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to expand his business and employ disabled vets to build more chairs. What’s standing in his way is crony capitalism. Government is by far the single largest purchaser of power wheelchairs, through Medicare. If a company can’t get Medicare reimbursement for its power wheelchairs, that company can’t be competitive. But getting certified in order to be reimbursed by Medicare can cost a manufacturer up to $1 million in meeting government safety and other regulations. This government-created barrier to entry into the power wheelchair market has allowed the big manufacturers who can afford to get into the market to hugely inflate their costs without fear of being undercut by competition. One report found that Medicare pays these manufacturers four times what it costs to make power wheelchairs. The bill for this overpayment, of course, is ultimately paid by all of us. Meanwhile, Brad Soden, an innovator, entrepreneur and humanitarian—everything we should be encouraging in our economy—is frozen out of the market.

    We’re all familiar with government picking winners and losers in the “green” energy market—mostly losers, it turns out, like the failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra. The rampant crony capitalism in the green energy field is only the beginning of the story, however. As I will discuss in Chapter Five, the Affordable Care Act contains a provision that has been called a “slush fund” to guarantee that participating insurance companies don’t lose their shirts from Obamacare. When I introduced legislation to remove this bailout provision from the law, I was flooded with calls from insurance company executives telling me they couldn’t participate in Obamacare without the provision. These were the same executives, by the way, who had lobbied to get the law passed. The “slush fund” was their reward for supporting the law. With it, they won’t lose money even if premium prices go through the roof. Instead, the taxpayers will pay the bill.
    Crony capitalism takes what we need most for our economy today—innovation, investment and a level playing field for competition—and squelches it. When big government and big business get together, political conformity—not innovation—is rewarded. Government spending crowds out private investment and companies that aren’t favored by government can’t attract private investors anyway. Most blatantly of all, this competition is the opposite of fair. To “unrig the game,” as Senator Warren might put it, we need less investment in government and more investment in America. We need to reward innovation, not political access. Most of all, we need a level playing field for U.S. businesses, large and small.
    Ending crony capitalism is made more difficult by the fact that these programs are always passed in the name of helping the middle class and struggling Americans. To sign the ineffectual, pork-filled 2009 stimulus bill, President Obama traveled all the way to Denver instead of walking to the Rose Garden. Why? His press secretary explained that the trip “shines a light on the issues that average Americans are facing.” It makes me think of an “average” American family I’ve become acquainted with, the Broyleses, and how they fared under another law that was passed to “help” them.
    Daniel and Becky own a small home furnishings store in Orlando called Foreign Accents. They sell unique handcrafted items from all over the world. The recession hit their business hard. Walk-in traffic to their store vanished. Longtime clients dropped them, and their biggest contracts were terminated. To survive, they turned to putting expenses on multiple credit cards. They knew it was a desperate move, but they had no choice. Sure enough, it backfired. After a few missed payments, the banks hiked their interest rates and the debt on their shoulders began to compound.
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