June 8, 2010 11:40AM 

# Political Economy in Three Panels 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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![Media Name: Agnes1.gif](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/Agnes1.gif?itok=MZBQKEVh) 

Indeed, every improved product or service may make us no longer value products and services we previously used. That’s what Schumpeter called “creative destruction.” A longer version of the same phenomenon was on the front page of Monday’s *Wall Street Journal*, in an article about how [Wal-Mart’s rivals secretly fund “grassroots local campaigns”](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704875604575280414218878150.html) against Wal-Mart, organized by political consulting firms, to protect the existing firms’ positions. Every innovator puts somebody out of business, as [Agnes’s friend recognizes](http://www.arcamax.com/agnes/s-741118-697698).

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