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For many decades, America has been the cultural Capitol of the world. The super power led the way via popular culture – movies, music and celebrities pumped out an influential message across the globe. Corporations quickly cashed in and expanded the merchandising opportunities. Now, we live in a world chock full of corporate concentration. Just 5 companies control more than 90% of the major media platforms in the United States. That means that a few individuals are holding the reins of power when it comes to what we watch on screens. Most folk spend more than 10 hours per day watching screens.
Big Tech Corporations & Oligarchs
If you are not tuned into the political circus, you may well be unaware of how you are being led, not by the nose, but by your visual and aural appetites. Social media is an American invention and it has morphed from the garage to corporate boardrooms. Big Tech is not your friend, it is no longer cool and ‘doing no evil’. If you spend more time looking at your phone screen than anything else, you better be aware of what is going on with those controlling those screens. Economically, most younger folk are doing it tough and technology has a lot to do with that. The oligarchs running Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Google and Uber are billionaires who hang out with other mega wealthy folk. These platforms are not looking out for you or me, they are backing Donald Trump. Elon Musk and Peter Thiel are illustrative examples. Tax cuts to corporations are costing the US $4.6 trillion over the next 10 years. It is a world chock full of corporate concentration. The majority of Big Tech companies have monopolies, which means no competition.
American Corporations Do Not Pay Their Fair Share Of Tax
American business has influenced power structures in Australia, Canada, the UK, Europe, Japan, and elsewhere. The fact that these US multinational corporations do not pay their fair share of tax in the markets in which they operate via profit shifting to tax haven accountancy tricks is an example of this. The greed and ruthlessness of American companies has been copied around the globe. US business schools export this behaviour. Global companies import American CEOs to achieve this shareholder return tunnel vision style of leadership. Consumers and workers are way down the food chain for these corporations in terms of priorities. Right wing politics is in bed with neoliberalism and has carved out a new type of society, where bottom line economics runs the show. Labor governments have also drunk the kool aid and continue to promote zombie neoliberalism as their MO. We live in a world chock full of corporate concentration, which means no competition in markets.
“The top 10% of Americans added $5 trillion to their wealth in the second quarter as the stock market rally continued to benefit the biggest investors, according to new data from the Federal Reserve. The total wealth of the top 10% — or those with a net worth of more than $2 million — reached a record $113 trillion in the second quarter, up from $108 trillion in the first quarter, according to the Fed. The increase follows three years of continued growth for those at the top, with the top 10% adding over $40 trillion to their wealth since 2020.”
American Capitalism Is Not A Free Market Economy
Capitalism does not work for all if there is no real competition in sectors. Duopolies and monopolies allow for price setting, which can become price gouging. The evidence of record profits for so many of these corporations tells us the real story of what is actually going on. The job’s market is also constrained when a few companies control entire sectors of the labour market. Without competition for jobs and for customers this kind of manipulated capitalism cannot be described as a free market. These giant corporations get bailed out by governments because of the ‘too big to fail’ principle, which in reality is socialism for billionaires. Right wing politicians tell the working poor to pull themselves up by their boot straps but really rich folk get massive government support. Elon Musk has grown disgustingly rich via huge government contracts over years.
Minimum Wage In US Is $7.25 Per Hour
American governments have not been looking out for the interests of ordinary folk for the longest time. Congress does not listen to what the majority of Americans want because they have been bought by AIPAC or some other super pac. This has been going on for decades, just look at the evidence. Military spending is more than a trillion dollars per year. Elon Musk is worth a trillion dollars, meanwhile the minimum federal wage is still only $7.25. Do Americans really have any say over this? Guns? Most Americans want greater gun control but Congress does nothing. Healthcare and pharmaceuticals are way more expensive in the US than anywhere else in the world. WTF? Do you think that ordinary Americans want that? The political system fails the hundreds of millions of Americans who vote. Many Trump voters thought that he would lower costs and make America more affordable. Donald Trump has spent a lifetime letting folk down and lying about it.
Bigger Companies Could Do More For Everyone
You would think that, perhaps, in a world chock full of corporate concentration, that things would get better for more of us. Bigger companies can afford to be more generous. Do they act in this way? No, only to their shareholders and executives. In fact, they tighten the noose to extract more money out of their dominant positions. Their leaders are trained to behave in this way. The system encourages ruthless behaviour. Their funds go on political donations and lobbyists to buy influence. They pay less and less tax. They screw down wages wherever possible. It is a rotten system, which rewards only a small percentage of our populations.
Rise Of The Billionaire Class
“The rise of the billionaire class presents our societies with new challenging questions. Is it OK for private individuals to accumulate billions? Everyday people may think to themselves, I want to be able to accrue as much wealth as I can through my life, unhindered by governments. Unfortunately, the unfettered accumulation of vast wealth goes beyond simplistic equations like this. For instance, once a certain level of wealth is reached the growth of that wealth becomes exponential. Rich people make lots of money on the back of their ability to purchase assets that appreciate. Property, especially, residential property in places like Australia has been on a boom cycle of appreciation over the last 30 years. It has become the single greatest divider between rich and poor in this country.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
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