The only way for cartels or monopolies to avoid competition over the long term is to obtain government protection. All too often, politicians and bureaucrats readily oblige by imposing coercive regulations. They tend to hide behind all sorts of excuses—safeguarding jobs, ensuring public health and safety, or protecting nationals from foreign competitors. Yet, in reality, inhibiting competition is most often rewarding for regulators, who obtain moral or financial support for the next election campaign or secure lucrative consultancies. Economists call this �?SPAN>rent seeking�?and point out that it is invariably at the expense of the many buyers, who are often unaware of the costs inflicted by political interference. Interventions may offer comfort to a few suppliers, but they harm the wealth of nations, which benefits the many. Most economists, therefore, consider untrammeled competition a public good that governments should protect and cultivate. This conclusion has, for example, inspired political attempts to control mergers, monopolies, union power, and cartels through internal competition policy; and the creation of the World Trade Organization, which was formed to protect international competition from opportunistic governments.  Competition   Wolfgang Kasper