Thank you, Graham. Great analogies. I would never have thought of likening the United States today to those analogies that clearly on my own, The ups and downs of roller coasters (which I never enjoyed as a child or amusement parks in general) and the mafia organization. But you are spot on.
Government is organised crime, just like the mafia. That sounds anarchistic and it is anarchistic, but it's true. The omertà of the Italian mafia (its code of conduct) has its parallel in national anthems and flags. Respect to the godfather is like saluting an army officer or laying down a red carpet for a president.
The realisation that you need to have is that it is not mobs that model themselves on government. It's government that models itself on mobs these days. They are barely indistinguishable. The main difference is that mobs' turfs are negotiated by capos or street battles, and remain fluid at all times. Governments have the comfort of a black line on a map.
Not quite. Imagine a piano keyboard. On the left you have capitalism, and on the right communism. Both entail ownership of government: the capitalist owns government in order to ensure freedom to exploit others, resources and labour at no cost to himself; the communist likewise advocates ownership of government, this time in order to ensure that the profits from doing business are fed back into the common good. All that remains is to define the "common good".
Around about middle C is where business exists. Business is not capitalism. They differ in respect of the quid pro quo. Capitalists expect to exploit people, places and resources for nothing, or as next to nothing as is feasible. Slavery is capitalism, imperialism is capitalism, apartheid, debtors' prisons, in short any measure that makes those who work for capitalists accept their lot without question. Businesspeople seek to mitigate cost and maximise income, but they do so in recognition of certain constants, one of which is recognition that workers have a choice: they can always go and work for someone else, and that is a vast difference to capitalism. Businesspeople acknowledge that workers must have a wage, the costs of procurement must be less than the proceeds of sale but not zero, work starts at 8 for blue collars, 9 for white collars and ends at 4 and 5, respectively. Public holidays and annual vacations are a good thing. There is always a Christmas party and a summer works outing. A business is a "family". Or it used to be, although many do still exist.
If you ask a manager whether he is working in 2026 for the wage he earned in 2024, he will scoff at you, "Of course not." But, if you, as a lowly worker suggest that your wage should be indexed in the same period, management will need "to think about it."
What I sketch out here are tendencies in business that are moving away from an automatic consideration of workers' welfare, rights and comforts to the capitalist's attitude of something for nothing. It's an extension of the readiness with which governments are prepared to renegue on the Convention on Human Rights. Of course, securing a fast track to the heart of government can end up costing millions of pounds. So capitalists don't regard that as a zero cost, in many ways they see it as a legitimate investment, one that must bear a return, even if it means that, no matter what the low-wage population does, they will never acquire the same influence, even if democracy dictates that they ought to.
Capitalism is different from business. I think so, at least.
Thank you, Graham. Great analogies. I would never have thought of likening the United States today to those analogies that clearly on my own, The ups and downs of roller coasters (which I never enjoyed as a child or amusement parks in general) and the mafia organization. But you are spot on.
Government is organised crime, just like the mafia. That sounds anarchistic and it is anarchistic, but it's true. The omertà of the Italian mafia (its code of conduct) has its parallel in national anthems and flags. Respect to the godfather is like saluting an army officer or laying down a red carpet for a president.
The realisation that you need to have is that it is not mobs that model themselves on government. It's government that models itself on mobs these days. They are barely indistinguishable. The main difference is that mobs' turfs are negotiated by capos or street battles, and remain fluid at all times. Governments have the comfort of a black line on a map.
Ah capitalism.
Not quite. Imagine a piano keyboard. On the left you have capitalism, and on the right communism. Both entail ownership of government: the capitalist owns government in order to ensure freedom to exploit others, resources and labour at no cost to himself; the communist likewise advocates ownership of government, this time in order to ensure that the profits from doing business are fed back into the common good. All that remains is to define the "common good".
Around about middle C is where business exists. Business is not capitalism. They differ in respect of the quid pro quo. Capitalists expect to exploit people, places and resources for nothing, or as next to nothing as is feasible. Slavery is capitalism, imperialism is capitalism, apartheid, debtors' prisons, in short any measure that makes those who work for capitalists accept their lot without question. Businesspeople seek to mitigate cost and maximise income, but they do so in recognition of certain constants, one of which is recognition that workers have a choice: they can always go and work for someone else, and that is a vast difference to capitalism. Businesspeople acknowledge that workers must have a wage, the costs of procurement must be less than the proceeds of sale but not zero, work starts at 8 for blue collars, 9 for white collars and ends at 4 and 5, respectively. Public holidays and annual vacations are a good thing. There is always a Christmas party and a summer works outing. A business is a "family". Or it used to be, although many do still exist.
If you ask a manager whether he is working in 2026 for the wage he earned in 2024, he will scoff at you, "Of course not." But, if you, as a lowly worker suggest that your wage should be indexed in the same period, management will need "to think about it."
What I sketch out here are tendencies in business that are moving away from an automatic consideration of workers' welfare, rights and comforts to the capitalist's attitude of something for nothing. It's an extension of the readiness with which governments are prepared to renegue on the Convention on Human Rights. Of course, securing a fast track to the heart of government can end up costing millions of pounds. So capitalists don't regard that as a zero cost, in many ways they see it as a legitimate investment, one that must bear a return, even if it means that, no matter what the low-wage population does, they will never acquire the same influence, even if democracy dictates that they ought to.
Capitalism is different from business. I think so, at least.
Hmmmm, I'd need to think about that!
Thinking about things is already a vast achievement in our modern Internet world. I'm encouraged ! :-)