Yeah, this one is tough. Based on the charts, it looks like the takeaway is something we already knew: corporations own most of the economy's wealth, and the way to be wealthy today is to own companies. I feel like this particular discussion needed some more meat on the bone because nothing directly nefarious was revealed here.
Don't get me wrong. It's not that this data doesn't suggest major problems. A handful of really powerful corpos are vacuuming up all of the wealth, and that process has been accelerating and will continue to. These corporations have a transnational degree of influence and a troubling amount of geopolitical power. The lack of competitive pressures between players at that level is resulting in an oligopolistic cooperative, and this surely gives them the power to buy politicians a plenty.
But none of this was surprising. If he goes on to give us direct evidence that these major corpos are owned by some even more consolidated player, then that would be interesting. As far as it stands, this is just a "late stage" capitalism flyer demonstrating what happens when an economy is completely financialized, when all of your largest companies become financiers rather than businesses hanging primarily on their direct material inputs to the economy.
Too few control the many.
In the end, the problem is never going to out through an analysis of corporate practices. You can always tell a "natural" story to explain that, even when it's a huge problem.
In the end, the story is going to be racial, or it won't be a story at all. There is a group that hangs tight with each other (and only each other), and they're working to undermine you because of a deep historical resentment that has become a pillar of their identity. It's not that you can't argue corporations are bad; the problem is whether it's a necessary evil or one you could actually deal with. Most of the controlled oppo on the net is put there to convince people that the problem is a necessary evil, i.e., a fact about human nature, social or otherwise, yada yada. Jordan Peterson is an excellent example. It's the hierarchy!
CHIRO 2 points 3 weeks ago
Yeah, this one is tough. Based on the charts, it looks like the takeaway is something we already knew: corporations own most of the economy's wealth, and the way to be wealthy today is to own companies. I feel like this particular discussion needed some more meat on the bone because nothing directly nefarious was revealed here.
Don't get me wrong. It's not that this data doesn't suggest major problems. A handful of really powerful corpos are vacuuming up all of the wealth, and that process has been accelerating and will continue to. These corporations have a transnational degree of influence and a troubling amount of geopolitical power. The lack of competitive pressures between players at that level is resulting in an oligopolistic cooperative, and this surely gives them the power to buy politicians a plenty.
But none of this was surprising. If he goes on to give us direct evidence that these major corpos are owned by some even more consolidated player, then that would be interesting. As far as it stands, this is just a "late stage" capitalism flyer demonstrating what happens when an economy is completely financialized, when all of your largest companies become financiers rather than businesses hanging primarily on their direct material inputs to the economy.
Too few control the many.
In the end, the problem is never going to out through an analysis of corporate practices. You can always tell a "natural" story to explain that, even when it's a huge problem.
In the end, the story is going to be racial, or it won't be a story at all. There is a group that hangs tight with each other (and only each other), and they're working to undermine you because of a deep historical resentment that has become a pillar of their identity. It's not that you can't argue corporations are bad; the problem is whether it's a necessary evil or one you could actually deal with. Most of the controlled oppo on the net is put there to convince people that the problem is a necessary evil, i.e., a fact about human nature, social or otherwise, yada yada. Jordan Peterson is an excellent example. It's the hierarchy!