Government’s effect on the culture is not always direct, as in the funding of so-called art that’s repugnant to the great majority of the public—it also exerts its control by heavy-handed economic regulation, James Lakely writes.
The heavy hand of government often weighs upon the culture through the regulation of companies that produce and distribute cultural products. That’s the case with recent activities in Congress intervening into the business of making it convenient for consumers to buy tickets to events.
The spectacle of companies that wish to merge having first to make a forced pilgrimage to Capitol Hill to kiss the rings of Congressional overlords is a common and revolting sight.
Executives of Ticketmaster were stuck in that position last week, forced to justify to would-be trustbusters in Congress the company’s proposed merger with fellow online ticket seller Live Nation. Ticketmaster’s CEO has said, “This business is in far worse shape than people realize,” but members of Congress think they know better and must make sure that nobody does anything in the United States without the express permission of Congress.
Brilliantly exemplifying both arrogance and grotesque, willful, even proud ignorance, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) exclaimed at the hearing, “Bruce Springsteen said Ticketmaster abused his fans, and I agree with The Boss.”
Right you are, Senator. Springsteen is widely acknowledged as one of the nation’s most prestigious authorities on market economics and antitrust law. Just listen to any of his albums, and you’ll drop your copies of The Wealth of Nations and Capitalism and Freedom in deep admiration of his brilliance and the recognition that now you know all there is to know about economics.
Congress is absolutely not justified in meddling with such relatively routine business transactions as the proposed Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger, especially in the current dire economic climate in which many companies are faced with the decision to merge or die. The only “Boss” that counts in the real world is the efficient and perfectly wise master known as the market.
—Jim Lakely