Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Capitalism as Cannibalism


Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)



We need to remember that capitalism, when left to it’s own devices, becomes cannibalism. Behind the scenes in Congress there is a constant battle to the death for competitive advantage. This is what greases our government. Indeed Congress spends the majority of it’s time sorting out the pugilism between the waring PACs who are all looking for a hair up on the next guy for a piece of the pie. This is why the people’s work never gets done except maybe in the oddball case of say an electric car that sells zillions. (zillion being the new million). When gas reached $5 a gallon last summer, the people driving the big trucks and SUVs realized they had just gone into hock for a piece of junk. It was embarrassing to them and even rednecks prefer not to be publicly embarrased. The PAC money poured once again into the oil lobby but the music had stopped and it was too late to bring the Titanic around. The legislative pockets were no longer greased and jobs, manufacturing and the economy are low on the list of priorities in this Darwinian Plutacracy.
In contrast, the financial sector had long ago learned that blackmailing the government was much more effective when in an incestuous relationship with the treasury and in a shell game with Congress. Manufacturing had nothing on Voodoo Economics, Zombie Banks and Toxic Assets. That really scared the pants off the halls of Congress. Fear is something you don’t understand.

There is a permanent world government in place, ruled by the few, the wealthy, the unelected. But even the consciousless, compassionless, guiltless lords of power in their Rolls, Ferraris and million dollar yachts can actually be embarrassed, brought kicking and screaming down a notch or two and forced to regroup.

So what ever happened to the anti-trust laws, the laws enacted after the first great depression that led to the break up of the railroads, big oil, AT&T and all the other companies that are too big to fail?
Big money in Congress.
Unfortunately, when change finally comes, it is always the bottom that suffers the most.

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