Editing Crony capitalism (section)

=== Socialist critique ===
Critics of crony capitalism including [[socialism|socialists]] and [[anti-capitalism|anti-capitalists]] often assert that so-called crony capitalism is simply the inevitable result of any strictly capitalist system. [[Jane Jacobs]] described it as a natural consequence of collusion between those managing [[power (sociology)|power]] and trade while [[Noam Chomsky]] has argued that the word crony is superfluous when describing capitalism.<ref>[http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/20081114.htm "Black Faces in Limousines:" A Conversation with Noam Chomsky] from Chomsky.info. Retrieved June 5, 2009</ref> Since businesses make money and money leads to political power, business will inevitably use their power to influence governments. Much of the impetus behind [[campaign finance reform in the United States]] and in other countries is an attempt to prevent economic power from being used to take political power.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-05-14 |title=Influence of Big Money {{!}} Brennan Center for Justice |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/reform-money-politics/influence-big-money |access-date=2023-06-28 |website=www.brennancenter.org |language=en}}</ref>

[[Ravi Batra]] argues that "all official economic measures adopted since 1981 ... have devastated the middle class" and that the [[Occupy Wall Street]] movement should push for their repeal and thus end the influence of the super wealthy in the political process which he considers a manifestation of crony capitalism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.truth-out.org/occupy-wall-street-movement-and-coming-demise-crony-capitalism/1318341474 |title=The Occupy Wall Street Movement and the Coming Demise of Crony Capitalism |first=Ravi |last=Batra |publisher=[[Truthout]] |date=October 11, 2011 |access-date=October 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013183247/http://www.truth-out.org/occupy-wall-street-movement-and-coming-demise-crony-capitalism/1318341474 |archive-date=October 13, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Socialist economists, such as [[Robin Hahnel]], have criticized the term as an ideologically motivated attempt to cast what is in their view the fundamental problems of capitalism as avoidable irregularities.<ref>{{cite web |title=Let's Review |url=http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/bpn/znet/april08.txt |author=Robin Hahnel |quote=IMF officials Michel Camdessus and Stanley Fischer were quick to explain that the afflicted economies had only themselves to blame. Crony capitalism, lack of transparency, accounting procedures not up to international standards, and weak-kneed politicians too quick to spend and too afraid to tax were the problems according to IMF and US Treasury Department officials. The fact that the afflicted economies had been held up as paragons of virtue and IMF/World Bank success stories only a year before, the fact that neoliberalism's only success story had been the Newly Industrialized Countries (NIC's) who were now in the tank, and the fact that the IMF and Treasury department story just didn't fit the facts since the afflicted economies were no more rife with crony capitalism, lack of transparency, and weak-willed politicians than dozens of other economies untouched by the Asian financial crisis, simply did not matter. |author-link=Robin Hahnel |access-date=2011-12-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060910183553/http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/bpn/znet/april08.txt |archive-date=2006-09-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Socialist economists dismiss the term as an [[apologetic]] for failures of [[neoliberal]] policy and more fundamentally their perception of the weaknesses of market allocation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rodrik |first=Dani |date=2017-11-14 |title=The fatal flaw of neoliberalism: it's bad economics |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/14/the-fatal-flaw-of-neoliberalism-its-bad-economics |access-date=2023-06-28 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>