Corporate America Embraces Authoritarianism

Corporate America Embraces Authoritarianism

We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.

- Justice Brandeis

By JM Hamilton (12-16-2018)

A great deal was written last week about the GOP's rejection of democracy and election outcomes.  More specifically, a reoccurring theme has emerged in North Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin, whereby the Republican state legislative bodies have sought to strip incoming Democratic governors & AGs of the very power that they were perfectly willing to allow GOP governors and AGs to wield prior to defeat. The Republican attack against democracy is multi-pronged: if they aren't stripping incoming Democrats of power, or writing new laws to thwart democracy, itself, they are out to disenfranchise Democratic voters, via voter suppression. Who says Jim Crow is dead?  Fear runs deep throughout the Republican party and its base: fear of change - economic & political - and the fear of the loss, and primacy, of dated & failed beliefs and racist values.  That the GOP - and in particular, the donor class - works against the interests of its own base is no longer news or a surprise.

What is surprising, as pointed out in the NY Times, is that the donor class (corporations, multinationals, and billionaires) are in open support of some of these same anti-democratic initiatives, directly and indirectly, expressly and tacitly.  JMH has written for several years about how the concentration of economic power, into too few hands, is a direct threat to our democracy.  But this too should not come as a shock, for corporations and multinationals are authoritarian models.  When the C-Suite makes a decision about the direction of the company, or financing for say, the latest round of financial engineering, it doesn't run those decisions by the rank-and-file employees w/in the organization, nor does it consult w/ government. 

And as we've seen throughout the US economy - which is increasingly being written about in the MSM - the concentration of economic power in industry after industry (as they consolidate into cartels, duopolies, & monopolies) is only growing.  To such an extent that the private sector - and its anticompetitive bias - is a direct threat to capitalism itself, as well as the attendant benefits of capitalism (as defined by competition, a focus on customer service, innovation, and rising wages as business are forced to compete for labor, etc.).  

The growing concentration w/in industry after industry is a form of corporate dictatorship over the private sector, and ultimately, the public sector.

It's a well known maxim that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, so it is, particularly, w/ economic power.  And that economic power translates into near total political power (thanks to Citizens United & SCOTUS) in regards the sway the billionaire, and multinational, class hold over the Republican party, and indeed, over establishment Democrats, especially of the Clintonian mold.  Establishment Dems too, certainly aren't above feathering their own nests and are all too often engaged in gerrymandering, as well.  Billionaires aren't exactly known for their humility.  The authoritarian nature of the corporate model, where a C-Suite CEO makes a decision and it is often followed w/out question, often translates into the political world, where we see executive, legislative, judicial - as well as, fiscal & monetary policy - capture.  As POTUS Trump indicated in the 2016 primaries, he often called upon his fellow Republican candidates, post - donation, and he would tell them to jump, and they'd ask how high.  If that isn't a dictatorship, it's not too short a walk to the authoritarian model.

By way of example, US foreign policy coddles dictatorships around the globe.  US foreign policy is often a direct reflection of US multinational interests that stand the most to gain from these authoritarian/totalitarian commercial & political alliances: whether it be Big Oil; the military industrial complex; or a multinational, say Apple, that desires to exploit Asian and SE Asian labor & overseas tax laws.  The US barely pays lip service to democracy and human rights any longer, let alone seek its spread.  

Given the authoritarian nature of the C-Suite vandals running the nation is it any wonder?  As Justice Brandeis said, we can either have democracy in this country, or concentrated wealth and power, but we cannot have both.

The MSM often describes POTUS Trump as a toddler, or what the French like to refer to as an enfant terrible, but is our corporate dictatorship any different?  They demand that their interests be met by the federal and state governments, and the federal and state governments nearly always comply to the point of abject subservience.  This has devolved into a fiscal, and political, crisis in many Western governments - as tax cuts are provided to the rich - while everyone else dines at austerity's table and receives little or no tax relief (and in some instances, tax increases).  Witness as POTUS Trump, and his cabinet, defends a tyrant, and Saudi Arabia, the number one sponsor of terror on the planet, all so that the MIC can continue its multibillion dollar weapons sale.  Wall Street banks and shadow banking have hijacked central banks, the Fed, and monetary policy for so long, that Americans no longer know what it is like to have the markets determine interest rates & yields... and should interest rates rise too high, the fallout has been compared to a tantrum, as financial interests and the exceptionally wealthy retaliate against any hint of monetary normalization, by withdrawing from markets.  Big Pharma has become both a classic, and real time, example of a cartel colluding on patented medicines to extract extravagant rents from a US citizenry, facing the hardship of stagnating wages.  

There likely is no cartel on the planet that is more powerful; and yet, our democracy seems powerless to stop it.

Demonstrators gather at the Arc of Triomphe in Paris during a protests on Dec. 1. 

Photographer: Lucas Barioluet/AFP via Getty images, by way of Bloomberg, LP

The irony in all this - and in keeping w/ Newton's third law - is the terrifying concentration of power, and the globalism and neoliberalism ideology that has allowed this to occur, are already suffering considerable blowback.  Throughout the West so-called centrist political parties - and the defenders of the laissez faire faith that has metastasized into authoritarianism - in both government & the private sector - are facing a fierce backlash. So far, this backlash has been channeled into hard right and hard left political parties.  The financial & political elite - who just want to maintain power and the status quo - are, to some extent, fine w/ all this (although they’d prefer that their owned centrist parties return to power).  As long as, the 99% are warring w/ each other - over the color of one's skin, gender, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic origins - that's all right by the corporate elite, as it keeps the heat & spotlight off the aristocracy.

But something new is happening, and we are seeing this in Europe, the noncentrist left and right are uniting.  We saw this in Italy first w/ the right-wing, League, and the left-wing, Five Star, joining forces to form a government, w/ their joint nemesis being the EU elites (who are merely anti-democratic puppets for the banker & multinational set).  And now, France has demonstrated the same left/right merger in the Yellow Vest movement, where again, a great number of the population have figured out the enemy is not each other but the financial and political elite, who President Macron is a party to and represents.  What else would we expect from an investment banker, but doubling-down on the failed beliefs that: markets are self-regulating and need no oversight; Western labor is to be crushed to compete w/ emerging market workers; and the only "free trade" worth doing is that which is dictated by crony-governments and multinationals.  As for those elites counting on the economic growth fairy to create a rising tide that raises all yachts & lifeboats, keep dreaming.

Where is all this headed?  Well, likely, for a great deal of economic & market disruption, and possibly the loss of some - financially engineered - and monopolistic profits, as the momentum behind populism continues to grow.  Corporations, multinationals, and robber barons are said to hate change, and anything that disrupts profits flow; but in seeking & finding guaranteed profits - by co-opting and owning democratic institutions (to the detriment of the majority of the West's citizens), and consolidating into cartel & monopoly w/in industry after industry - they have sewn the seeds of their own economic disruptions.  

In short, the exorbitant profits many of the monopolies earn today are a direct threat to democracy itself & unsustainable.

(Public officials are said to be concerned about the untoward influence illegal drug cartels hold over Western democracy; hence, the drive towards cannabis legalization and the elimination of blackmarkets.  So why aren't our elected officials equally concerned about the far more debilitating effects of another cartel: Big Pharma?)

Populism is on the rise, and for a very good reason: cartels and monopolies, and the billionaire set are anti-democratic, antisocial, and arguably, psychopathic in their singular lust for power and profits.  As a consequence of rising wage & wealth inequality, the people are rising up, and they want their economies & governments back.  And of course, they will be seeking a more populist approach to fiscal, monetary, and trade policies that for too long have been dictated to further the bankocracy's & kleptocracy's interests, exclusively.   

Investors and multinationals may look back, someday, on the present Neo-Gilded Age with longing, because the ride has already grown bumpy.  The guaranteed profits & uncertainty created by the elites - to the detriment of the world - is more than likely to unwind in ways both foreseen and unforeseen.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2018

Anti-American

Anti-American

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

-       Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson

Merchants have no country.  The mere spot that they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich upon the poor.

-       Thomas Jefferson, Third POTUS of the United States

By J.M. Hamilton (12-2-2018)

There has always been disconnect between the founders' words and the nation's actions.  But one thing is clear - if we analyze the Declaration of Independence (DOI), and the 9th and 14th Amendments - there was an egalitarianism written in, that certified as inalienable: the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by all citizens.  No caveats were entered w/in the Constitution about the plutocracy enjoying inalienable rights, solely.

Mr. Jefferson, also, had withering thoughts on commercial interests, and the treachery of the monied elite.  The concerns he identified, over two hundred year ago, are very much with us to this day.

Only a strong democracy, and an assertive government, can hold these two pernicious authoritarian forces - the billionaire class & monopolies - in check.  Perhaps that's why the kleptocracy, via the owned establishment/centrist political parties, does everything w/in their power to upend democracy, and control government from every possible angle.

If we examine much of the betrayal committed by commercial interests, and the monied elite, particularly since the 2008 crash, one can only conclude that many multinationals operate in a manner that is not only inimical to US citizens' inalienable rights, but they are, in fact, Anti-American.  And therefore, their behavior - often mired in wrongdoing, in the pursuit of short-term gains - should be carefully regulated, where appropriate made illegal, and punishment fairly administered (versus today, where multinationals might get a modest slap on the wrist and a relatively, light fine).

General Motors is a case in point.  Bailed out during the 2008 crisis, and w/ billions never paid back, it announced last week that it would be shutting down several North American factories because it wanted to retool for electronic vehicle (EVs) manufacturing.  Needless to say, GM could retool these very same North American factories to manufacture EVs, but that's not what this exercise is about.  GM wants to exploit tax loopholes, and inexpensive Mexican, or EM, labor, so as to enhance its margins.

Predictably, Wall Street cheered, GM's stock rose, and our so-called populist POTUS saw another campaign commitment to his Mid-West constituency bite the dust.

That said, is there any doubt that GM's actions are a direct threat to the unalienable rights of its workforce?  Taken to the macro- level, GM's actions are no different than the laissez faire playbook, adopted by nearly all US multinationals, who exploit EM labor and foreign loopholes in regulation and taxation (all the while still enjoying the privileges & protections of being domiciled in the United States, w/ none of the accountability or taxation responsibilities that would be expected of many American citizens).  Americans, increasingly, are upset about foreign based multinationals dumping goods on US shores, but US multinationals have been doing the same for decades.

This top-down approach - of billionaire & multinational despots - dictating fiscal (read austerity), monetary (read accommodative practices juicing asset prices, and providing cheap debt for financial engineering), and foreign policies (endless war & endless MIC profits) has led to near revolutionary upheaval throughout Western democracies.  Even the SCOTUS is owned, there's no clearer example than the Citizens United & McCutcheon decisions. 

Mr. Jefferson noted in the DOI that citizens are willing to tolerate a lot, indeed all manner of abuse before they overturn a government.  But the abuse has spanned decades, indeed centuries, and the citizenry has had enough  ...  see Paris in flames (under the neoliberal retread, President Macron).  See the rejection of failed centrism in favor of left-wing and right-wing populism (mostly the latter).

To lay these problems (crumbling democracy, war w/out end, concentration w/in industry after industry, Wall Street uber alles, an opioid epidemic, and the death of the American Dream) at the plutocracy's doorstep is the proper thing to do.  Now that we recognize the problem, what are the solutions?

Our politicians should adopt a bottom-up approach to governing, to better insure they carry out their Constitutional mandate.  The rich will always be among us, but in the 21st Century is there any reason why a citizen in the West should go w/out food, healthcare, higher education, or shelter?  The answer is assuredly not.

If the Fed can print trillions to bailout the Wall Street Banking Combine, and the billionaire class, then assuredly the US has billions for college education.  In the land of plenty, no child should go to bed hungry - or w/out basic healthcare.  This means retooling our democracy – and economy - so as to deprive no citizen of life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness.   This means adopting Mr. Roosevelt’s Economic Bill of Rights.  This means if you sell in America, you produce, manufacture, and pay taxes in America (and those business taxes should be based upon EBITDA, for obvious reasons).

For too long the actions of an elite few have dictated the course of this nation, indeed the West, at the expense hundreds of millions of citizens; and the elite's behavior is – globally - a direct threat to the life, liberty and happiness of the 99%.   That is to say, far too often predatory.  And therefore, the elite's behavior is often unconstitutional and unlawful.

One of the great ironies - over the last couple of decades - is the number of citizens willing to vote against their economic and political interests, by supporting the ultimate plutocratic tool, the Grand Old Party.  

Part of this is due to the fact that Clintonian economic & foreign policies  - for the most part - co-opted GOP policies.  In short, we had two parties catering to oligarchy and multinationals.  Another reason many citizens voted for the GOP primarily deals w/ fear: fear of change, and fear of economic hardship, and the loss of a privileged place in society (and a whole lot of disinformation & lies spread about trickle-down fiscal, monetary, & tax policies).  A UBI and an Economic Bill of Rights would drive a stake though economic fear's heart.  If people are gainfully employed, and doing well economically, why engage in a Cold – Civil War and tribalism?

Then there's the fear that comes w/in the work place, itself.... if only everyone works a little harder, longer hours, puts up w/ lower or stagnating wages, and diminishing benefits (while companies & management score record profits and ever escalating C-Suite pay packages), perhaps one's job will not be moved offshore.  This environment definitely impacts the manner in which employees vote.

Meanwhile, corps and multinationals have made a concerted effort to eliminate employee' bargaining powers: from destroying unions and insisting upon non-compete agreements to suppressing wages via collusion, monopoly, & monopsony powers.  Here again, break up the monopolies, install a UBI and an Economic Bill of Rights, and apply a tax on billionaire & multinational wealth.  And a great deal of the kleptocracy's – unprecedented economic power – and some of its unconstitutional behavior goes away.  With greater economic opportunity – via the private & public sectors – political leadership would have a stronger hand to abandon, and outlaw, retrograde & planet destroying industries, such as Big Oil.  (Here’s another reform, require corporates, w/ a billion in revenue, or greater, to disclose – quarterly - where they have cash reserves, or their portfolio, invested…  it should prove quite revealing.)

Concentration and monopoly gives multinationals unprecedented power, not only over labor, but over elected politicians, who are concerned about their ability to deliver, and retain, an ever shrinking pool of jobs for their state.  Greater economic concentration means greater power over democracy.

Wall Street loves it, and if Wall Street loves it, it's most likely unconstitutional, and Anti-American.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2018