Capitalism has been hijacked:
Capitalism has been hijacked.
It’s been ruined by corporations, aristocracy and the ultra-elites.
Not just in the West but globally.
Decreased corporate taxes.
Decreased capital gains.
Free flow of capital between countries.
No tax jurisdictions.
Ability to buy elections.
Ability to influence policy.
Ability to change laws.
Concentration of wealth to a smaller portion of the population.
There’s a reason I keep writing about inequality.
It’s one of the biggest threats facing humanity the next decade.
History tells us when inequality gets too high, revolutions happen.
Sadly it feels like that’s where we’re headed.
We live in a world of socialism for the rich with the free market for everyone else.
And for all you billionaires who believe you’re capitalists, why not allow businesses to fail?
Even banks?
Central bankers and corporations hijacked politics to where they now get bailed out when they screw up.
Capitalism works when it’s regulated and things are allowed to fail.
It fails when we bail out everyone and deregulation happens.
When the rich and corporations are allowed to decide tax policy.
When companies like Apple, Amazon and Facebook pay nothing in federal taxes.
NOTHING.
The US government, for all the work, IP and time they’ve provided those companies, get nothing.
ZERO.
They make billions of dollars a year in profit and pay nothing.
It’s disgusting.
It’s getting out of hand.
Productivity has massively increased in the last 50 years but that wealth is being concentrated in the hands of smaller and smaller groups of people.
That is a horrible trajectory for society.
Very similar to the British and French in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Was beautifully described in the documentary ‘Capital in the 21st Century’.
It’s based on a book by a French economist, Thomas Piketty.
What a beautiful human being.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the world.
The lesson is pretty clear.
History follows distinct patterns.
The battle between capital and labour has existed for millennia.
All the way back to the Ancient Romans and Greeks.
When you have an eroding middle class, people rise up and revolt.
Given the last 50 years and the widening inequality gap, that future doesn’t feel too far away.
Doesn’t mean we have to go there.
We need politicians and leaders globally to change their tax policy.
Whether by volunteering now when things are peaceful, or when the revolutions begin.
As one of the interviewees put in the documentary, capital will be forced to change it no matter what they think.
Higher taxes are coming.
Spending cuts are coming.
Tough decisions are coming.
The issue is we need a global system.
Higher taxes makes no difference if you can just move money around.
Which is what the rich and corporations have done for decades.
As mentioned in the documentary, you need sanctions on all jurisdictions that are tax havens.
That only happens with a political change.
Will that happen when every congress member only has their job because of donations from the rich?
The same people who buy elections and candidates?
The same people who are hiding the money in these places?
Not voluntarily.
But it will happen when they see revolutions in their backyard.
On our current path, that future is coming.
It doesn’t have to be that way but it will.
It will if capitalism isn’t reformed.
Corporations and the ultra-elite have hijacked it.
It’s time to take it back.
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