{"id":1705,"date":"2026-06-21T13:12:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T13:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1705"},"modified":"2026-06-21T13:12:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T13:12:31","slug":"how-a-bad-capitalist-handles-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1705","title":{"rendered":"How a bad capitalist handles competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ronald Reagan famously said the government often views business as something to first tax, then regulate, then subsidize.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more How Do We Balance the Federal Budget?<\/a><\/p>\n

According to The New York Times, the kratom industry has taken that to heart \u2014 and it\u2019s using the government to stop the competition from cutting into its margins.<\/p>\n

A decade ago, kratom was the new plant on the natural alternative painkiller market.\u00a0\u00a0It fought tooth and nail against state and federal regulations to become a semi-respected product for those who wanted pain relief without the opioid devastation.<\/p>\n

Part of what makes kratom so effective is 7-OH, an alkaloid that plays a key role in kratom\u2019s pain reduction potential.\u00a0\u00a0Only a small portion of the plant is this particular painkiller, so a few innovative people decided that sucking 7-OH out of the original plant and selling it as a separate and more powerful product would be a good business model.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The kratom industry doesn\u2019t like that 7-OH businesses are cutting into their profit margins.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of going back to their scrappy roots, companies are instead lobbying the Trump administration and state leaders to ban 7-OH \u2014 crony \u201ccapitalism\u201d at its best.\u00a0\u00a0One of their key arguments is that 7-OH\u2019s power makes it more addictive.<\/p>

Read more What the Iran MOU Is Really All About<\/a><\/p>\n

But let\u2019s be real…alcohol is addictive.\u00a0\u00a0So are cigarettes.\u00a0\u00a0Heck, so is kratom!\u00a0<\/p>\n

The impact with federal and state governments is mixed.\u00a0\u00a0For example, HHS secretary Robert Kennedy called Ohio governor Mike DeWine to ask him to lay off kratom…but not 7-OH.\u00a0\u00a0But \u2014 contrary to the Times\u2019 screaming about the administration being prone to bribes over generically stated \u201cscience\u201d \u2014 President Trump has indicated openness to 7-OH being regulated instead of banned.\r\nI\u2019ve never used drugs, and I firmly believe that government has a limited yet important role in society.\u00a0\u00a0Whether preserving fair competition, defending the rule of law, or earnestly regulating for consumer safety, government policies have a moral component that I appreciate as a Catholic.<\/p>\n

From what I\u2019ve seen, the most immoral part of the entire kratom\/7-OH debate is using government to block competition.\u00a0\u00a0Cronyism inverts the producer-consumer relationship by telling the consumer indirectly whom he must buy from, at artificially (unjust) elevated prices.\u00a0\u00a0It also often ends up protecting players that were once scrappy but now are sclerotic industry giants that can\u2019t get out of their own way.<\/p>\n

You see this issue across industries:<\/p>\n