Here's a letter I sent to the NY Times -- in response to an article about a Justice Dept. investigation of Standard&Poor's. The Times didn't publish it, of course. (One in every 30 or so I write them seems to make it in.) I wonder if anyone has any thoughts about this.
Now that Business can match
Government in wealth and influence, it seems clear that the next earth-shaking
conflict will not be between states (the US and China, according to common wisdom)
but between The State and The Corporation.
Every day brings news dispatches
from this new cold war. S&P vs. the US is only the latest in a string of
conflicts.
Some other notable examples: Greece
being squeezed into selling state assets (its power company, its
telecommunications company, some of its islands); the privatization of state
services around the globe, such as some European postal systems, some schools
and prisons in the US, the UK rail system; in Washington, the plan to privatize
social security (a battle that was won by Government) and the Business' defeat of the single-payer health
initiative.
In a corporate world, which seems to
be where we are heading, the role of the state will simply be an administrative
one, in which government functions will be dictated by corporate executives.
(Sometimes it seems as if we are there already.)
One bright spot, though: The
corporate world may bring the end of war as we know it, with its wanton
destruction of assets and its indiscriminate killing of consumers.
End of letter. I had some afterthoughts, though. The Business vs. State battle seems to be hottest in Russia, where Putin has the oligarchs on the run. (We're all rooting for that oil baron in jail; we don't know much about him, but he seems such a clean-cut patrician young gentleman.)
The Google vs. China internet war is another example.
We have a beautiful bridge near us, the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge. (Actually, it's the view that's beautiful; the bridge is not a suspension bridge or anything, just a way to get across the Hudson). There are now Geico ads (an auto insurance provider, for those who don't watch commercial American TV) on the toll booths and ads for a local car dealership on the toll gates. That seems weird and wrong to me. Just as does the naming of stadiums, theaters, etc., after corporations. Am I just being too sensitive?
It does seem to me that the international political battles are just a sideshow and that the ascendancy of Corporations as world powers is the major historical theme of the 21st century.
