The left frequently targets conservatives as friends of big business who are willing to screw the rest of the country if it helps their pals on Wall Street. Sometimes this is accurate, but it’s just as true, if not more so, on the left. You see, the real friend of Big Business is Big Government. They are like two peas in a pod.

It is precisely the power of Big Government that Big Business desires. In the private market place, the only power business has is the power of persuasion. With government, they acquire the power of force. It is almost inevitable that government initiatives aimed at certain sectors will be hijacked by the major interest in those sectors. Thus, the surest answer to protecting against the interests of Big Business is to limit the size, scope and power of government.

Tabitha Hale at FreedomWorks describes Obama’s recent appointment of GE’s Jeffrey Immelt as an example of crony capitalism:

Last week, President Obama appointed General Electric’s CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, to head his Council on Competitiveness and Jobs. An Immelt appointment is an obvious rent seeking arrangement between Big Government and Big Business. This could not have been a more clear product of a crony corporatist relationship, and it is one that has no place in government that professes to value the free market. So now, we fight it.

…Jeffrey Immelt has been unapologetic about using the government to grow his corporation. The L.A. Times reminds us that last year Immelt was quoted in the Atlantic saying that he wants GE and government to work “in concert,” claiming that it didn’t make him a “traitor” or a “bad guy”… just “practical that that’s gotta happen.”

Ben Howe also put together this excellent web ad on the topic for FreedomWorks: