The venerable Mr. Hartmann warns of a plan by Big Business to overthrow democracy. It reminded me of a theory of capital, we’ll call it Dave’s Theory, because no one else would be associated with it, but it’s a theory that forces a total rethink of capitalism.
This theory states that capital does not care about capitalism; only about getting more capital.
Let’s get real: we’re all about a billion dollars short of being actual capitalists. Non-billionaires that expound capitalism’s virtues like reducing taxes for billionaires, are merely lobbying on their behalf for free. That doesn’t mean they’re wrong, just that one cannot say shit like tax cuts trickle down while refusing to acknowledge the lie.
Back to capital/capitalism.
Capital does not care about capitalism unless today, capitalism is the path to more capital. Tomorrow, it might be a taxpayer-subsidized government contract. The day after, it’s rent-seeking. Next week, it’s a fat contribution to a politician who will dismantle the EPA or oppose minimum wage increases...or just an envelope full of cash.
Maybe it’s commodity dumping or discharging toxic waste into a river at midnight. It could also be destroying or even killing a competitor.
There are far more and easier ways of capital getting more capital than capitalism.
On that basis, it’s essential to remember that capital’s greatest enemy is labor and naturally, labor’s ability to organize. Forget Labor markets will find equalibrium in markets and Government intervention in capitalism destroys free markets. These are the words of either losers repeating what they last heard on Fox News or capital intending to deceive us into believing that it gives a shit about democracies and civilization.
Why would capital not care about democracies? Because there is a critical point at which capital decides that it can take its money and walk away. After wealth inequality hits its theoretical limit, let the 99% suckers fight over the remaining 10% of total wealth.
As Peter Thiel put it, “I no longer think that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
Take the man at his word, people. We, the People, are his enemy. A dollar toward your welfare is a dollar he can’t have. But that’s ok! He’s got plenty enough to spend on making sure that if there’s an extra dollar floating around somewhere, that he’s first in line to take it. He will buy your block and rent back to you. He will buy up and bury his competitors in a hole in the desert — to make sure that you can only buy from him.
He’s very good at getting more capital and he doesn’t stop until he decides he has enough or democracy stands against his “freedom.”
More likely the former.