I am all in favor of the survival instinct in the marketplace. All companies should be executing strategies that will result in their survival.

But the idea that government should “protect businesses” seems very dangerous to me. Businesses come and go. Jobs come and go. Products and services come and go. That’s the way of capitalism.

Our government stepped in and protected a bunch of businesses during the financial crisis. Examples are Citibank, AIG, and General Motors. In a time of financial panic, government does have a role of restoring confidence and we can argue whether those actions were necessary or not to do that.

But the financial panic is long gone. We still have big economic issues in this country and it would be a mistake for our government to continue to protect businesses and jobs now that markets are functioning again.

If the telcos and cable companies can’t run profitable businesses without government protections, then I think we should let them go under and allow entrepreneurs to pick up their assets and make them work instead.