This really defines “to big to fail” and shouldn’t be a surprise. There are any number of dystopian stories about corporations becoming the new world powers. The cheesiest being Power Ball, Blade Runner, Robocop (all popcorn favs I might add). If we can create those worlds in fantasy, there’s little reason to think it couldn’t actually happen.
If we look at in terms of feudal governance, States were/are the kings and emperors. Corporations the vassal lords; the counts, barons and dukes. As in old, they jockeyed for power, favor and influence. Until, they consolidate enough power and wealth to challenge and unseat the “King”. Although in bygone times the king was usually smart enough to behead the upstart baron before it was too late.
Only a short time ago, I could "Share to Notes." Tonight, that option stopped working, here, and on more than one site I subscribe to. I can see the words are still there, but they, and the little box, are grayed out. What's up with that, eh, Substack, Broligarchs?
This is very foreboding and was predicted by the author named Sheldon Wolin who considers the unthinkable: has America unwittingly morphed into a new and strange kind of political hybrid, one where economic and state powers are conjoined and virtually unbridled? Can the nation check its descent into what the author terms "inverted totalitarianism"? Wolin portrays a country where citizens are politically uninterested and submissive--and where elites are eager to keep them that way. At best the nation has become a "managed democracy" where the public is shepherded, not sovereign. At worst it is a place where corporate power no longer answers to state controls. Wolin makes clear that today's America is in no way morally or politically comparable to totalitarian states like Nazi Germany, yet he warns that unchecked economic power risks verging on total power and has its own unnerving pathologies.
Ref: “Democracy, Inc. Managed Democracy and the Spectre of Inverted Totalitarianism” by Sheldon S Wolin.
The latest season of The Night Agent on Netflix has a plot line where a surveillance tech engineer is using her company’s product to find a spy. Made me think of this article.
Our oligarch system has been uncovered, not created. Is it worse? Likely. But perhaps we’re jumping on the bandwagon to blame the current president who has largely just been transparent about corporate control. It existed well before him. The whole save democracy slogan is a ruse.
This really defines “to big to fail” and shouldn’t be a surprise. There are any number of dystopian stories about corporations becoming the new world powers. The cheesiest being Power Ball, Blade Runner, Robocop (all popcorn favs I might add). If we can create those worlds in fantasy, there’s little reason to think it couldn’t actually happen.
If we look at in terms of feudal governance, States were/are the kings and emperors. Corporations the vassal lords; the counts, barons and dukes. As in old, they jockeyed for power, favor and influence. Until, they consolidate enough power and wealth to challenge and unseat the “King”. Although in bygone times the king was usually smart enough to behead the upstart baron before it was too late.
Well, China seems to be well on its way to destroying our bloated, useless oligarchs.
"Techno-Feudalism." Yannis Varoufakis nailed it!
Only a short time ago, I could "Share to Notes." Tonight, that option stopped working, here, and on more than one site I subscribe to. I can see the words are still there, but they, and the little box, are grayed out. What's up with that, eh, Substack, Broligarchs?
This is very foreboding and was predicted by the author named Sheldon Wolin who considers the unthinkable: has America unwittingly morphed into a new and strange kind of political hybrid, one where economic and state powers are conjoined and virtually unbridled? Can the nation check its descent into what the author terms "inverted totalitarianism"? Wolin portrays a country where citizens are politically uninterested and submissive--and where elites are eager to keep them that way. At best the nation has become a "managed democracy" where the public is shepherded, not sovereign. At worst it is a place where corporate power no longer answers to state controls. Wolin makes clear that today's America is in no way morally or politically comparable to totalitarian states like Nazi Germany, yet he warns that unchecked economic power risks verging on total power and has its own unnerving pathologies.
Ref: “Democracy, Inc. Managed Democracy and the Spectre of Inverted Totalitarianism” by Sheldon S Wolin.
Why do I get the feeling that we are heading in one direction with vigor and there is no element capable of reversing our course?
Time to get a VPN for your VPN 😒
Who wouldn't want to work for peanuts and the sheer thrill of undermining any unnecessary outbreaks of democracy, either foreign or domestic?
So now we are full fascist country! I'm right or wrong? That why we fought WW2 so for what?
"...FBI recruiter lamented to me how difficult hiring cyber talent had become, given how much better tech companies pay than the Bureau."
Less dangerous to dissent or whistleblow against Apple than FBI.
You sure about that? I mean, Boeing and all
"...FBI recruiter lamented to me how difficult hiring cyber talent had become, given how much better tech companies pay than the Bureau."
Less dangerous to dissent or whistleblow against Apple than FBI.
Why would there Biden administration sign this? I don't get it. I don't really like where this might be headed.
The latest season of The Night Agent on Netflix has a plot line where a surveillance tech engineer is using her company’s product to find a spy. Made me think of this article.
Our oligarch system has been uncovered, not created. Is it worse? Likely. But perhaps we’re jumping on the bandwagon to blame the current president who has largely just been transparent about corporate control. It existed well before him. The whole save democracy slogan is a ruse.