Marco Rubio Warns About Dangers of Globalist and Libertarian Cronyism Approach to Big Business

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans
Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP
Wendell Husebø

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) spoke to the Republican Study Committee on Wednesday and explained why the globalist and libertarian hands-off approach to large business is dangerous.

“I’m not against big corporations. I think they’re an important part of our economy,” Rubio said. “But I’m not blind to the fact that their CEO considers themselves a citizen of the world. And for them, it doesn’t matter to make a billion dollars employing someone in Indiana or a billion dollars employing someone in India.”

Rubio’s term for his business and economic worldview is coined “common-good capitalism,” which contends big business has interests outside the American worker and, therefore, must not be allowed to manipulate the free-market system to enjoy competitive advantages by special laws to increase profit at the expense of small business and the American worker.

The Washington Examiner reports, “Rubio pointed to current levels of unemployment and reports of people declining to go back to work because of increased benefits from the government as an example of his point.”

“It cannot be the sort of traditional, ‘The market by itself will always be right,'” Rubio said.

“That was probably true when what was good for a big corporation was automatically good for America,” Rubio said of the changing nature of big business.

“But when it reaches an outcome that’s bad for Americans or bad for America, then our challenge is to determine: What is the proper role of government? Not cronyism,” Rubio continued. “Not, ‘Let’s put a bunch of money in this industry because a friend of mine from college runs it,’ or ‘they hired the right lobbyist.’ But what are the right industries that America can partner with?”

“The challenge we have as conservatives, as Republicans, is we believe in the market. The market is the most efficient allocator of capital the world has ever known and the biggest eradicator of poverty in the world has ever known,” Rubio said. He continued:

But what happens when the market outcome, as occurs from time to time, the most efficient outcome, is not in our national interest or runs counter to our national security? Because the market is pretty clear it is more efficient to buy basic pharmaceutical ingredients from China.

Chairman of the Republican Study Committee Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) praised Rubio for his position.

“This is a new moment in the conservative movement,” Banks said. “I don’t believe that anyone has captured it, or articulated better about where the movement is going, better than Sen. Rubio has in the Senate.”

Rubio’s common-good capitalism was detailed in 41 pages by his Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship staff in 2019 amid concerns of big business stock buybacks that, they argued, can potentially hurt the American worker by reinvesting earnings in businesses, disadvantaging the American workers’ community and family.

Rubio wrote of his plan, “This report details a decline in domestic investment and makes the case that we must prioritize investment in long-term capabilities in order to ensure future prosperity for American workers and communities.”

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