John Stossel on How Central Planners Kill Innovation

Internet companies spend more on lobbying than Wall Street or defense contractors.

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Today in the U.S., innovation tends to occur in the freest sectors of the economy, while sectors most closely affiliated with government stagnate. Because LASIK eye surgery is largely funded by customers, it's improving by leaps and bounds. Government-subsidized hospitals, by contrast, can barely share equipment without running into a thicket of regulations controlling collaboration.

It's no coincidence, writes John Stossel, that so much innovation happens in cities far from Washington, D.C. But now the central planners want control over the Internet. Today, in response, Internet companies spend more on lobbying than Wall Street or defense contractors.