. The owners and operators of a business would have the same rights as all other individuals, and no more.