Within capitalism, there are a number of iron laws. First and foremost is the maximization of profit. This iron law leads to numerous other iron laws. Competition amongst sellers tends to cut profit margins and as a result, there is a strong tendency for capitalists to form cartels. This capitalist solidarity provides them with the power to control prices and to dominate markets. As a result, free wheeling competitive free enterprise is crushed and replaced with large corporations that dominate and control enterprise as well as government polices. How corporations control government is a question for another essay. For the time being, let us presume this assertion is correct. It is hardly controversial. Another tendency of capitalism speeds up the killing off of small enterprises. That is, the boom and bust cycles that are a result of over-production (another tendency of capitalist production).  When the economy goes sour, it is an opportunity for the big fish to eat the small fish.  

Consider one field of enterprise and the control that it exerts over business and over society; the media. At this point, there are several very large entities that control American as well as international media. Their influence goes well beyond the enterprises they control. For example, their influence over the thinking and beliefs of citizens is immense. 

The tendency to grow in wealth and power is a natural and necessary feature of capitalism. Money is a money magnet and a large concentration of it grows as if it is a beast from a 'b grade' horror flick. 

Those that have control of capital also have control of industry as well as government policies. The IMF and the World Bank are the most deplorable and outlandish examples of this. They can not only dictate the way business is done, they can also dictate government polices. And dictate they do. Governments that do not abide by their demands face punishing retribution far more ruthlessly than the mafia could have ever dreamed of. But it is not just the World Bank and the IMF that do this. It is a natural feature of the power of financial capital.    

Competition Between Demons    

The contrast between China and America indicate cleavages in modern day massive monopoly capitalism. China has a state apparatus that controls capitalism and American has a capitalism that controls the state (many states). The differences are substantial although they are both societies under the control of large corporate/state monopolies. China's is, for time being at least, insular in their nationalism.  American capitalists would sell out America in a New York minute if it meant more wealth and power for the shareholders and as a result, American capital may flee overseas with much greater ease. China appears to remain chauvinistic to some degree. It is only a matter of time before the corporations in China control the state as opposed to the other way around. Again, it is the nature of the beast.    

As it is, there is competition between these super-states or more accurately, trading blocks. This is an extremely dangerous situation. It is one of the reasons for the huge military expenditures of both nations and it is why thousands are being slaughtered in Iraq and Afghanistan. It may and probably will result in major global conflict in the near future. What may stop major world wars would be a merging of Chinese and American capital (as well as European and Russian).    

Capitalism needs to grow and to grow constancy in order to maintain itself. It has grown beyond national boundaries and nations are increasingly under the control of large trading entities. The earth is a limited entity as are its resources, including labour. These large trading blocks not only promise to impoverish us and increase the terms of exploitation, they also promise to slaughter us is wars that will make the past world wars look like skirmishes. 

The competition that exists in the world today is not what we generally think of when we think of the word, 'competition'.  It is more a matter of survival for entities that must continually grow and dominate and the larger they grow, so does their need to dominate. It is not competition between this grocer and that grocer. It is competition among chunks of monopoly capital. A beast that is far more terrifying than anything invented by spook story writers.  

We must realize and not forget that all of their wealth and power has been appropriated from us, the workers that have built and transformed the world have been the creators of their wealth. Every dollar, pound, and yen that they horde in their vast vaults has been created by workers that mine the ore, melt it down, fashion it into commodities, and transport it for sale onto shelves and sell it to consumers. 

The ruling class has become traders of ghosts; entities that are ethereal as dreams. They are gamblers in the large casinos called stock markets. They are gambling addicts as addicted as any crack user and far more dangerous. Their function, value, and utility in our societies is nil. Even the managers of enterprises are us, the workers that make this human world function. We are not only better off without them, we cannot afford to keep them. They are the ultimate parasite and are ruled by their own lust for power; their own pathetic and pernicious addiction. And we are the workers, the managers, the soldiers, and we are humanity. Throw away the delusions and we have the power, all the power, and they have none. They have served their purpose. The time to say good-bye has arrived.  

==================

Archie Kennedy An associate editor of MWC is an activist/organizer and has organized in coal mines, with professionals, and with victims of poverty. He has worked as a coal miner, a community worker, a teacher and is now a social worker. A Canadian who now resides in the UK, he writes polemical articles on human rights, political economy, and war. You may find his articles archived on his blog, Left Lite

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