Big vs. small in the fight over regulation

Everybody has an ax to grind, but I do enjoy it when somebody grinds my ax for me:

When government gets bigger, big business typically benefits at the expense of smaller competitors, consumers, and taxpayers. Obamacare is demonstrating this rule.

Bloomberg reports today on how Medicare payment rules have led to hospital consolidation, with small practices selling out to big hospitals.

Word. The national debate over the appropriate level of regulation of any industry will clarify when more people understand that regulation almost always favors large and established organizations at the expense of smaller and otherwise nettlesome competitors. The left ought to worry about big companies crowding out the small because large companies have a much greater political capacity to frustrate lefty conceptions of the public good. The right ought to care because huge businesses tend to stifle innovation and deter the creation of new businesses. Both sides desperately need to recognize that every regulation has its price, and that price is often the concentration of economic power.