The conflation of the American economy with free markets is irritating. Everything is regulated, taxed, licensed, and subjected to price controls to benefit the politically-connected at the expense of the Everyman. Laissez-faire it ain't, but freedom is always treated as a bogeyman by those demanding more power.

Instead, we are told a parasitic political class can magically make us all prosper if we ignore history and let themanage even more tightly. These corporate monsters are direct consequences of government laws and government fiscal policy, yet they are held up as proof we need more laws and fiscal surveillance.

"The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else."—Frederic Bastiat