My question is once a State arises - say the US - isn't it Oligopolist? Using Covid Tyranny as a simple example the power and business networks already in control of the state mobilized reliable networks outside the state to strengthen control.
In these terms, that the state is an oligarchy is less of a concern than the scope of state activity. COVID Tyranny is a great example of a spike in scope, with officials claiming authority over how many people you could have over for holidays and how often you had to sterilize the bathroom. What a nominal republic pulled would have been outside the possibility space for an early 20th century dictatorship or medieval tyrant. Maybe Mao had similar proclamations and I just don't know about them, but every such dictat costs political capital, so the fact that our governments felt it was fine to demand such minutia suggests they saw no limits to their capital account. In other words, nothing was outside their scope so far as they were concerned.
If the state hadn't decided to mandate the shot, or enforce other rules about lockdowns and social distancing, I think we would have seen far less compliance, regardless of the desires of the oligarchical parts outside the official office holders. Some corporations would have run with the party line, but most would have balked at enforcing such rules for fear of lawsuits regardless of their preferences. I was lucky enough to be working for a trucking company at the time the mandates started rolling out, and very quickly the executives let everyone know they wouldn't be requiring a shot, presumably because they were well aware all their drivers would quit immediately, and many of their middle managers would follow suit. I think without the mandates many more companies would have decided losing employees wasn't worth the trouble, so even those not facing the "refuse the mandates or go out of business immediately" problem would have said "Get a shot or don't, it isn't out business".
Covid hit when I was unemployed. I work in sales. #5 company in a frightening sequence goes out of business June 2019 and as at the time I was 62 and my resume showed a track record of business failures after leaving loan origination no one bothered to talk to me. Ironic indeed that if they had not gone out of business they would have gone under fast. The company concept was having consumers host other people's storage in their spare space.
The U.S. Constitution: Tool of Centralization and Debt ... - Gary …
Apr 4, 2011 · The Constitution was deliberately designed to centralize power vastly beyond what the legitimate constitution -- the Articles of Confederation -- allowed.
That seems a useful way to think about the situation. I would add that since totalitarianism by definition has no error correction mechanism it will succumb to economic misallocation long before some outside force gets its act together. Both the UK and Germany will suffer blackouts within the next 18 months at most and suddenly commie Bertold will take over „Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.“ Chow over morals.
I think you are generally right that in the modern day typically the lack of correction mechanisms tend to make such regimes collapse under their own weight first. Historically, when states were rather more predatory towards each other's territory. I mostly just wanted to point out that it isn't that some states are vastly better than others, but that the victors might just be the least bad, or least decrepit at the moment.
And yea... the UK and Germany... sheesh. It does almost seem like they are trying to crash their systems. My guess is that it is a rule by rube situation, where they are so beholden to terrible ideas that they can't understand why things aren't working, but if it came to pass that it was shown they were doing it on purpose I would be only a little surprised.
My question is once a State arises - say the US - isn't it Oligopolist? Using Covid Tyranny as a simple example the power and business networks already in control of the state mobilized reliable networks outside the state to strengthen control.
I think you are correct, I even wrote an essay to that effect! https://dochammer.substack.com/p/oligarchical-tendencies
In these terms, that the state is an oligarchy is less of a concern than the scope of state activity. COVID Tyranny is a great example of a spike in scope, with officials claiming authority over how many people you could have over for holidays and how often you had to sterilize the bathroom. What a nominal republic pulled would have been outside the possibility space for an early 20th century dictatorship or medieval tyrant. Maybe Mao had similar proclamations and I just don't know about them, but every such dictat costs political capital, so the fact that our governments felt it was fine to demand such minutia suggests they saw no limits to their capital account. In other words, nothing was outside their scope so far as they were concerned.
If the state hadn't decided to mandate the shot, or enforce other rules about lockdowns and social distancing, I think we would have seen far less compliance, regardless of the desires of the oligarchical parts outside the official office holders. Some corporations would have run with the party line, but most would have balked at enforcing such rules for fear of lawsuits regardless of their preferences. I was lucky enough to be working for a trucking company at the time the mandates started rolling out, and very quickly the executives let everyone know they wouldn't be requiring a shot, presumably because they were well aware all their drivers would quit immediately, and many of their middle managers would follow suit. I think without the mandates many more companies would have decided losing employees wasn't worth the trouble, so even those not facing the "refuse the mandates or go out of business immediately" problem would have said "Get a shot or don't, it isn't out business".
I shall read your post with interest.
Covid hit when I was unemployed. I work in sales. #5 company in a frightening sequence goes out of business June 2019 and as at the time I was 62 and my resume showed a track record of business failures after leaving loan origination no one bothered to talk to me. Ironic indeed that if they had not gone out of business they would have gone under fast. The company concept was having consumers host other people's storage in their spare space.
Gary North -- Specific Answers
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The U.S. Constitution: Tool of Centralization and Debt ... - Gary …
Apr 4, 2011 · The Constitution was deliberately designed to centralize power vastly beyond what the legitimate constitution -- the Articles of Confederation -- allowed.
That seems a useful way to think about the situation. I would add that since totalitarianism by definition has no error correction mechanism it will succumb to economic misallocation long before some outside force gets its act together. Both the UK and Germany will suffer blackouts within the next 18 months at most and suddenly commie Bertold will take over „Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.“ Chow over morals.
A very Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Merry Christmas to you, too!
I think you are generally right that in the modern day typically the lack of correction mechanisms tend to make such regimes collapse under their own weight first. Historically, when states were rather more predatory towards each other's territory. I mostly just wanted to point out that it isn't that some states are vastly better than others, but that the victors might just be the least bad, or least decrepit at the moment.
And yea... the UK and Germany... sheesh. It does almost seem like they are trying to crash their systems. My guess is that it is a rule by rube situation, where they are so beholden to terrible ideas that they can't understand why things aren't working, but if it came to pass that it was shown they were doing it on purpose I would be only a little surprised.