Bloomberg on Good and Bad Competition

Two remarks stood out from Michael Bloomberg’s weekly interview with radio host John Gambling this morning. One explains why critics are opposing his run for a third term, and the other explains why he didn’t run for president. They both boil down to competition and fear of losing -- essentially, a political version of the free-market, rather than moral, argument.

In answering the critics of his plan to change the term limits law, Bloomberg said, “All this really does, John, is give the public more choice. And I find it fascinating, those who are arguing against it argue against it because they will have competition, which they didn't want. You know, competition is good for everybody.”

Later, in response to a caller, Bloomberg explained why he didn’t run for president this year.

“I think the honest answer is I didn’t think I could win. If I thought I could have won maybe I would have done it. But in a three-way race where a certain percentage of people always vote Democratic, a certain percentage will always vote Republican. You have to get an enormous percentage of the middle, and that's not possible.”