Corporatism isn’t the “end result” of markets, it’s the end result of the State having the power to sell favors. A corporation can’t force anyone to do anything.
It can only ask (lobby) when the government has something valuable to sell:
Subsidies
Bailouts
Regulatory exemptions
Exclusive licenses/contracts
Barriers that block new competitors
If the State has those levers, corporations will always spend money to capture them.
If the State doesn’t have those levers, there’s nothing to buy, no capture possible. The free market’s “protection” is simple:
- Remove the power the government has to pick winners.
- Corporations are forced to compete instead of buy influence.
Make the State too weak to be weaponized.
If you want to actually kill corporatism:
End subsidies
End corporate tax loopholes
End government-granted monopolies
Cut regulatory barriers that block startups and small firms
Stop the Fed from printing money to inflate asset prices and bail out failed firms
Every time the government decides who gets helped and who gets hurt, big corporations win because they can afford to lobby.
Every time the government is forced to treat everyone the same, big corporations have to compete like everyone else.
The problem isn’t “markets.”
The problem is a market rigged by the State.
What protection does the free market offer against corporatism? It seems like it’ll always be the end result. Corporations build wealth, influence politicians, so on. We can ban PACs but if the richest individuals in society work in corporations then what difference