THE BUSINESS OF BUSINESS

We have repeatedly pointed out that Mobil seems to be the only major oil company with any spine; most of the others, by their silence, seem to be saying "Please kick us harder." Among electric utilities, only American Electric Power has mounted an outstanding campaign ("We have more coal than they have oil") against the folly of making America's coal supplies a victim of environmentalist superstitions; the others, by their silence, seem to be saying "Please kick us harder." There is Warner & Swasey, and a few others; but they are the exceptions, not the rule.

For the rule is self-flagellation and groveling for more government shelter. The airlines snuggle cozily to the protective bosom of the CAB which is little more than a governmental price-fixing cartel. The ICC provides a similar service to the truckers. The opposition of business to the anti-competitive "Fair Trade" regulations is not exactly ferocious. From beneath a mountain of unsold cars, we hear Henry Ford II calling for a tax on gasoline. Advertising executives have almost unanimously voted Ralph Nader man of the year. Business Week, within the space of a few weeks, has applauded the networks for censoring offshore drilling commercials, berated AEP chairman Donald Cook for not knuckling under to the pressure tactics of EPA's astrologers and scrubber promoters, called on the government to legislate technology ("Washington must push Detroit to improve gasoline mileage"), condemned Mobil for buying Marcor rather than turning the other cheek, and gone overboard in lecturing business on "societal responsibilities."

Has the world gone crazy? Is business anti-business?

Not anti-business, just anti-free enterprise. So says Prof. Milton Friedman, one of this country's few economists with a head on his shoulders. In a recent interview given to Reason, he repeats his conviction that the two chief enemies of free enterprise are the intellectuals and businessmen, for opposite reasons. The intellectual wants freedom for himself, but planning boards for others. The businessman wants freedom for everybody else, but he himself is a special case, who ought to get special privileges from the government, a tariff, this, that and the other.

When Milton Friedman speaks, wise men listen. His argument (which we had to shorten considerably.here) is certainly borne out by the behavior of much of the business community in the past few years, and particularly in the energy crisis.

With enemies like American business, Ralph Nader needs no friends.