In an early December Wall Street Journal opinion page article General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner...tosses in the obligatory call for a "level playing field." The term is cliché, but it is an extremely misleading one. The sports analogy implies that everyone should be required to play by the same rules; that all competitors should have approximately the same equipment for the contest. Who could object to that? Well, anyone who understands that this is simply not how the world works.
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When a business leader, politician or pundit calls for a 'level playing field', he or she is exposing either a startling ignorance of real world economics or, more likely, displaying a truly disingenuous attitude toward the facts. My home state of Indiana is at a terrible disadvantage to Hawaii in attracting tourists. Should Hoosiers insist that Uncle Sam provide a level playing field? We could limit the number of people who can go to Hawaii each year or make airlines charge more to fly people there. It sounds stupid, but then so do quotas and tariffs.
Oh, but GM is special.
Mr. Cloud may get famous and rich, but it won't be due to the favor of multi-national corporations who belly up to Uncle Sam's trough.
Can you see why Ayn Rand wanted to see the word "religion" replaced with "commerce" in the First Amendment?
