"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed."
—
Ayn Rand (via ummagumma-)
Here, Rand posits that anything but unfettered capitalism is doomed because of the internal contradictions in other systems. Hilariously enough, her concepts uniquely apply to the “free-trade” version of Class Hierarchies. Let’s take a look at this idea, condition by condition.
First, “When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion.” Remember what a job is. It’s a decision to sell your “labor power”, or time, in order to be earn a living wage. But, Rand along with other free-market gurus ignore that managerial-labor relations start not with labor entering into a contract, but instead with an empty stomach. Human beings, who are thrust into a system in which they work or perish have no choice but to sell their labor power. That’s compulsion. The only way to avoid this is to have a welfare state in which individuals may freely choose whether or not they wish to work.
“when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing”. I’m not sure where to begin. How about the endless examples of patent law, or general “intellectual property” rights. Or, even better Credit Rating Agencies and the entire financial sector. The idea that our productive forces are largely dictated by financial entities which are truly self-serving and, in actuality produce nothing seems to perfectly fit Rand critique.
“when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors”. You mean like the product corporate campaign finance in all of its forms? Or, as i mentioned in a previous post Credit Rating Agencies overrating private debt, while undervaluing public debt? Or the numerous examples of corporate bribery, especially in the developing world?
“when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you.” There are multitudes of examples of failed businessmen who have still accumulated personal fortunes, despite their destitute performance. Corporate and Capital failure most often hurts working people, not those who don’t “work”, but “organize” instead.
“when you see corruption being rewarded”. Corruption is a means toward a reward for an individual - by definition it’s about skewing the laws which govern environments toward your interests. This is overwhelmingly true in capitalism, in which corporate embezzlement, collusion, patronage and general cronyism emerge the more markets are deregulated. If a profit incentive is held on the highest pedestal, it’s only natural to expect that goal to be pursued even beyond ethical limits.
“and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice”. The numerous examples of companies like Monsanto silencing small farmers, or other giants like Enron and British Petroleum finding an incentive to hide secrets from stockholders and pension fund investors alike demonstrates the propensity for capital to engage in this sort of behavior.
“you may know that your society is doomed”. I can only hope you’re right.
Rand speaks with broad generalizations, forgetting that the devil, capitalism, is in her details.
(via splinterinyoureye)
Yup, it’s really hard not to read this and apply basically every flaw to capitalism.
(via rykemasters)
(via rykemasters)
