Ten percent of the US owns 50% of all securities (stocks, bonds, etc.) Twenty percent of the people control 80% of all wealth. Sixty percent of the people live in a vicious simulation of hell that is commonly referred to as “working poor.” The rest are on government assistance.
This isn’t the fault of capitalism. By definition, capitalism assumes equitable and fair outcomes for all parties in any given transaction. The US system is based on corporatism, a descendant of fascism.
Corporatism is the marriage of business and government. Business gets to socialize their losses onto the tax system. Government gets an enormous degree of social and policy control from relatively few large companies. To illustrate this point, if you want to mold the behavior of one million people, would you be more effective dealing with the Wal-Mart board of directors or 10,000 tiny small town shops?
There’s simply more political “stability” when less than 500 companies are writing the paychecks of 200 million people.
Economic diversity is what true capitalism produces. Capital flows easily enough that no one can seize a controlling share of the wealth. Companies in one town simply won’t exist in another because of equitable capital flow. Regional economic disruptions can be absorbed by the free market when there is actually a free market.
This will be covered at length in future articles here. For the time being, think about this: if workers are so important in this country, why is Labor Day at the diametrically opposite end of the calendar from May Day?
