For anyone worried about the U.S. government tinkering dangerously with the private sector, check out this Wall Street Journal article by Bob Davis and Jon Hilsenrath, “Federal Intervention Pits ‘Gets’ versus ‘Get-Nots’”. In it they describe the many ways the U.S. corporate landscape is shifting as government money floods the market.
As Davis and Hilsenrath put it, “The massive intervention has shifted the way companies do business in a host of ways -- not all of them intended by the government. Increasingly, companies big and small are competing on the basis of their ability to tap government money. A divide is opening between gets and get-nots.”
The article then describes how some farm-equipment firms jockeyed to buy thrifts (and therefore qualify for financial-services bailout bucks); how consumers purchasing guns on credit had those purchased underwritten in part by bailout funds; and how some smaller firms may get squeezed out by larger, federally-supported counterparts. Interestingly, it also discusses how some firms are parlaying their refusal of bailout money into a competitive advantage.
Have you heard any weird tales of how all this federal intervention has trickled down into ordinary business life?
----------------------------------------------------
Learn new trading strategies from the Options Guy, or hone your skills at TradeKing All-Stars. You can also follow us on Twitter.
TradeKing provides self-directed investors with discount brokerage services, and does not make recommendations or offer investment, financial, legal or tax advice.
(c) TradeKing, Member FINRA, ISE and SIPC. http://www.tradeking.com
