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No Mercy No Malice
The Government Has $3 Trillion of Economic Grift on Its Hands
While a quarter of America is behind on rent, the shareholder class has experienced an explosion in net worth
The federal response to the pandemic has been massive — a $5 trillion effort. It has also been a con. Under the cloud cover of Covid-19, the shareholder class has used its outsized influence over the government to toss a few loaves of bread at those suffering all while accruing trillions of dollars in wealth financed on the backs of younger and future generations.
How did we get here? In a healthy capitalist economy, wealth is always at risk. Competition spurs innovation, which disrupts the established order, creating winners — and also losers. Joseph Schumpeter called this the “gale of creative destruction.” Over the long term, the spoils (ideally) fund both a more empathetic society and the infrastructure for more innovation and prosperity — but this only happens if the gale is permitted to blow.
Naturally, the winners tend to lose enthusiasm for this process when their own wealth is creatively destroyed. So they fight back. And one of their preferred weapons of entrenchment is government policy.
