The modern corporation had its beginnings in maritime law. In an era when global trade and exploration were dependent upon sailing ships and the monarchy of European nations, merchant capitalism arose to fill a monetary gap that governments couldn’t muster and introduced the concept of limited financial liability.
Building a large sailing vessel and mounting an ocean-going expedition were enormously expensive and risky undertakings. As the growing merchant class increasingly wanted to expand its reach and power, it offered to finance such ventures for the Crown States, but with a quid pro quo, namely that the individual investors, in compensation for risking their fortunes, would be personally protected from financial liability above and beyond their original investment. Thus the corporation was born, an entity that could assemble investment capital from individuals by selling shares and conduct business under its own name.
For the European Crown States, this arrangement provided the potential of generating revenue without using their own funds. For the maritime corporations, the benefits included receiving the protection of the state. The individual shareholders might lose their investment, but despite any and all other mishaps, would be protected from further loss. On the basis of this arrangement, capitalism surged, producing the likes of the East India Company, which in many respects had greater power than a nation.
The corporatist mode of limiting investor liability is still legally viable; individuals buying shares of stock in a corporation risk losing that investment, but their personal wealth cannot be seized to pay corporate debt. Other aspects of corporatism, it’s undemocratic structure and potentially eternal existence, also survive today.
To Incorporate literally means to create a corpus or “body” under law. By granting “personhood” to corporations, the U.S. Supreme Court extended the relationship between corporations and governments into uncharted territory. Citizens United, the court’s ruling that corporate campaign contributions constitute free speech and cannot be constrained, has transformed modern corporations into God-like, predatory creatures that can use their money and power to control political outcomes and regulations.
The corporatist coup has taken centuries of effort but is nearly complete. With the ascendancy of billionaire corporatists we see the rise of oligarchic states, nations that operate at the will and discretion of corporate power. With virtually unlimited wealth, the world’s corporate masters now dictate national policies without constraint. By controlling the political process, predatory corporatists gain a stranglehold on democratic and authoritarian regimes alike.
The helplessness and rage felt by hard-working Americans has been intentionally misdirected by corporatists to government in an impressive sleight-of-hand. Institutions established to constrain corporate misbehavior are now the recipients of voter anger instead of corporations. Meanwhile, the mostly hidden hands of corrupt corporate oligarchs and billionaires manipulate public opinion by controlling the media, buying off politicians, and gutting regulations to suit their insatiable appetites for wealth and power.
When non-democratic institutions like corporations co-opt the power of government, ordinary people are reduced to mere pawns, objects to be used, abused and if necessary, sacrificed. Corporations are now royalty, effectively establishing “bloodlines” of inherited wealth, forming alliances, granting power, and controlling the course of history.
The seas of time are tumultuous and unpredictable in their endless movements and charting a safe passage into the future is fraught with uncertainty. Harkening back to their maritime origins, if and when the corporatist adventurers flounder beneath the waves, the rest of us, unfortunately, will go down with the ship.
Be First to Comment