Alissa Amico wrote an article under the title: How
Ownership Concentration Is Happening, and Why It Matters,” published on January
3, 2020 on the website of Project Syndicate.
Amico explains in revealing details the many ways by
which those that have the wealth, add ever more to it, which they do in the
main by excluding those that have not the means to compete against them, and
cannot even challenge them legally. The methods used by the wealthy are so many
and so complex, they cannot be condensed into a single paragraph. For this
reason, they must be read entirely as written by Amico.
However, even if the title of the Alissa Amico article
also promises to explain “why it matters,” there is more to say in this regard
than she let out. And that's what is attempted in this discussion.
The capitalist system as we know it today could not
have come about were it not for the French Revolution which crystallized the
principle that true liberty brings with it, equality and brotherhood. In fact,
these were the legs on which stood the new civilization. It replaced the feudal
setup that caused the French people to revolt in the first place. In addition
to the Statue of Liberty, the French gave America––believe it or not––the Henry
Ford vision that it is a good idea to share your wealth with those who help you
produce it. And there could not have been a truer expression of equality and
brotherhood than Ford's kind of gesture.
To be sure, this was an example of the civilized
system that did away with the old feudal setup, and helped America build a
capitalist system that was based, not on the principle of “might makes right,”
but on the trust that he who has the power will not crush you if you are
defenseless. Unfortunately, however, what Alissa Amico says is happening at
this time –– is that there is a gradual
return to the old feudal system. But because there are laws governing the
conduct of the capitalist system, those who operate within it, use the existing
loopholes to achieve most of their goals in a roundabout way while at the same
time pressuring the legislators to change the laws and make them friendlier to
those that have the wealth.
So the question to ask is this: What has prompted some
of the wealthy to go in this direction? The answer is what may be called the
push-pull situation. In fact, there was the push of the sovereign funds that
convinced the wealthy capitalists they will not be in a position to compete
against the sovereigns unless they mimicked them by controlling the printing
press of the central bank, which they could do only if they vanquished the
weaker competitors. At the same time, there was the pull of the emerging
economies that offered the capitalists fabulous incentives if they would
relocate in their jurisdictions. As it happened, these were undreamed of
incentives, considered impossible to have in the mature economies. And so,
contrary to the Henry Ford philosophy, this was enough to make many of today's
capitalists sell out their workers and reward themselves as well as their
shareholders.
So then, we have here a capitalist economy that's
going feudal. At the same time, we have the emerging economies that were based
on the feudal system, now adopting some of the capitalist principles. Looked at
together, the two systems project a view that's a mirror image of each other.
The trouble is that –– like matter and anti-matter –– they cannot be brought
close to each other without releasing a destructive kind of energy. In fact,
there have been skirmishes between China and the United States that caused
trouble for the world. Unless these two can work out a way to coexist, they
will cause more trouble, more seriously in the future.
Also, unless and until there will be a worldwide
revolution that will revive the slogan, “liberty, equality and fraternity,”
perhaps rephrased as “freedom, equal opportunity and brotherhood,” there will
be no change flowing from the bottom up. And the direction in which the world is
heading now, will continue unabated. Thus, what should happen is that change
must come from the top down.
That is easier said than done. But because the
alternative is to live with the risk that the capitalist system and its
anti-capitalist mirror image have it within them to blow up the existing world
trading patterns, someone powerful must make the effort to intervene and bring
sanity to what's happening by forcing the governments to act. Who could that
someone be?
Well, there are two kinds of capitalists. There are
the fly-by-night operators who get rich by selling snake oil. These ones love
the existing chaos because it allows them to get rich quickly. And then, there
are the capitalists who get rich by adding value to the wealth of the nation.
They are the ones who want to get back to the Henry Ford vision, and will do
what's necessary to get there … if only they could.
The problem is that when you read the thinking of
these people, they do not hide their dismay at the status quo by revealing
that, “If the legislative machinery of the country can be owned and operated by
a handful of AIPAC workers, the printing press of the central bank will be
owned and operated by the devious fly-by-night pseudo-capitalists. This is
happening now, and nearly impossible to change the existing habits.” And this
is why even the good capitalists have given up on reforming the system.