A striking quote from Joel Bakan, author of the book — The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, which formed the basis and research for the film, The Corporation.

The notion that the “free-market approach” is a way of getting government off our backs is just plain wrong. When you deregulate, you’re not reducing the state’s involvement one iota. You’re merely shifting whose interest government is acting for.

Every time the state rolls back standards for environmental quality, worker safety, or consumer protection in the name of deregulation, what’s actually happening is that the state is creating more rights for corporations, and throwing more power behind the enforcement of those rights.

In a deregulated economy, the state remains heavily involved in the economy, but now on the side of corporations rather than on the side of citizens and the environment.

Now you know what to say to those naive believers in deregulation.

This quote comes from a Q&A in the May-June issue of Utne, pg. 49 [paragraph breaks mine].

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