Democracy or Neo-Feudalism?
The current Davos corroboree by moguls and their minions and politicians and their policy wonks got me thinking: whose movie is this?
On the biz side we have corporate CEOs and on the other, presidents, prime ministers and chancellors. They are there to set the economic agenda for the planet, or at least to have a mighty whinge about how poorly things are going. Or -- are they?
Add to this the recent zombie resurrection of the TPP in Oz and surrounding Pacific states -- touted how marvellously wonderful it will all be when we sign on. Or -- is it?
We have the Australian Treasurer, Scott Morrison (aka ScoMo), selling corporate tax cuts hard. How wonderful it will be if the corporations don't pay as much tax. Their savings will be poured into investing in new jobs, factories, innovations and higher wages.
Sorry, ScoMo, but very, very wrong. We need not follow the US. Here's a prime example of why:
Reports from economics writers in the daily press comment on just this issue.
This leads me back to the topic at hand: democracy vs. neo-feudalism. Consider that corporations are in effect feudal enterprises, but with very different titles. Not barons, earls, or counts, but CEOs, Presidents of Boards, etc. This 'nobility' looks after its shareholders financially, while creaming a goodly percentage off the top for their own nest-feathering.
Consider democracy, universal suffrage, one person, one vote -- the whole shebang. The voters are going out backwards financially. Report after report states this. Flat wages, economic stagnation for the vast majority, and in some nations actual piracy of public infrastructure for private profit, often euphemistically known as 'privatisation'.
The corporations in the TPP want to hold nation states to ransom: that is, feudal lords and their vassals (aka shareholders) in battle with freely elected national governments. Who's gonna win?
Your guess is as good as mine.
If we look at the Pfizer comments in the illustration above, we may just get an inkling of what is to come.
It's not pretty.
I do worry about our democracies: how well can they hold out under seige by the new-feudals?
On the biz side we have corporate CEOs and on the other, presidents, prime ministers and chancellors. They are there to set the economic agenda for the planet, or at least to have a mighty whinge about how poorly things are going. Or -- are they?
Add to this the recent zombie resurrection of the TPP in Oz and surrounding Pacific states -- touted how marvellously wonderful it will all be when we sign on. Or -- is it?
We have the Australian Treasurer, Scott Morrison (aka ScoMo), selling corporate tax cuts hard. How wonderful it will be if the corporations don't pay as much tax. Their savings will be poured into investing in new jobs, factories, innovations and higher wages.
Sorry, ScoMo, but very, very wrong. We need not follow the US. Here's a prime example of why:
Reports from economics writers in the daily press comment on just this issue.
This leads me back to the topic at hand: democracy vs. neo-feudalism. Consider that corporations are in effect feudal enterprises, but with very different titles. Not barons, earls, or counts, but CEOs, Presidents of Boards, etc. This 'nobility' looks after its shareholders financially, while creaming a goodly percentage off the top for their own nest-feathering.
Consider democracy, universal suffrage, one person, one vote -- the whole shebang. The voters are going out backwards financially. Report after report states this. Flat wages, economic stagnation for the vast majority, and in some nations actual piracy of public infrastructure for private profit, often euphemistically known as 'privatisation'.
The corporations in the TPP want to hold nation states to ransom: that is, feudal lords and their vassals (aka shareholders) in battle with freely elected national governments. Who's gonna win?
Your guess is as good as mine.
If we look at the Pfizer comments in the illustration above, we may just get an inkling of what is to come.
It's not pretty.
I do worry about our democracies: how well can they hold out under seige by the new-feudals?
posted by Peter W | 9:28 am
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