THE PRIVATE SECTOR IS
KILLING CAPITALISM & DEMOCRACY
Many forms of Government have
been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends
that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy
is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been
tried from time to time.
- PM
Winston Churchill
Well, now that we have seen each
other, said the
unicorn, if you’ll believe in me, I’ll
believe in you. Is that a bargain?
Yes, if you like, said Alice.
- Lewis
Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
By J.M. Hamilton (1-7-2018)
Cue the Prosecco, pour the Vivaldi, and taste the Fire & Fury.
We've just passed through
the Looking-Glass, and the GOP has spun so many lies - for so long -
that what is down is up, and what is right (wing) is clearly wrong. A Hatter - given to fabulous story telling & lies - resides in the White House.
Time has a way of revealing old
truths and new ones too.
Why it seems like it was yesterday that POTUS Reagan said these famous words, during his first Inaugural Address:
In this present crisis, government is not the solution
to our problem; government is the problem.
And over the span of time,
perhaps Mr. Reagan was right. JMH is not into absolutes or broad
generalizations, but look around the globe: Western democracy, as we know it,
and mainstream democratic political parties, are in retreat (propped up by
deceit, fiction, lies, and vast sums of money).
Yes, the stock market continues
to soar, fueled by artificial sweeteners and the Grand Enabler: central bank
printing presses. Other than that, is
there much good to say?
Not really. National debt spirals out of control.
One thing is for certain, where
Western democracies have been co-opted, purchased, and run by, and
for, a global oligarchy - or worse still, a kleptocracy - are we
really any better than any alternative forms of government?
JMH has taken more than a couple
of shots over the years - not at the Chinese people (whom I have the utmost
admiration and respect for) - but at China's government.
Authoritarian & totalitarian
governments are so passe, until they
are not.
My freedom loving, and civil-libertarian, heart just hates the thought that
a gang of wealthy elites - in a one party state - can run a government and
country for their own benefit, while crushing all dissent, smearing all competitors, and censoring news and information flow.
But who - or what political party - am I
describing? China's communist elite or
today's Republican Party?
A Republican Party that is hell bent on banning/eliminating words from government
reports, ramping up libel laws (to crush dissent), and allowing the
consolidation of information & news media, so that The Republican Party
narrative can be carefully choreographed, controlled, and trotted out?
And let's not forget the GOP's
revocation of the net neutrality laws, which essentially means a cartel of
Internet service providers can, and will, have the means to control Internet
news content and information flow. (And the poster boy for Orwell's nightmare - a man presently afraid to show his face in public. Why that would be the lobbyist - and mouthpiece - for the Internet cartel, and current FCC head, Mr. Ajit Pai)
If Reagan were alive to see what
Republicans have become, he'd switch back to the Democratic Party. By
today's standard, Reagan is a Democrat.
Not that Clintonian Dems are so
much better, but Mr. Trump and everything the Republican Party has come to
stand for (in essence, obtaining obscene wealth at all costs & at the
expense of many) is starting to make China's Marxists look almost contained,
controlled, and professional.
At the end of the day both Republicans and
the Communist Party serve a ruling kleptocracy; at the end of the day, both
parties prove Reagan's maxim that our governments - controlled by ruling
& unaccountable cadres - are the problem.
But it doesn't have to be this
way. A few simple reforms - like a popularly elected SCOTUS, removing unseemly
sums of money from politics, and a US Senate that is allocated
by population - and the US government can be shiny and new again.
Government doesn't have to be
evil or wrong; government can be made to serve the 99%.
That is to say, government is
only as good as the people who serve, and who have the moral courage to
speak their minds. Democracy just happens to be the least worst choice of
all alternative forms of government.
But introduce vast sums of money
into a Democracy and we become little better than an authoritarian or totalitarian dictatorship, ruled by a moneyed elite.
Much is made of the “rule of law”
... but it's only as good as the laws on the books. If our government
passes laws that condones & enables corruption, and subverts transparency,
at every turn, than the rule of law - and the laws of the land -
aren't worth the paper they're printed upon.
As scary as our crony
government is, our crony economy is equally frightening - for it is the monopoly
economy that provides that explosive wealth used to subvert our republic.
The global kleptocracy not
only likes a rigged government, but they like a rigged economy.
This mean - as JMH has oft
written - that cartels and monopolies are the order of the day.
You see, it's no longer enough
for large-scale enterprise to make a profit, but those profits have to be turbo
charged, via consolidation, financial engineering, and M&A. Consolidation and M&A are
known killers of: customer service; innovation; jobs; and its practitioners are connoisseurs of predatory behavior.
In fact, while were comparing China's government to
America's, why not compare China's state run enterprises to U.S. cartels and
monopolies?
US monopolies - often propped up by government
sanction & bailouts, and all too often are too big to fail (see Wall Street
banks) - most resemble.... you guessed it, here comes the punch line, China's
state run enterprises (which are also propped up by China's government, receive bailouts, and are often too big to fail).
Somewhere along the way Republicans - and alleged, free
market enthusiasts - took a U-Turn, and instead of appreciating Adam Smith (who
defined “capitalism” as competitive markets, with many competing entrants,
operating w/in the guardrails and the regulatory rules of the road - established
by government), came to fall in love - to the point of idolatry - w/ Ayn
Rand's golden calf.
The problem with Ayn Rand's individualist dogma -
and the libertarian economic ethos - is (taken to the extreme): it
always metastasizes into cartel, monopoly, and the crony economy. Of course, the U.S. kleptocracy has no overriding ethos, other than: the ends always justify the means. And their religion boils down to several things: their personal enrichment, at your expense; the almighty dollar rules; and only suckers pay taxes. Like China's kleptocrats, the U.S. kleptocracy believes in privatizing profits, while socializing losses (see again, the Wall Street bank bailouts).
The very things Adam Smith warned us about.
It doesn't matter how gifted the genius is, or how
nifty the product is, no man or woman should have the ability to establish a
government sanctioned cartel - or monopoly - in any country that respects
democracy, freedom, and economic & human rights.
Monopoly and monopolistic profits
are antithetical to capitalism, democracy, and human rights; and if the
private sector fails to compete, in a given market w/in the economy (to better insure monopolistic returns), the government has an obligation to compete against the private sector within that market.
The outcome of nearly all monopolies (unless
strictly controlled & regulated) - in the long run - is not only
pernicious, but highly destabilizing.
Alice and The Hatta, by
Lewis Carroll
Destabilizing? But to
what degree?
Take a look at the rise of M&A and monopolies - throughout
the West over the last 37 years - and the rise of populism throughout the
West today.
Look at relatively prosperous Germany (the crown jewel of the EU), which today, cannot even form a coalition government.
Take a look at Egypt and Iran (where both
countries have little economic opportunity, high rates of unemployment, and whereby, their economies are controlled by - you guessed correctly
- crony cartels and monopolies), and what do you see?
Answer: military coup and revolution.
Answer: military coup and revolution.
It's been that way for centuries.
JMH - perhaps naively - believes in a mixed
economy: all the best that capitalism has to offer (in a carefully regulated environment), combined w/ a social net
necessary to contain capitalism's inevitable fallout.
But a mixed economy – w/ strong democratic
institutions - means we need a
government controlled regulatory regime, that will: expand and enforce antitrust laws; and establish commercial rules of the road, that protects
consumers, labor, and society (and moreover, insures the inevitable social costs of doing business are picked up by the industry and biz that produces those costs, both foreseen and unforeseen).
As it stands today, the greatest threat to the US
economy - and capitalism - is a government controlled by a ruling
kleptocracy.
A kleptocracy that is funded - when they are not pigging out at the government trough - by an economy that is dominated
by untrammeled cartels and utilities.
No other threat to our nation exceeds this one.
For the survival of our freedoms and our democratic institutions, it is a threat that must be contained. It's time to wipe the sleep from our eyes, and rejoin Alice on the other side of the Looking-Glass.
Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing
2018
No comments:
Post a Comment