CORPORATE AMERICA IS WRECKING CAPITALISM

SUMMARY: The Trump regime has cut a corrupt deal with corporate America, which most of the corporate elites have readily gone along with despite its corruption and undermining of democracy. This is what oligarchy and fascism are all about. Everyday citizens pay financially and with their freedom as these corrupt government and business people get richer and richer, as well as more and more powerful. Recently, Gerard Baker, editor-at-large (and former editor-in-chief) of The Wall Street Journal wrote two columns that make a powerful statement about the damage America’s corporate elites and their style of capitalism have done.

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The Trump regime has cut a corrupt deal with corporate America, which the corporate elites have all too readily been happy to accept. It is based on greed and corruption by both these parties: the government will let the corporations and their executives do whatever they want to grow their profits and wealth as long as they pay homage to Trump and his regime verbally and financially. That everyday Americans will suffer from unaffordable costs of daily living and from poor pay and working conditions does not concern either of these parties.

What’s surprising is that so few members of the corporate elite have been willing to call out the corruption and the undermining of democracy. A group calling themselves Patriotic Millionaires has been highlighting the harm of the high and growing levels of economic inequality for some time. They have been promoting policy solutions through changes in tax and employee pay laws. Patriotic Millionaires has proposed “The Money Agenda,” a set of policies that would reduce economic inequality and “permanently stabilize the economic lives of working people, stimulate wide-spread economic growth, and ensure prosperity and stability.” (See this previous post for more details.)

Recently, Gerard Baker, editor-at-large (and former editor-in-chief) of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) wrote two columns that make a powerful statement about what America’s corporate elites and their current style of capitalism have done wrong. I don’t imagine that I have to tell you that the WSJ and Baker previously have been stanch proponents and, when necessary, defenders of American capitalism. Baker’s recent columns in the WSJ (paywall) are titled How to Cure What Ails American Capitalism (8/17/26) and Socialism Is the Wrong Answer, but the Questions Are Real (8/10/26). Robert Reich provides a nice summary of Baker’s points in this blog post.

Baker writes that, “The widespread popular dissatisfaction with the working of modern American capitalism may be the product of some real, objective problems in the way American capitalism is working.” The problems he notes include the high level of economic inequality, the unaffordability of daily life for many, and the corruption and lack of accountability of the political and corporate elites. He points out that this is harming social solidarity and leading to demands for a radical replacement of American capitalism.

Baker further writes that, “Most of the causes of America’s economic dysfunction are the result of a capitalism that has mutated into a system run by and for large corporate interests.” The dysfunction he highlights includes oligopoly-level concentration in almost every business sector; regulation, legislation, and policy that benefit big companies; and a privatized healthcare system that operates to generate profits for providers, insurers, and pharmaceutical companies while producing poor outcomes for patients and very high costs. He states that the overall result is a concentration of “market, economic and political power by a business-political class that promotes its own well-being at the expense of competition, the market and ultimately the people.”

The fact that this is coming from a career-long proponent and advocate for American capitalism is striking and underscores how poorly capitalism is working. It also highlights how shocking it is that other supposed leaders in corporate America aren’t standing up both to call this out and to support remedies – not to mention speaking out against the corruption and undermining of democracy.

The current Trump regime and its allies among the corporate elite are what oligarchy and fascism are all about. There’s a corrupt deal among government and business people that “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.” Everyday citizens pay financially and with their freedom as these corrupt government and business people get richer and richer, as well as more and more powerful.

Some of the remedies are clear but obviously require a seismic change in our elected officials:

Strong enforcement of antitrust laws (as the Biden administration started to do for the first time in 40 years). American capitalism has gone so far down the road of eliminating actual market place competition by allowing monopolies and oligopolies that remediation will requiring breaking up some (if not many) of the huge corporations that have been created.
Strong worker protection laws and agencies, including support for unions and unionization.
Strong consumer protection laws and agencies for all consumer goods and services, especially financial services.
A total revamping of our health care system to remove the corrupting profit motive that puts profits before patients. A single payer Medicare for All system is the remedy, like what every other peer country has.
Dramatic reform of the American campaign finance system to prevent wealthy individuals and corporations from effectively buying elected officials and policies. Matching public funds for small campaign contributions from people within a candidate’s district, tied to strict limits on other campaign funding, are the most immediate solution in the context of the Citizens United and related Supreme Court decisions. New York City and State and numerous other jurisdictions have such systems in place and they’ve produced very positive results. (See previous posts here and here for more information.)

For lots of good news see Jess Craven’s Chop Wood Carry Water blog’s most recent good news Sunday post here.

STAND UP FOR DEMOCRACY AND PUSH BACK AGAINST FASCISM

Our democracy needs millions of Americans to stand up for it and to push back against the fascism [1] of the Trump administration and all the Republicans who are supporting it. PLEASE support and participate in a No Kings event on Saturday, March 28, in whatever way(s) you can. You can find an event near you here.

We need to stand up and push back against:

The cruel, illegal, and inhumane actions and detentions by ICE
The inhumane and un-Christian policies targeting immigrants, including refugees and asylees
The illegal and unconstitutional war against Iran and other acts of war
The implementation of and refusal to refund unconstitutional tariffs
The undermining of the United Nations, treaties, and alliances, while supporting and cooperating with authoritarians and dictators
The corruption of President Trump, some of his cabinet members, and his cronies who are putting millions if not billions of dollars in their own pockets
The violations of the rule of law including illegal firings of government employees, the failure to spend funds as authorized by Congress, the attempts and threats to prosecute political opponents, the pardoning of political supporters, the failures of transparency including on the Epstein files, etc.
The unqualified appointees who are harming Americans every day
The voter suppression and efforts to undermine our elections
The racism, misogyny, religious bigotry, and LGBTQ+ bigotry of Trump, his administration, and his supporters
The oligarchy that uses the government and public policy to enrich itself while cutting support for low- and moderate-income households, including cutting access to food assistance and health care
The lies and disinformation the Trump administration spews out daily
The condoning of political violence
The divisiveness and lack of civility of the Trump administration and the Republicans supporting it
All the ways the Trump administration and Republicans are making the affordability crisis worse

The egregious behavior of the Trump regime and the Republicans who support it will stop when enough of us stand up and say “NO!” Please say “NO” by being a part of a March 28^th No Kings protest and in whatever other ways you can.

For lots of good news, see Jess Craven’s Chop Wood Carry Water blog’s most recent good news Sunday posts here and here.

My next post will return to the discussion of the affordability crisis and present some strategies for tackling it.

[1] Fascism is defined as “a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime … that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism)

THE PERVERSION OF CAPITALISM BY TRUMP

President Trump is perverting capitalism and the free market by asserting unprecedented influence over the private sector. His actions are not a coherent economic policy and make the U.S. economy look like China’s. They’re all about centralizing power and control, while undermining the rule of law and democracy. This is what fascism and oligarchy look like.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

President Trump is perverting capitalism and the free market by asserting unprecedented personal influence over and taking government ownership in private sector companies. His actions do not reflect a coherent economic policy. It is the power grabbing of a tyrant and bully who wants to control others and wants them to be subservient. Trump is using largely illegal financial (e.g., import tariffs and export fees), regulatory, and court-based actions to do this. He wants to influence the decisions of other countries and American businesses, including media corporations, financial institutions, law firms, and universities. He wants countries and companies to come to him begging for exemptions from his actions and threats. [1] This is, of course, a breeding ground for corruption and bribery.

Nothing even approaching this level of government interference in the private sector has occurred since the emergency mobilization of the private sector for World War II. This government interference in private companies, which is a type of state-controlled capitalism, has until now always been anathema to Republicans and the business community. If any president prior to Trump had attempted any of this, Republicans, business executives, and the mainstream media would be screaming about it being socialism or communism. The actions by Trump are making the U.S. economy look like that of China, where the government owns a stake in companies or has considerable influence over their decision making. [2] [3] Or like Leninist capitalism where the Communist Party controlled the state’s ownership of businesses. [4]

This alignment of an authoritarian leader and a nominally capitalist economy is classic fascism. While Republicans and business executives are supportive or mute, the Wall Street Journal simply calls it inefficient. The business executives and other wealthy investors that facilitate and participate in Trump’s actions are the American oligarchy.

Examples of Trump’s actions include:

Allowed Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, makers of artificial intelligence (AI) computer chips, to export them to China on the condition that the companies pay the United States 15% of their profits. This poses risks to the U.S. AI industry and to U.S. national security (in part due to the chips’ use by the Chinese military). These payments are, for all intents and purposes, an export fee, which is unprecedented in U.S. history. Moreover, the Constitution explicitly bans export taxes (Article I, Section 9, Clause 5). [5]
Demanded that Intel’s CEO resign and then negotiated 10% government ownership of the company. This makes the U.S. government one of Intel’s largest shareholders. [6]
Proposed that the Defense Department take a 15% ownership stake in MP Materials, which mines minerals critical for chips and electronics.
Allowed Nippon Steel of Japan to take over U.S. Steel on condition that Nippon pay a “golden share” of the proceeds to the government and give Trump control over elements of corporate governance.
Reserved the right to personally direct some the $1.5 trillion in promised investments in the U.S. to be made by America’s trading partners as part of tariff negotiations.
Sued media corporations and negotiated approval of media corporation mergers to get money and influence over media content.

The government ownership in and influence over the private sector asserted by Trump has nothing to do with promoting the public interest, the well-being of American workers, or protecting national security. In fact, they undermine all these principles. They’re all about centralizing power and control in Trump’s hands as part of his efforts to undermine the rule of law and democracy. [7] Moreover, who holds the ownership stakes and who exercises the related rights is unclear.

Despite Trump’s bluster about being tough on China, his actions have been quite favorable to China. He has illegally extended the deadline for the sale of Chinese ownership of TikTok if it wants to do business in the U.S. He has shut down Radio Free Asia, which countered Chinese propaganda. He’s allowed the export of artificial intelligence computer chips to China, which was a key request from China in trade negotiations.

Please contact your members of Congress and ask them to assert their oversight of these deals Trump is making. Ask them to clarify who holds the ownership stakes, who is exercising ownership rights, and where the funds received are going. Ask them to ensure that the Trump administration’s economic policies and actions further the public interest, benefit workers, promote national security, and comport with the rule of law and democratic principles.

You can find contact information for your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

[1] Dayen, D., 8/11/25, “Tariffs to import and fees to export,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-08-11-tariffs-to-import-fees-to-export-nvidia-chips-china/)

[2] Reich, R., 8/12/25, “Trump’s ‘state capitalism’,” Blog post (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-state-capitalism)

[3] Cox Richardson, H., 8/11/25, Letters from an American blog post, (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-11-2025)

[4] Meyerson, H., 8/18/25, “When l’etat c’est Trump, the U.S. goes in for state capitalism,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/economy/2025-08-18-when-letat-cest-trump-us-goes-in-for-state-capitalism/)

[5] Dayen, D., 8/11/25, see above

[6] Liedtke, M., & Kurtenbach, E., 8/20/25, “US vying to own a big stake in Intel,” The Boston Globe from the Associated Press

[7] Reich, R., 8/12/25, see above