Calling It

KARL MARX, hands down, was the most percipient economist ever. Although he lived in the nineteenth century, he understoond economics and human nature so well, as well as historical trends and relities, that his predictions for the future of the capitalist economic system are coming true, even as we speak. Marx predicted that in every sector of the economy small businesses would either grow into huge corporations, or would be destroyed by huge corporations. He predicted that eventually the world would be dominated by a handful of gigantic international companies which would dominate the global economy, and result in global monopolies in every area of business enterprise. That is exactly what we are witnessing now; a globalization of the corporate capitalistic economy, with the largest corporations firmly in control of the political systems in the countires in which they operate, especially the United States, another cogent Marxian prediction. Marx understood that the capitalist system has a limited life expectancy, and that it would eventually consume itself in brutal competition, competition which would make an elite few fabulously wealthy, and reduce the working class and even the former middle class to abject poverty and servitude, through exploitation. Marx understood well how markets work, and how they would work far into his own future, which he saw clearly. Essentially, all markets are limited, by the number of people who participate in them, and by the resources, natural, labor, and otherwise, available for consumption and exploitation. Suppose a company, say, General Electric, manufactures and sells home appliances, such as refrigerators. Once a consumer has purchased a refrigerator, he or she will not make another refrigerator puchase for years, and will effectively be out of the refrigerator economy. New consumers must be found. Eventually, everyone who needs a refrigerator will have one, and thus the market must be expanded, say, to other countries or other economic classes. Marx made the same point whcih twentieth century economist John Maynard Keynes made decades later: that capitalism must eventually come to an end, because eventually all possible markets are expoloited, and capitalism, which must pursue new markets in order to grow, and is dependant on growth for profit, will simply run out of opportunity. Neither Marx nor Keynes tried to forecast when this might happen, but they both knew it would. We can see it happening now, as fewer and fewer large corporations dominate the world economy, wealth is concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people, the spending ability (purchasing power) of the average citizen is reduced, and the greatest percentage of humanity, exploited labor, another condition necessary for profit in the capitalist system, is reduced to poverty. With their available markets tapped out, corporations will be forced, for their own survival, to engage in activities such as financial speculation and diversification of all kinds, everyone of which weill eventually run up against the same limitations. The corporate media will keep the game going as long as possible, by controlling the information available to the public, which will be told constant lies about nonexistant economic opportunity and prosperity. All of that we are now seeing in the year twenty twenty one. We are being told that an economic recovery from Covid 19 is well undersqay, when in fact all that is happening is that the very wealthy are becoming much more wealthy, and the rest of us are going deeper into debt, while government, which has long since become the tool of the ruling corporations, subsidizes big business and bails it out when its own greed threatens to destory the corporate monopoly. This we call "corporate socialism"; government assistance for the corporations, capitalism for every one else, particularly the workers, who are largely on their own, as they sink ever deeper into debt and despair. All the societal anger, violence, turmoil, and protests in the streets we see today? Marx predicted that as well, as the final death rattle of a system doomed to extinction.