The late, great Milton Friedman used to frequently remind people that we don’t have a true free market system here in the United States of America. The heavy regulatory hand of the federal government tends to be a drag on the whole “free” thing. There are other factors muddying up the waters, but that’s one of the biggest ones. Still, we have a much freer system than a lot of countries, as well as a significant amount of the population that aspires to bring about more freedom.
Some industries operate in a more laissez-faire fashion than others. Oddly, polluted as it is with raging progressive socialists, the entertainment industry prefers to gorge itself on as many free market principles as possible. I should clarify that I am discussing the upper echelon of the industry here — the famous actors, producers, and directors. There are a lot of people in Hollywood who are working for a living, almost all of them behind the cameras. Many of them are conservative, too. We had a pretty good-sized secret Hollywood conservative underground for years (sadly, the Never Trumpers ruined it).
When a high-profile actor or actress knows that he or she is in demand, you better not get in the way. Example:
Hollywood elites are raging capitalists when it comes to their own self-interests, yet almost all of them support progressive socialist, anti-capitalist policies and politicians. https://t.co/sAPqUWhEBW
— SFK (@stephenkruiser) April 29, 2026
“I knew it was going to be a hit,” Streep told host Jenna Bush Hager (who herself has a cameo in “The Devil Wears Prada 2”). “I read the script — the script was great. They called me up, and they made an offer, and I said ‘No. I’m not going to do it.’” Streep said she foresaw the film’s success — and wanted to be paid accordingly. “I wanted to see if I doubled my ask, and they went right away and said ‘Sure.’”
The demand for Meryl Streep was high, the supply of Meryl Streep was low, so those who were paying for Meryl Streep had to fork over more money. It’s a brief free market economics script that’s Oscar-worthy. In differing financial degrees, variations on this are being played out in the entertainment industry on an hourly basis almost 24/7.
Here is the maddening part of all of this: Meryl Streep is a longtime supporter of the Democrats and every bad idea they have. Streep was part of the Hillary Clinton rah-rah squad at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. She is also a public sufferer of Trump Derangement Syndrome. There is no daylight between mainstream Democrats and the once-fringe progressive socialists in the party, so Streep is a typical leftist elite hypocrite.
Give me all of mine, but you can’t have any of yours.
Wealthy Americans who can afford to be socialism fetishists are a huge contributing factor to the rise of the progressive left and the decline of America it wants to bring about. It wasn’t the poor and downtrodden who propelled Zohran “Commie” Mamdani into office in New York City. Generational-wealth Upper Eastsiders who have no appreciation for the real value of money voted for him, too.
Relevant: New York City Will Survive Mamdani, but It Might Not Want To
Some of the most full-throated Hollywood supporters of the Democrats are actors who became stars at a young age. They will all regale interviewers with stories about their “struggle years” and the regular jobs that they had to work. What they call struggle, most Americans call a typical workday. The reality is that most of them became millionaires in their twenties. Some had to wait until — Quelle horreur! — their early thirties before becoming what most of the population would consider rich.
Socialist/Communist societies all have wealthy elites, of course. Maybe the Hollywood types are planning on being among them. However, if they’d read any history books not written by Howard Zinn, they’d know that it is the artists, writers, and entertainers who are the first to get the harsh gulag treatment.
That’s why there is still no thriving stand-up comedy scene in China.
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Editor’s Note: Hollywood, academia, and liberal elites are out of touch with the average American.
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