I use the term Corporatocrcy often because it is an excellent descriptor of the political/economic system that currently rules the United States and quite frankly, the world. Technically, the word is an oxymoron given the driving factors behind a 'Corporation' and 'Democracy' are at apposing ends of the spectrum. And there in lies the ruse - a tyrannical construct projecting itself as a liberating entity within a capitalist system that supports it. To make matters worse, it uses the bought media to propagandize the populous into believing and promoting the virtues of its agenda.
One example is the continual cheerleading of its favorite subject, 'free markets'. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Corporations are an invention of the state and therefore, use it, whenever they see the need. This includes subsidies, egregious tax breaks, favorable deregulation, low to zero interest loans and/or massive bail outs whenever they make bad decisions - all at the public's expense. In other words, Socialism for themselves, Machiavellian free markets for everyone else. Political theorist Sheldon Wolin used the term 'Inverted Totalitarianism' to describe any system that subverts democracy through corporate rule, economics and corruption. Same thing, different name.
As mentioned in previous posts, the United States wasn't always under the thumb of its corporate overlords. The thirty year period following World War Two represented a shining example of what's possible within an Adam Smith free market, multiple ownership, participation economy driven by robust liquidity and a balanced concentration of wealth. Unfortunately, that type of system created a little too much democracy for the power elite and therefore, wasn't allowed to continue. Instead, they instituted a Neo-Liberal model that was technically designed to reverse the distribution of wealth back into hands of the few at the expense of the many.
They did this by removing the dollar from its gold standard and installing a system that forced the world to rely on US dollars for survival (the Petro Dollar), instituting massive deficit spending benefiting the Military Industrial Complex and large corporations over small business, reducing top marginal tax rates to unprecedented levels and hyper charging Wall Street with the mechanics to determine winners and losers. Once the wealth began to shift in earnest, they used the proceeds to buy Congress who ultimately created new laws that gutted welfare (for the people), incentivized offshoring of domestic jobs, deregulated the financial system, ravaged the environment and concentrated the media to benefit those who own them (six corporations). And for their final act, the coup de grace that codified legal corruption in America, the Supreme Court voted to make the voice of corporations (and the power of the purse) equal to those of 'We the People'.
Game, Set, Match!
So now we live in a Corporatocracy. A socioeconomic system that functions very much like an Oligarchy - you know, the one we left 246 years ago in search of freedom and democracy. The Corporatocracy does not care about national sovereignty, the well being of individual rights nor the land it extracts with impunity. It only cares about shareholder value through profit. The net result - a severely eroded infrastructure, environmental degradation, record inequality, massive homelessness and 70% of the population living paycheck to paycheck- all within the worlds richest nation.
And for those on the conservative end of the ledger who typically worship all things private, how are you enjoying the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Google and You Tube arbitrating truth over fiction and your ability to participate in the public forum? Let's face it, if you can cancel the President of the United States, clearly, you have the power to dictate a narrative. Not exactly the freedom you were looking for, is it?!
And ironically, all of this, after we accumulated a 30 trillion dollar national debt during a fourty year period that promised the benefits of trickle down economics ensuring our boats would all float higher. Oh, and that 30 trillion - it's on your back, not theirs. In fact, they are making money on the interest you pay every April when filing with the IRS. Theft by Swindle? Sure looks that way!
Finally, and probably the most important point of this post. A Corporatocracy sees no boundaries to growth and in fact, must expand to remain solvent. It does so by commodifying the entire natural world and every human that resides upon it. This, on a finite planet that's already at the breaking point with regard to a livable habitat for the eight billion (and growing) of us who need it for survival.
Any off-world observer would view this for what it is - a collective insanity.
Is this the best we can do?
It's roughly 8 billion against a couple thousand.
I like those odds! How about you?
"A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims...but accomplices".
George Orwell