Toxic Capitalism

Interdependence is the key word.
Enlightened interdependence.
Life in all its rich variety,
“take a little, leave a little”…
However: by the inexorable logistics of the vampiric process

THEY ALWAYS TAKE MORE THAN THEY NEED.

— William S. Burroughs
Words of Advice for Young People
From Hallucination Engine by Material.

This spoken-word piece by William S. Burroughs (backed up by the avant-garde group Material) totally sums up the top-down, free-market, TOXIC version of Capitalism that is practiced in the world of multinational corporations.

I worked for Tyco Electronics when Dennis Kozlowski was spending my pay raises on company-paid million-dollar birthday parties for his wife.

Here is what is happening:

Capitalism only works as long as there is growth. So what happens when there is no more? Well, first off your shareholders get seriously pissed off. It is against the law to piss off your shareholders, even if it means screwing over your employees and your customers.

  • You can raise prices.
  • You can reduce quality.
  • You can lay off employees, or pay them less. Younger employees want less money and don’t use their medical benefits. Great idea!
  • You can use advertising tricks to give you an edge over your competitors.
  • You can take over or merge with your competitors. During the process, roll over some existing debt into the transaction.
  • Play accounting games.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go hang out with the vampires.

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