You may have heard the term corporatocracy mentioned before in different places particularly in the web, when making reference to the idea that governments no longer represent people but corporations. The general idea is that corporations have obtained so much power and influence through lobbying and through political donations that the average person cannot even hope to compete with them.
To a degree this is true. In this day and age the old motto "one-person one-vote" no longer applies. Now days it would seem that we have switched from a system of universal voting to the system of qualified voting. The question is now who is qualified to vote? The answer is of course, corporations.
Through this process of coopting governments, corporations manage to get advantages that would otherwise not be able to get in a free market. In other words, they get the government to create some sort of artificial monopoly for them. This of course prevents the free market from operating because goods and services are imposed on us. These artificial monopolies also impair the operation of competition. The product that better satisfies people's needs no longer rises to the top. It is the product with the biggest governmental influence that is artificially elevated to the zenith and we are stuck with.
Of course all this is excellent business because the cost-reward relationship is so dramatically skewed in favor of the corporation. Instead of having to spend enormous amounts in product development, manufacturing, marketing and advertisement, the corporation can now bypass all these expenditures by going directly to the government and paying small amounts of money as political donations to achieve the same effect. This is called lobbying.
Lobbying is such a large industry particularly in United States, Canada and Europe that those countries have instituted registries specifically for lobbyists. Of course these registries have no effect whatsoever on the lobbying efforts but they allow politicians to claim that they are transparent and in no way influenced by this money. Again this is all for show. The reality is that this money has huge influence on political decisions which translate into economic decisions. Otherwise large corporations would not be paying such sums.
Should you be worried about corporations taking over governments? Most certainly, you should. Your life is being directed and controlled (to a degree) by corporations whose only goal is to make a profit at your expense. This is of course what corporations normally do. However, what this money is buying is the impossibility of a way out for the consumer. We must contrast this with the operation of free markets. In such markets there is always the option to walk away from the deal. Nobody and nothing can compel you to buy one product or service or another without a voluntary agreement. What makes your in-voluntary agreement feasible is the existence of governments.
Without governments, corporatocracies are simply not possible. This is so because the free market is the great equalizer and there are no shortcuts, artificial monopolies, biases, subventions, protections, or any other artificial economic measure the benefits one corporation over another.
Corporatocracies are not the children of free markets but the spawn of governments. They strive through regulation and legislation and as such regulation and legislation is not the solution. On the contrary, it's like adding gasoline to fire. This simple lesson is a lesson that government supporters and state supporters have failed to learn from history. It is not possible to limit by regulation what is based on regulation.
It is also for this reason that we are big disbelievers in the Democratic system because the Democratic system is based on rules and regulations that can be easily manipulated if there is sufficient money on the table. The Democratic system is pitting a bunch of people who simply do not care versus the sharpest minds that money can buy. There really is no contest.
The only way to control this is to fight fire with fire and the only way to do this is through the free market. In a free market the sharpest minds oppose each other and are backed by large amounts of money. In essence, they cancel each other out. There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow simply because there is no government. If a corporation wishes to make superior profits they are forced to deliver a superior product. There really is no other choice.
Corporatocracies are something to be afraid of but paradoxically enough the existence of a superior power that should theoretically curtail their activities (the government) only delivers more corporate control. As usual the true solution is more freedom, specifically freedom from the government.
There is an old saying that goes like this "if you want more of something tax it less". Paraphrasing this saying we can also say that if you want more freedom have less government that corporations can't exploit. The conclusion is then, if you want zero corporatocracies have zero government!
You may choose to believe or not to believe it is entirely up to you. However, corporatocracies are part of our lives and if you dislike them there is only one way. You have been warned. Feel free to make your choice now.
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.
