Corporatocracy — Democracy be damned!
Corporatocracy refers to the powerful group of people who run the world’s biggest corporations and the most powerful governments.
The societies are ruled by a small minority of the wealthiest. So deep is the fusion between the corporations and the state that profits are now created largely by political means.
Of the world’s 100 largest economies, 71 are corporations while only 29 are countries. More than two-thirds of the richest 100 entities on the planet are corporations, not governments. So deep is the fusion between the corporations and the state that profits are now created largely by political means.
We are living in an era where the interplay between state and corporate power shapes the reality of international relations more than ever.
Government is not really determined by the electorate, but rather by those with power, namely, firms. Corporations not only have the political power to influence states, but also the economic clout to devastatingly affect a state’s economy should the state try to oppose an MNC.
The economy no longer facilitates human society; humans live to serve the economy. We have gone beyond industrialization and value-addition to a point where the rules are written by the financiers, and the finance industry.
The corporations procure more revenue than the government. Its global expansion and diversification seem to put state power back and has taken over the country on a geopolitical scale.
The power of the state is limited and the MNCs are eroding states’ sovereignty. MNCs determine what the governments should do; this shadowy control over the political and economic interests of the government makes the corporations more powerful than the governments.
In order to kill the economic democracy, corporate power rigged the game. Democracy has become enfeebled largely because companies have invested ever greater sums in lobbying, public relations, and even bribes and kickbacks, seeking laws that give them a competitive advantage over their rivals.
Our political institutions have allowed themselves to be effectively occupied, or more accurately worsened by these anti-market and anti-public institutions.
About Author
The author J. Dhopte got a degree in mechanical engineering, diploma in marine engineering and master’s in financial management. He had a border-less career in maritime, plastic, service, hospitality and education industries with opportunities to work in various locations around the world.
He worked in the Merchant Navy traveling around the world for 10 years. He worked as a Chief Engineer on ships, Chief Engineer in a hotel, and Maintenance Manager in a manufacturing industry. Currently, he is working as a Professor in Nasik, India. His works across multiple disciplines broadly addresses narratives of human experience.
This book is the second in the Democracy series, a series of three books. His first book — Erosion of Democracy was published in April this year.
The second part, Corporatocracy: Democracy be damned! was released on October 3rd.
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Why he writes -
The author J. Dhopte tries to defy the trans-humanist goal of social Darwinism and scientific dictatorship. He tries to seek the truth and expose the scientifically engineered lies of the globalists and their ultimate goal of enslaving humanity.
He believes that by informing people about the true nature of power, we can foster a real debate about humanity’s destiny, and allow the people to evolve toward a more orderly singularity, that has humans at the core of a system, which is based around maintaining free will and integrity.
The Power of Corporations
‘Freedom’ has been reconfigured to refer to consumer choice rather than the ability to determine how to order one’s life. The power of people is being curtailed by the people with power.
Over the last few decades, corporations have lobbied to weaken laws and policies governing antitrust, environmental protections, worker rights and protections, and more — all to further consolidate their own power.
Corporate concentration only helps consolidate power among a wealthy few, which in turn worsens economic inequality, destabilizes our communities and democracy, and slows overall economic growth.
It exacerbates racial inequities and entrenches economic and social disparities between people. As has been made abundantly clear throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, corporate concentration also contributes to price hikes and puts negative pressure on wages.
Corporate monopolies harm consumers through practices such as self-preferencing and predatory pricing. They unionize and undermine working people’s power.
Corporations amassed an ever-expanding set of rights through the courts, going much beyond property rights that are essential for corporations to serve society and eventually including liberty rights initially created for human citizens.
We see evidence of peak corporatocracy in:
- so far largely successful efforts of business interests to prevent meaningful action on climate change.
- the push for high-input, high-tech, restricted-ownership agriculture that excludes smallholder farmers — a great portion of them women — who feed most of the world’s people.
- the collusion of governments and companies in taking control of land and natural resources from communities in order to generate profits for privileged outsiders.
- the “race to the bottom” among governments to sacrifice revenues through blanket “tax holidays” in order to lure foreign investment, even when the benefits are unclear or negligible.
- the failure of governments to establish laws that protect workers from abuses ranging from trafficking to unlivable wages to unacceptably risky working conditions, with women workers in the most precarious, low-paid and inhumane jobs.
The Political Influence of Corporations
Corporations can influence governments through political donations and direct lobbying. Again, we can look at statistics from the United States for insight.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) — federal lobbying expenses in 2006 were about $2.6 billion, up 16% from two years earlier and up 62% since 2000.
This estimate is likely to be too low as many lobbying expenses are difficult to track. With about 4,000 registered lobbyists, this means there are more than seven lobbyists for every member of Congress. Lobbying expenditures equate to about $5 million for every member of Congress.
Large corporations are also avid contributors to political campaigns. Of the top 100 donors to federal political candidates during the 2004 election cycle, about half are corporations while many others are organizations that represent business interests.
Top corporate donors in the 2004 election cycle, according to the CRP, included Goldman Sachs ($6.5 million), Microsoft ($3.5 million), Time Warner ($3.4 million), and Morgan Stanley ($3.4 million).
Political contributions and lobbying can be effective in influencing public policy. For example, the CRP suggests that contributions and lobbying from sugar growers, mainly in Florida, have been effective in maintaining federal subsidies to the industry. The ten House and ten Senate members who received the most contributions from sugar interests all voted to keep sugar subsidies in place.
The CRP estimates that sugar subsidies cost taxpayers $1.4 billion per year, with the largest one percent of U.S. sugar growers — the ones with major political clout — receiving nearly half of the subsidy money.
Addressing this imbalance requires more than policy changes. Power must shift away from corporations and back to the people.
We may, as individuals, lack the power to entirely change the course of climate change or stop ongoing corporate exploitation, but we can still hold these corporations accountable.
Boycotting companies and pressuring governments to place heavier regulations on corporate entities can change the outcome of detrimental corporate plans and their detrimental impacts on humanity and our planet.
We are not socially responsible for the way in which our capitalist society is formed, but in some ways, as consumers, we hold the most power.
