Feeding Frenzy: Rent Seeking on Capitol Hill

A November 11 article for the New York Times could be used as a textbook example of rent seeking.

Since the passage of the first bailout plan, lobbyist groups have been flooding the treasury with requests that they too receive a piece of the federal pie. Groups such as the National Marine Manufacturers Association find it unfair that the government is only allocating money to certain interests while arbitrarily ignoring other struggling businesses. Obviously, the government can't just give handouts to every business that has been hit by the financial crisis - yet this situation might cause one to wonder how the government, without being able to draw information from the price system, chooses which interests it thinks worthy of helping and which it does not.

Furthermore, the government is using my tax dollars to help prop up businesses they deem worthy. I have no say in whether I think the businesses should be given money or not. The whole system seems not only arbitrary then, but also unjust to the taxpayers.