Five Before Chaos

There’s a new book out by former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, called Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life. You’ve often heard me mention the evils of what I call “hypercapitalism”, in which profit trumps all other concerns: health, environment, human rights, all so some American fat ass has a bigger, cheaper TV to watch his beloved reality shows on. It seems like Reich’s book takes this on rather well, and no side is spared. Devilstower over at Kos has a great review:

In the end what Reich has to say is that both left and right are wrong in their view of capitalism. Corporations are not people. They’re not moral or immoral. They just are. And if that sounds too corporate friendly, Reich makes a terrific case for why corporations should not be given the political clout and legal protections of human citizens. In his view, a corporation should have both the responsibilities and rights of a table lamp.

The right is at least as wrong in viewing the market as some kind of self-correcting “natural” system that always tends to produce an overall benefit. There’s no evidence of this now, or ever. In fact, history shows that the market needs constant adjustment and correction — often involving huge amounts of government support that the “free market” advocates are quick to forget when the numbers are going up.

And both sides are wrong in the assumption that democracy requires, or is even related to, free market capitalism. The new global capitalism, the Supercapitalism that shrugs off national boundaries in that eternal search for a lower price, not only shares nothing in common with democracy it’s the enemy of democracy.

Amen to that, brother. That second paragraph is something I’ve been railing on ad nauseum. Those free-market sacred cow assumptions are about as real as Adam and Eve and Mohammed’s promise of virgins in heaven. They repeat them enough, and somehow they become true, lack of evidence not withstanding (what’s even crazier is how some poor people buy into the bullshit without realizing that they’re advocating for policies that ultimately hurt, not help them). There is no free market, never has been, and never will be. Definitely going to pick this book up.

UPDATE: There’s now a good interview with Reich over at DKos. He also responds to questions in the comments section. Interesting what he has to say about “corporate personhood”:

Arguably, the idea that corporations are people had some merit 40 years ago when giant oligopolies (like the Big Three automakers) dominated the American economy, and their executives had so much discretion that it almost seemed the corporations had a human personality. But these days the idea has no basis in reality. We should put an end to it by, for example:
– ending the legal doctrine that corporations have standing to challenge in court legislation or regulations;
– ending the practice of sueing corporations for criminal violations (go after the people inside them who violated the law instead);
– ending the corporate income tax (people pay it, but keeping the absurd fallacy that companies do creates the impression that companies should be represented in Congress, under the aegis of “no taxation without representation,”
– challenging Buckley v. Valeo and other Supreme Court precedents that give companies constitutionial rights;
You get the point.

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