Slave Capitalism in America Today
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America has suffered such a stream of disasters within the lifetime of current citizens — losing both its longest and bloodiest wars, the inept massacre of its citizens in COVID, and the continued shredding of any racial compact — that a flaw in its decision-making process is apparent. Its leadership and attitude are fundamentally out-of-synch with the rest of the democratic world. What has befallen such a once-admired nation, that it is crippled so badly today?
The world’s first global commodity trade was cotton. America was the only country in the world that produced it using slavery.
America’s adoption of slavery-based capitalism at its birth has blighted America ever since. “Slave Capitalism” is uniquely harsh — a cold, inhuman and frantically grasping compulsion not seen to the same degree anywhere else. It denies sharing, promotes elites, and rewards politicians who make sweetheart deals with fellow elitists in serfdom states.
Slavery was the touchstone of America’s emergent capital economy. The aggressive attitudes necessary to employ slaves, were stamped on all its users: the women who ran the household slaves as well as the men who bossed the field hands; the South’s Washington representatives whose dominate-the-slaves anger cowed their Northern counterparts, as well as American war-makers. Their aggression was so in-bred that few in American even today think that it is remarkable that in the country’s entire history, only 21 years were recorded where Americans were not killing someone else in some other country around the world. The world is a target for American guns. The harsh American attitudes towards capitalism, war, society and government are all rooted in the abuse of human beings that cursed America’s beginnings.
How can this change?
Under it all, most Americans are not Slave Capitalists — or in fact, capitalists of any kind. A capitalist is someone who uses their money to generate other money. Relatively few in America are in that elite class; instead, most are working for wages, quite a few at a paycheque-to-paycheque basis. In the COVID crises, in fact, more than one in every ten Americans do not even get enough to eat[1].
Most of America would welcome a way to break the back of the Slave Capitalist psyche and to get the elite class to pay the cost of their economic ownership. How about starting with an invoice to the American elites — one that signalled: give us back our economy!?
Not a measly one-time COVID cheque for $1200 — a trifle compared with that given to American corporations — but a real and ongoing Guaranteed Annual Income. A Guaranteed Annual Income that would hold up regardless of what the American elites are doing with their Slavery Capitalism. A goal would be an annual income that is valued at the amount already thrown away for no gain whatever!
This means reversing slavery’s wealth gap, with a Guaranteed Annual Income that provides a meaningful amount to each citizen.
America has 130 million households. If each household received $500 every month ($6,000/year), it would amount to a re-distribution of $780-billion in wealth each year. Note that these funds do not disappear, the way military spending explodes offshore, but are parcelled out and spent in the United States by 130-million American households. It stays in the economy, and refreshes the economy.
How does this compare in scope with other kinds of spending?
The military spends $1-trillion on ‘defence’ each year[2]. Some of that is needed, but at the very least, looking at preventable wars, it can be argued that America spends $100-billion each year on unneeded wars. More on that in another article.
America has also waved a wand at the COVID disaster, to the tune of $4-trillion in unneeded spending (“unneeded” in the sense that most of it went to American businesses, many of which did not even have to show that they had anything to do with COVID. Only 20% went to American families. Note that this spending has not stopped, and is estimated to soar to another $16-trillion in the coming decade).
The rich have benefitted unequally from the COVID crises. Letting the private sector distribute the funds was a mistake (again). And they did not need the money. Today $3-trillion is slopping around in the bank accounts of the elites around the world, who have nothing to invest it in. The economy is not turning over fast enough to create business opportunities quickly…because the working citizens have less earning power. It’s time we cranked up real spending on-the-ground, by giving everyone money…especially those who live paycheck to paycheck, and whose spending would jump-start the economy.
So the U.S. can afford to spend $780-b each year. The only thing stopping it is the motivation to do so!
Let’s acknowledge that today our citizens have a right to put the days of elitist Slave Capitalism behind them, and be granted a rightful share of national wealth.
Slaves no more.
Barry Gander
[1] https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/tracking-the-covid-19-recessions-effects-on-food-housing-and
[2] https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/tom-dispatch-america-defense-budget-bigger-than-you-think/
