Misunderstanding Capitalism

The world is on fire. I don't want to touch on the global warming debate here, well, I will briefly, but that's not what I mean, no literal fire here. But economically, socially and politically, the world is in dire straits, and I believe we're here because too many among us simply don't understand what capitalism is...

I've tried to touch on this frightening development in several posts already, but things are getting worse every day, so there's still a need to speak out about this. Since you always have to "follow the money" to really understand what's going on in the world, it should come as no surprise that economy, or the capitalist market economy, lies at the root of almost all problems of human kind. Since capitalism's latest bust cycle in 2008, the world has been set on fire. In an concerted effort to make up for lost ground, capitalism is making overtime, because it's the only way we know how to approach all of our problems. This is a fatal mistake, as none of our problems are solved, but instead made even worse.

Blind faith in capitalism and an unwillingness to make fundamental changes to our socioeconomic and political arrangements will be our undoing. The simple reality is that there will be no solutions to problems that are profitable as long as making profits is the very basis for our socioeconomic configuration. There's no solution for climate change as long as ruining the climate is so profitable. There's no solution for large scale disinformation as long as sensationalism is so profitable. There's no solution for the ugly face of authoritarianism as long as economic growth goes hand in hand with growth of the wealth gap. There's no solution for poverty, hunger and homelessness as long as rich people exist as a function of poverty existing.

Too many people believe that all these problems aren't caused or exacerbated by capitalism in and of itself, but by corrupt governments. And the tragedy is that they're not entirely wrong; governments are corrupt, and they are the biggest peddlers lies and half truths to serve their own class. But that's just half the answer; governments are corrupt because they serve the capitalist class. This is the natural outcome of a system that's based on the concentration of wealth, and that's exactly what capitalism is. It's a self enforcing loop that results in the late stage capitalist state we find ourselves in right now.

Concentration of wealth leads naturally to concentration of power, which in turn translates to legislation favoring the interests of the rich and powerful and thereby increasing even further the concentration of power and wealth. Various political measures, such as fiscal policy, deregulation, and rules for corporate governance are designed to increase the concentration of wealth and power. And that's what we've been seeing during the neoliberal era. It is a vicious cycle in constant progress. The state is there to provide security and support to the interests of the privileged and powerful sectors in society while the rest of the population is left to experience the brutal reality of capitalism. Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.

So, yes, in that sense capitalism actually works to undermine democracy. But what has just been described -- that is, the vicious cycle of concentration of power and wealth -- is so traditional that it is even described by Adam Smith in 1776. He says in his famous Wealth of Nations that, in England, the people who own society, in his days the merchants and the manufacturers, are "the principal architects of policy." And they make sure that their interests are very well cared for, however grievous the impact of the policies they advocate and implement through government is on the people of England or others. - from: Socialism for the Rich, Capitalism for the Poor: An Interview With Noam Chomsky

How I wish more people understand that very simple, very basic truth. I've written about it many times, talked about it many times with friends, colleagues and family, and some do understand but most simply can not imagine a world in which money and profits aren't the main drivers behind our decisions and actions. I'm a big fan of Jon Stewart, have been since his days on The Daily Show, but even he doesn't understand. On many occasions he does "speak truth to power," but then seeks answers from those in power within the capitalist framework. It's strange; he correctly identifies endless profit-seeking as the problem, but also says that we can't expect businesses to give that up, thereby simply acknowledging the status quo in which profits come before everything else, even the climate, human live and dignity. The below linked video examines this phenomenon in "The Problem with Jon Stewart". Thanks for reading and I'll see you tomorrow!

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