Cronies here, cronies there, cronies everywhere

The "silly season" of politics begins with silliness, courtesy of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.  Mr. Romney was head-spinningly silly last week when he called President Obama a "crony capitalist."  He made a silly statement within an interesting political context that is not well-described by daily news sound-bites.  Which makes it worthwhile for discussion here.

If memory serves, for the last three years or more the prejudicial label applied to the President by the anti-Obama crowd has been "socialist."  Now, it seems that the leading candidate from the other side is blaming Mr. Obama for being a capitalist.

Both labels cannot be accurate; it's either one or the other, or neither.

What is a "crony capitalist" anyway?  Sitting next to me is a ponderous book called Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary.  It contains no entry for "crony capitalist," but it does define the word "crony" in this way:  "a close friend or companion; chum.  --Syn. pal, buddy."  The same source defines the word "capitalist" with three meanings in this manner:  "1. a person who has capital, esp. extensive capital, invested in business enterprises.  2. an advocate of capitalism.  3. a very wealthy person."

A crony capitalist, then, is a capitalist who invests with, or does business with, friends, pals, buddies and chums.

I have friends, pals and buddies, so apparently I have cronies.  And I call myself a capitalist, although am not able to aspire to Webster's definition #3 of that term.

Mr. Romney is a very wealthy person, and he probably considers himself a capitalist.  He certainly fits the definitions.  Years ago he founded the firm Bain Capital with a friend, or maybe it was with a pal or a buddy.  In any case, it sounds like Mr. Romney is a "crony capitalist."