Not Your Father’s Capitalism

Marxist czars are ascending to heights of power over the American economy. Bankrupt corporations stay in business by borrowing money at near-zero interest rates from the equally bankrupt government. The invisible hand of the market has been replaced by the translucent hand of the Federal Reserve as they no longer conceal their “ongoing market activities”.

Welcome to the new capitalism.

Now, we shouldn’t make the mistake of exaggerating the virtues of the old capitalism. The American economy has long been beleaguered by socialist programs, the Federal Reserve, and all manner of unconstitutional activities. Still, we had learned to live with the situation, and the economy adapted.

Capitalism is inherently flexible. You can poke it, prod it, stick it in a box, and even try to kill it. It never quite dies though.

When wages were forced to stay low during the Second World War, employers used benefits to compete for workers. As tax rates leap higher, loopholes and shelters will appear. And wherever economic tyranny thrives – so too does the black market.

So we needn’t mourn the old capitalism too long: capitalism is dead; long live capitalism. Still, it is a sicklier, weakened economy that we can expect to be awaiting us in our future. Saddled with busy-body bureaucrats, incompetent regulators, know-nothing congressmen and unseen manipulators accumulating power – we shouldn’t expect the future to be rosy.

And yet, even as America’s winter approaches, we can imagine a better future. For if we resign our futures to the machinations of governments, they were never truly our futures to begin with. Even should we face enslavement, we can begin, even now, to “emancipate ourselves from mental slavery” – under which all of us no doubt labor.