Rent seeking existed long before the term ever existed just like fascism. It has always been bad
IIRC, Adam Smith (from “Wealth Of Nations”) decried rent-seeking behavior and implicitly defined a “free market” as one without (free of) rent-seeking, as a form on monopoly, among other things.
So, yes, it was a recognizable problem in Capitalism before it was ever given name, and I wasn’t trying to deny that, just to note that the whole time I’ve been alive it’s consistently gotten worse.
As it has gotten worse my whole life. Adam Smith could have never have conceptualized mega corporations. In fact, corporate law at that time would have never allowed for them to exist.
IIRC, Adam Smith (from “Wealth Of Nations”) decried rent-seeking behavior and implicitly defined a “free market” as one without (free of) rent-seeking, as a form on monopoly, among other things.
So, yes, it was a recognizable problem in Capitalism before it was ever given name, and I wasn’t trying to deny that, just to note that the whole time I’ve been alive it’s consistently gotten worse.
As it has gotten worse my whole life. Adam Smith could have never have conceptualized mega corporations. In fact, corporate law at that time would have never allowed for them to exist.