The age of Hypercapitalism
Image by aresauburn™ via Flickr
I was asked by Davis Fleetwood to write up a brief summary of what I believe to be the “most important story of the past decade.” Picking just one story is a pretty daunting task considering the list of possible choices: the ongoing Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan assaults, torture, poverty, and global warming. However, I chose to write about Hypercapitalism.
Money tends to be the source of most conflicts, and Hypercapitalism, in my opinion, is the most destructive economic force the world has ever encountered.
The Age of Hypercapitalism
No other economic system in the history of the world has inflicted so much damage to the environment, society, culture, and the lives of billions of human beings as Hypercapitalism.
While Capitalism has been with us ever since humans first determined labor should be compensated with pay, Hypercapitalism is a fairly new phenomenon that involves massive overleveraging by financial firms and widespread deregulation by the government. Hypercapitalism is also known by another name: Corporatism, or Fascism, which simply means the combination of a radical and authoritarian nationalism with a corporatist economic system.
Put more simply: Hypercapitalism, Corporatism, and Fascism, all share the trait of promoting the interests of private business corporations in government over the interests of the public.
Such reckless acts like overleveraging and deregulation alone would be irresponsible – at worst, temporarily dangerous. However, the Cult of Hypercapitalism infests not only Wall Street, but also the US government with revolving door appointments (Paulson, Geithner, Rubin, etc.) who invaded D.C. in order to uphold the very broken system they worked to expand.
For decades, Hypercapitalism has been taught as a virtue in our country’s “finest” educational institutions. The cream of the crop from Harvard and Yale are trained not only to bolster Hypercapitalism, but to make as much money as quickly as possible. These graduates go on to lead some of the largest financial firms in the world.
So when the whole system collapsed before the bailout crisis, there were no fresh minds to hypothesize a solution outside of the current system. The solution to a problem has never come from the set of mistakes that caused the problem in the first place, and yet the same Hypercapitalist Sentinels were employed – again – to brainstorm solutions to arguably the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression.
Except, this isn’t the only time since the GD that the economy has tanked. There has been a multitude of failures, on average, once every three years, according to Larry Summers. Such a woeful track record might give smart economists pause. What kind of system fails every three years?
The obvious answer is: a broken system. At the very least: an under-regulated one that has encourages and breeds reckless, immoral behavior.
Wealth disparity is increasing in America and in the world. The bottom half of the world’s adult population owns barely 1% of global wealth. People are starving and dying from preventable diseases, while the CEOs of taxpayer bailed-out institutions reward themselves with lavish bonuses. For what? Failing?
And that’s the crux of Hypercapitalism: failure. It’s an economic system that fails every three years and fails to provide for 99% of the planet’s population. It’s fueled by the bottom line – a never-ending quest to slash expenses and maximize profits – no matter what the human toll. If the race to the bottom entails destroying the planet, union busting, exploiting cheap labor, and destroying indigenous cultures, so be it. At least a few CEOs get to buy another summerhouse – or a yacht.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by allisonkilkenny, allisonkilkenny. allisonkilkenny said: Allison Kilkenny: The Age of Hypercapitalism http://bit.ly/2DfHS6 #p2 #economy #politics #capitalism [...]
Great piece Allison. It takes me back to college Western Civ. class where we were covering WWII, and our professor drew a pyramid on the chalk board. But instead of the pyramid you usually imagine – one side parallel to the floor – it was inverted.
“This is the fascist pyramid, class,” he told us. The two top points on the pyramid are Industry and Government. The government’s job is to keep the people (the bottom point) in line and root out subversive elements (that would be you, Allison.) Industries’ job is to thrive with a cheap labor pool whose day to day living concerns are little more than an afterthought.
I propose that we are not quite to the fascist state yet; however, the course we are on is leading us right to the historically documented model. All it takes is a few more terrorist attacks (yeah, those terrorists that were created by the CIA – how fitting) and we will give away our freedom and liberty with shouts of “I would rather be safe” and “I have nothing to hide.” Afterall, you’re either with ‘Us’ or you’re with the ter’rists.
That’s what’s so deceptive about all those comparisons of Obama to Hitler. Those tea bagging idiots are close, but they don’t quite get the extent to which they’ve been grifted. Obama, like Hitler, is just a figurehead that was put in power to propagate a culture that worships industry – the corporation – as it were; a culture that affects the consolidation of corporate power, continually erodes the life, liberty and ability of poor citizens to pursue happiness – and once the pieces are in place, things just keep getting worse for the little guy.
Finally, everyone of consequence is kept in line by a system that rewards ‘good’ behavior with table scraps from the wealthy oligarchs (oh and how Americans have been trained from birth to worship their shiny gadgets!) Max Baucus, filthy little pig, hell every damn congress member, with maybe the exception of Sen. Sanders and a couple like him, have sold out the American soul in this way.
Yes, that’s the most likely scenario. It’s not a matter of “if” but “when”. The US will certainly be attacked again — at some point — and Americans, and our government, are not known for keeping our cool in the heat of the moment.
In response to another comment. See in context »Andy Geiger writes:
“I propose that we are not quite to the fascist state yet”
but the model he describes neglects to mention the
patriotic jingoism and directed hooliganism which
are also necessary to support such a regime.
Although Bush and Cheney wanted to institute such a change,
In response to another comment. See in context »they fell short, unlike their predecessors in the eras ended by each of the Roosevelts, when, according to Geiger’s definitions and even with my added caveats of nationalist corporate propaganda and violence, fascism was, indeed, although as yet unnamed at he time, the practiced form of American government.
Great post. Thanks for the courage to point out fascism because it is my opinion that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld brought us quite close to fascism. The extreme nationalism, the concentration of power, the militarism, the government support of private companies. The idea of the noble common man while in reality the advancement of an elite society that really runs things. The unquestioning loyalty in the inner circle.
Scary group.