For theorist Frederic Bastiat, legalized plunder occurs when the law is perverted to accommodate certain groups. Bastiast asserts that self-preservation is a common goal of all men and a consequence of this is "to live and develop at the, when they can, at the expense of one another"(128). While man aims to seize any opportunity of success through his own faculties, the origin of plunder comes from man essentially looking for the easy way out and finding success through the exploit of another man's faculties.
Bastiat's theories on legalized plunder isn't too far off from describing current American politics. In this case, the first thing that comes to mind is big business tax breaks. Ben Hallman's article, "Boeing Got $7,250 In Tax Breaks For Every $1 It Spent Lobbying," describes the incredible efforts of one of America's biggest company to save money at the expense of US taxpayers. For Boeing, they knew there they held the upper hand as Hallman explains Seattle governor estimated 20,000 jobs and more than $20 billion would be lost economic activity if Boeing left and outsourced production jobs.
After impressive lobbying efforts Boeing was able to earn a $8.7 billion tax subsidy that will also keep production in the Seattle area. According to Hallman, this subsidy comes with a price that Seattle citizens will be paying as Washington has the fourth-highest sales tax rate in the US.
Boeing is an excellent example of what Bastiat feared - man's naked greed. "Labor being itself a pain, and man being naturally inclined to avoid pain, it follows, and history proves it, that wherever plunder is less burdensome than labor, it prevails; and neither religions nor morality can, in this case, prevent it form prevailing (128).
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