Apex Capitalism
By: David St. Vincent
Tags: Capitalism, Government, Public Relations, Politics, Philosophy

Apex Capitalism

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A central theme in American political folklore is that there is some kind of magical morality to capitalism. Somehow it is an economic system that naturally cleanses a society of social ambiguity. The core belief- held as gospel by chest thumping conservatives and Ayn Rand acolytes- is that capitalism serves society by separating the strong from the weak, the industrious from the lazy, the makers from the takers, and the deserving from the undeserving. On behalf of every American who was not born on third base but believes they hit a triple, I am calling b.s. But saying that is not nearly as valuable as showing it so I will do just that. Buckle up because this ride is rough.

You may recall this horrifying news item out of Orlando, Florida from twelve years ago: A young couple from Nebraska vacationing at Disney World was taking an early evening stroll when a shocking and unthinkable event occurred: an alligator sprang from a lagoon and attacked their two-year-old child who had stopped to scoop up some wet sand to make a sandcastle. All the nearby guests of the resort heard the sudden and loud splashing of the gator and scrambled about screaming in terror. The little boy’s father, unburdened by any fear or regard for his own life, dove into the murky waters to fight the alligator and pry his son’s head from the most powerful jaws on earth. Meanwhile, the child’s mother clutched her other baby and shrieked from the shore. His efforts were in vain. The alligator dragged the toddler to the bottom of the lagoon and killed him- leaving him on a nearby lakeshore where the police found his mangled body the next day. The family, distraught beyond imagination, decided not to sue Disney for the gruesome death of their child.

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In short order, Disney built a protective stone wall and posted warning signs all around the lagoon area. They reached a swift settlement with the family. Experts say the odds of such a horrific event happening are long and such attacks are quite rare. But the killing did happen. A family was decimated with grief and shock and every person who witnessed the horror was psychologically scarred. It did not happen because alligators are evil creatures. It happened because alligators are opportunistic predators. It is their nature to take any and every opportunity to feed that presents itself. In that regard, alligators operate on the same code of conduct as capitalists- specifically for-profit corporations.

The public should absolutely never buy any line from a for-profit corporation that it is taking any action for the public good. Every intentional step that a corporate actor takes is specifically calculated to either increase profits or prevent loss of value. That is a permanent and impenetrable truth. So whether the corporate public relations campaign we see on our screens is supporting marriage equality, Black Lives Matter, fighting breast cancer or hugging polar bears, the motivation never changes: maximize the money. It is the same motivation that makes corporations pay women less than men and pay Black folks less than White folks whenever they can get away with it. It is the same motivation that drives workforce management policies so draconian that delivery drivers wind up urinating in bottles inside their trucks to stay on schedule. Meat packers wind up going on the production line in disease ravaged factories while management takes bets on how many of them will get sick. And perhaps most famously of all, people wind up buying cars that manufacturers know will explode on rear-impact. In every case, the death, pain and suffering of human beings is baked into the corporate cake.

Which brings us back to Disney’s response to a toddler being killed in front of his family by an alligator at one of its resorts. Why didn’t they just have the warning signs and the protective stonewall up BEFORE such a shocking public death? Clearly, they had the capacity and the resources to do so- plus pay an undisclosed fortune to the family that paid the ultimate price for their gamble. Because Disney is a for-profit corporation the math said it made more sense for them to roll the dice that such an attack would not occur rather than take reasonable steps to protect the public. That does not make Disney an evil corporation any more than the alligator was an evil animal. It simply did what it was designed to do.

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And what WE are supposed to do, as informed and engaged citizens, is to tell anybody complaining about government regulations ruining our country and our culture to sit down and shut up. Anybody selling us that exploding Pinto should be run out of office on a rail. Corporations MUST be regulated so that they do not attack and eat consumers at every turn. Left to their own devices they will do just that. We only have safe food and water to consume because of government regulations. Capitalism will never protect the public anymore than alligators will. It is our job to put up protective barriers for ourselves because capitalists will do what they do- make anything and everything leverageable for profit. If racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and xenophobia are profitable, capitalism dictates that corporations invest in them. If diversity, equity, inclusion, pluralism and egalitarianism are profitable, capitalism dictates that corporations invest in them. It is up to the people to be aware and informed and to reward high quality corporate citizenship.

If we do that, capitalism can be harnessed in a way that elevates the best in humanity rather than amplifying the worst. We have been taught by history that communism can never be a sustainable system because it stifles human creativity. Our social ecosystem cannot run optimally without the aspiration and inspiration personal advancement generates. The truth is human beings NEED the incentives that only capitalism can trigger. Just like nature’s ecosystem needs alligators lest we find our habitat overrun by possums, racoons and snakes. Speaking only for myself, I’ll take a HARD pass on that. I advocate letting alligators play their part as apex predators actively regulated for human safety. Just as we must regulate our apex capitalists: Bezos, Zuckerberg and Musk.