Texting while driving. Bullying people on social media. Buying into the latest conspiracy theory. Passing off AI-generated work as your own.

That may seem like a random list of 21st-century vices. But I’d argue they’re all examples of the loss of one particular virtue: sophrosyne.

An ancient Greek concept, sophrosyne – pronounced “suh-fros-uh-nee” – is what we might call “sound-mindedness” today. It’s a constellation of characteristics, including moderation, reflectiveness and self-knowledge. They’re found in the kind of person who can respect and trust herself, and be respected and trusted by others.

As a philosopher and philosophical counselor, I research the connection between virtue and happiness. In particular, I’ve noticed a connection between sophrosyne and eudaimonia, the Greek philosophical concept for happiness, or living well.

Harmony of the soul

For the Greeks, sophrosyne represented excellence of character, moderation and self-control. It was connected to phronesis, or practical wisdom, and stood in marked contrast with hubris: excessive pride, dangerous overconfidence and lack of self-insight. Heraclitus, a philosopher who lived around 500 B.C.E., taught that sophrosyne was the most important virtue of all.

Plato, who taught a century later, discussed sophrosyne as the ability to know oneself – and to know when you don’t know something. In “Republic,” he likened sophrosyne to a harmony or friendship between the three parts of the soul: reason, spirit and bodily desires.

  At the center of ‘The School of Athens,’ by Raphael, stand Plato and his student, Aristotle. Wikimedia Commons

Plato’s student Aristotle argued that sophrosyne allows people to strike a balance between self-indulgence and self-denial – like someone who tries to get the right amount of physical exercise, neither too much nor too little. Aristotle taught that it was a virtue developed through practice, just like training for a sport or learning to play a musical instrument.

Sound-mindedness, in short, is not inborn but must be learned.

Discipline and discernment

I believe sophrosyne is still essential for the good life, the life of eudaimonia – happiness and human flourishing. It’s not a transitory feeling, but a sense of being your best self. This involves a kind of satisfaction that is not possible without self-knowledge and self-control.

What’s more, it requires the ability to discriminate between the good and the bad, the true and the false – capacities that are not inborn, but learned through steady practice. Without sophrosyne, it may not be possible to discern what is good for yourself or others. And even if you could, without sophrosyne you might lack the will to follow through.

If anything, these qualities might be even more important with the rise of artificial intelligence and social media. In my counseling practice, I’ve worked with people like “Brian,” an idealist who wanted truth and justice to win out over evil and oppression.

The problem was that he didn’t know how to vet his sources. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged, Brian fell down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole. He was certain that the condensation left in airplanes’ wake were “chemtrails,” a government brainwashing plot, and fumed against the “New World Order.” Thinking he knew it all, he was no longer open to reasoned dialogue.

Sound-mindedness helps us keep perspective in the sea of information online. Artur Debat/Moment Mobile via Getty Images

But if Brian is an example of the loss of sophrosyne, another person I worked with, “Lee,” shows how we can develop it. Lee spent quite a bit of time on social media, but she began to wonder how it was affecting her. She slowed down, took more breaks and started paying more attention to what her mind was doing and to how she was feeling.

As Lee became more self-aware, she realized she was wasting her time. She no longer connected to the reasons she had used social media in the first place. “Consuming social media was making me uneasy. It was like pigging out on junk food,” she told me. “Now I read more books, prepare food and walk during the time I had been spending on social media.”

Ripple effect

For the Greeks, sophrosyne was an ideal second to none. In the 1960s, though, Plato scholars Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns lamented that it was no longer “among our ideals.” That seems all the more true today – and the wider consequences are easy to see.

First, there’s the increase in incivility, in all its 21st-century forms – from road rage to cyberbullying. After the isolation of the pandemic, there’s even a new term for general social incivility: “social jet lag.”

The decline of sophrosyne can also lead to screen addiction, diminished attention span and ability to focus – factors that can, in turn, undermine civility. Civility takes sustained awareness of oneself and others.

The consequences go beyond our friends, families and co-workers to democracy itself. If sound-mindedness suffers, excessive pride and overconfidence hurt our ability to engage in reasoned dialogue and to respect other people’s differences.

Timeless virtue

There are a number of factors, I’d argue, that have led to the loss of sophrosyne, including a decrease in funding for education, more teaching to the test and greater economic inequality, which leaves less time and energy for things like personal development.

Another is the decline of mentoring relationships, which the ancient Greeks considered central to intellectual and moral development. A true mentoring relationship involves both instruction and leading by example. It’s about character, not success defined by wealth and status. Today, it appears that mentors have largely been replaced by celebrities and hero culture, with the rich and famous held up as examples worthy of emulation.

I believe the first step toward recovering sophrosyne is to recognize its importance in the good life. The second is to acknowledge its decline. The third is to understand the factors that have led to this decline.

Temperance, moderation, self-control, discernment – qualities such as these add up to a timeless excellence of character that cannot be faked. Becoming such a person requires guidance, practice and consistency.

Ross Channing Reed, Assistant Teaching Professor of Philosophy, Missouri University of Science and Technology

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

In discussions with senior executives across several industries, the following topic inevitably shows up: what can we do to reduce risks to our business due to geopolitical instability (which is code for Trump). This essay is an attempt to start this conversation, not just with businesses, but with countries as well.

UPDATE: Try the De-Americanization App >>

The Collapse of the American Model

The American Empire is crumbling. Its institutions are corrupted by money and special interests, its corporations worship shareholder primacy at the expense of people and planet, its culture exports hyper-consumerism and false promises. For decades, governments and businesses worldwide have been taught to imitate this model — only to find themselves ensnared in dependencies that strip away sovereignty.

“De-Americanization” is not anti-American. It is anti-dependency. It is the recognition that the U.S. system — financialized, extractive, exploitative — no longer serves as a viable model for the future. For governments, it means reclaiming autonomy from the dollar, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Washington’s geopolitical grip. For businesses, it means breaking free from Madison Avenue spin, Wall Street finance, and Silicon Valley monopolies to rediscover their own cultures, stakeholders, and ecosystems.

The question is simple: Will the world collapse with America, or regenerate beyond it?

Why De-Americanize?

The world has been living under the shadow of the American model for decades. We have been taught that “bigger is better,” that Wall Street knows best, that consumer culture is the pinnacle of progress. But today the cracks are visible everywhere. The empire’s institutions are failing, its corporations are extractive, and its culture has hollowed out the imagination of entire societies.

To de-Americanize is not to reject the American people. It is to reject the dependency on a system that no longer works. It is to reclaim sovereignty, resilience, and regeneration. The reasons are clear.

• Political Instability

America itself has become unstable. Polarization, authoritarian drift, contested elections, and economic misleadership — the U.S. is no longer the anchor it was. To tie your fate to a collapsing political system is reckless. Dependency on instability guarantees collapse.

• Sovereignty at Risk

Nations and firms that rely on U.S. finance, defense, or tech live in a fragile illusion of independence. If Washington shifts policy, imposes sanctions, or tightens controls, entire economies can collapse overnight. Sovereignty that passes through Silicon Valley servers or Wall Street clearinghouses is not sovereignty at all. Dependency is fragility.

• Systemic Risk

The U.S. system itself is unstable. Overleveraged, financialized, addicted to short-term profit. The 2008 global crash revealed how fragile the model is, and how quickly the damage spills across borders. Today, the dollar itself has become a weapon — militarized through sanctions, exclusion, and coercion. To rely on a fragile empire is to inherit its instability.

• Cultural Colonization

Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and Madison Avenue have colonized imaginations across the planet. Local stories, languages, and aesthetics are drowned out by Americanized fantasies of endless consumption. To de-Americanize is to tell our own stories, elevate our own knowledge systems, and resist cultural homogenization disguised as freedom.

• Economic Extraction

Value flows outward. U.S. platforms and consumer giants siphon profits from local economies, strip data from citizens, and repatriate wealth to Wall Street. What remains is dependency and precarity. De-Americanization is the act of reclaiming value for local communities, keeping profits — and dignity — rooted in place.

• Sustainability vs. Extraction

The American model externalizes costs — onto workers, onto the environment, onto the future. It is a system built to burn the commons and call it growth. De-Americanization is not just about survival. It is about shifting to regeneration: circular economies, commons stewardship, equitable systems that nourish instead of destroy.

• Geopolitical Multipolarity

The unipolar world is gone. A multipolar order is emerging, messy and contested. To survive, nations and companies must be flexible, not tethered to a single declining empire. De-Americanization is preparation for a world where power is distributed, not monopolized.

The Signs of Crisis: What are the Triggers driving De-Americanization?

The case is not complicated. The American model has failed. Its promises of prosperity were built on exploitation. Its stability is an illusion. Its culture is colonization.

De-Americanization is not anti-Americanism. It is survival. It is sovereignty. It is the reclamation of futures stolen by dependency.

The question is not whether the U.S. will collapse under its contradictions. It already is.
The question is whether the rest of us will collapse with it — or regenerate beyond it.

Here are the seven crisis triggers that accelerate de-Americanization.

1. Financial Shock – The Dollar as Weapon
   The dollar has long been sold as a neutral currency. But it is not neutral. It is political, and increasingly weaponized. Sanctions, asset freezes, and dollar-denominated debt traps remind the world that the dollar is not a global commons, but a U.S. instrument. A sudden collapse in confidence, a sanctions overreach, or a liquidity freeze could turn dependency into paralysis. The lesson: a reserve currency that can be switched off by one government is not a safe foundation for sovereignty.
2. Supply Chain Disruption – Fragility Exposed

Food, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors — the lifelines of modern economies. When these flow through U.S.-controlled routes or suppliers, disruption is inevitable. Pandemic shortages, shipping crises, and geopolitical trade wars show how fragile “just-in-time” really is. In a world of cascading risks, dependency on U.S. agribusiness or chipmakers is not efficiency — it is fragility dressed as optimization.

3. Regulatory Shock – Empire by Force

U.S. regulations do not stop at U.S. borders. From financial compliance regimes to extraterritorial sanctions, Washington extends its “law” across the globe. Companies that do not comply risk losing market access, funding, or legitimacy. A single rule change in Washington can paralyze operations in Africa, Asia, or Latin America. This is empire by dictat — and it is why regulatory sovereignty is non-negotiable.

4. Technology Cutoff – Silicon Valley as Switch

Modern economies run on data, cloud, chips, and algorithms. Yet the infrastructure is concentrated in the hands of U.S. corporations. If AWS or Google Cloud is shut off, entire economies go dark. If chip exports are blocked, industries halt. If patents are enforced selectively, innovation stops. Technology is no longer just commerce — it is control. De-Americanization begins with technological sovereignty.

5. Consumer Backlash – The Cultural Revolt

Culture is not soft power; it is hard economics. Brands that once sold Americana as aspiration now face rejection. Boycotts, cultural backlash, and demands for local authenticity grow stronger with each executive order by President Trump. The more a company wraps itself in American identity, the more vulnerable it becomes to rejection in a multipolar world. Consumer sentiment moves faster than supply chains — and it punishes dependency.

6. Climate Crisis – When Nature Breaks the Model

The U.S. food system is built on monocrops, fossil fuels, and fragile logistics. Hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, droughts in the Midwest, wildfires in California — each disrupts global supply chains. Climate does not recognize empire. When monocrop failure in America ripples into food crises worldwide, dependency becomes famine. Only regenerative, local systems offer resilience in the age of climate chaos.

7. U.S. Political Instability – Empire in Decline

The greatest risk comes from within. America itself is now unstable — polarized, authoritarian-leaning, and politically brittle. Contested elections, institutional breakdown, or a slide into authoritarianism would destabilize not just the U.S., but every system dependent on it. To tie sovereignty to such a volatile political system is reckless. De-Americanization is, at its core, a hedge against empire collapse.

De-Americanization for Governments: Reclaiming Sovereignty (and the Future)

The first responsibility of government is to protect its people. Yet too many governments have ceded this duty to Washington, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley. The result is a hollow sovereignty — borders on paper, but dependencies in practice. To reclaim the future, governments must de-Americanize their foundations.

1. Admit the Dependency

Begin with honesty. Audit your reserves, your food systems, your data, your defense. Where do your seeds come from? Who owns your banks? Where are your servers hosted? Who controls your fighter jets? If the answer is Washington or Silicon Valley, then sovereignty is an illusion. You cannot manage what you refuse to measure. The audit is the mirror.

2. Diversify Fast

Dependency is fragility. Build resilience by diversifying — quickly. Forge regional alliances. Create trade corridors outside the dollar. Develop sovereign digital infrastructure that does not collapse if Silicon Valley flips a switch. Multipolar diplomacy is not luxury — it is survival. The world is no longer unipolar; to act as if it is, is to invite collapse.

3. Rebuild the Commons

A society that outsources its water, its schools, its healthcare, its justice, has already surrendered. The commons are the backbone of resilience. Privatization weakens people and strengthens dependency. Rebuilding the commons is not charity — it is security. When food, water, and justice are shared, the nation endures. Collective security must continue – even without the United States.

4. Renew Your Culture

Empire colonizes not only territory, but imagination. Governments must stop importing their stories from Hollywood, their textbooks from Washington, their algorithms from Silicon Valley. To renew culture is to elevate indigenous knowledge, to teach local history, to invest in regenerative economics. A people who know their own story cannot be ruled from afar.

5. Lead Differently

Leadership is not domination. True leadership is regenerative. Build coalitions for climate justice. Share models of circular economy. Invest in regional security built on cooperation, not exploitation. The world does not need another empire — it needs examples of sovereignty without violence, prosperity without extraction.

Collaboration and Interdependence

De-Americanization for governments is not retreat. It is renaissance. It is the refusal to let the decline of one empire dictate the collapse of all. Sovereignty is not only independence from Washington — it is interdependence with neighbors, with nature, with the future.

The nations that admit, diversify, rebuild, renew, and lead differently will not only survive the fall of the American model — they will inherit the future.

De-Americanization for Businesses: Understanding the Real Risks of Collapse

Corporations have long mistaken growth for dependency — mistaking Wall Street’s approval for real value, mistaking Silicon Valley’s platforms for progress, mistaking Madison Avenue’s tricks for trust. But the American model of business is dying. Extraction, speculation, and short-term profit have destroyed resilience. For businesses to survive — and to thrive — they must de-Americanize.

1. Audit Your Chains

Start with radical transparency. Map your dependencies — who funds you, who supplies you, who owns your digital backbone, who shapes your brand story. If your finance runs through Wall Street, if your data sits in AWS, if your identity is borrowed from American consumer culture — you are fragile. Dependency hides in plain sight. An audit reveals the choke points.

2. Decouple and Diversify

Every dependency is a liability. Begin cutting the cords. Localize supply chains. Diversify markets beyond U.S. demand. Seek capital from sovereign wealth funds, regional banks, or regenerative investors — not Wall Street’s quarterly machine. Diversification is not inefficiency — it is resilience.

3. Regenerate the Business Model

The age of extraction is over. Regeneration must replace exploitation. Build businesses that create value for communities, ecosystems, and employees — not just shareholders. Circular economies, stakeholder equity, transparent supply chains — these are not costs, they are survival strategies. A company that destroys its soil, water, and people will not endure.

4. Rebrand Truthfully

The American way was to manipulate. To sell lifestyles and illusions. That age is over. Trust has become the only sustainable currency. Businesses must rebrand truthfully — telling stories rooted in local culture, in real partnerships, in verifiable impact. Authenticity cannot be outsourced to Madison Avenue. It must be lived.

5. Lead Differently

Leadership is not cornering the market. It is opening the commons. Share regenerative practices, open-source solutions, and sustainable methods. Build alliances with peers, even competitors, to restore ecosystems and empower regional and local communities. True leadership will not be measured in market share, but in how much you restore.

The Future of De-Americanized Business Ecosystems

De-Americanization for business is not retreat from globalization — it is renewal of globalization on different terms. Businesses that free themselves from American dependencies will become resilient, trusted, and regenerative. New trading coalitions and alliances can be built rapidly – if there is a shared commitment to de-Americanization.

The corporations that dare to audit, decouple, regenerate, rebrand, and lead differently will not just outlive the American model — they will redefine what business means in the 21st century.

A Crisis Implementation of De-Americanization

In calm times, de-Americanization could be imagined as a slow reform. A decade-long transition, carefully managed, negotiated with patience. But the world is not calm. Crises compress time. A single shock can collapse a system in weeks. Currency turmoil, sanctions, supply chain breakdowns, climate disasters — each accelerates the timeline. What was once a 20-year project is now a 3-year scramble.

We are already there. The storm is not on the horizon — it is upon us.

The First 100 Days: Survival

The priority in a crisis is not elegance. It is survival. When the American model falters, dependency becomes catastrophe. The first 100 days are about stopping the bleeding:

• Freeze Capital Flight
  Wealth evaporates in a panic. Without capital controls, reserves vanish into offshore accounts or Wall Street instruments. A government or firm that cannot freeze the outflow will collapse.
• Secure Payroll and Liquidity
  People must be paid. Panic turns to revolt when wages stop. Businesses must prioritize liquidity over profit; governments must protect public payroll above all else.
• Stockpile Essential Inputs
  Food, fuel, medicine, chips. Every economy has critical inputs. In a crisis, U.S.-linked supply chains dry up. Stockpiling is not inefficiency — it is life insurance.
• Transition Data and Operations Off U.S. Platforms
  Dependency on AWS, Microsoft, Google is fragility. A switch can be flipped in Washington and whole economies go dark. Sovereign data is survival.
• Communicate Transparently to Preserve Trust
  People can endure hardship if they trust leadership. Lies, spin, and silence destroy legitimacy. Crisis management is not only logistics — it is narrative.

Actionable next steps (100–180 days)

• Build a tariff/export “digital twin” of your supply chain; simulate 10–25% duty scenarios and instant BIS rule changes.

• Qualify a second site + supplier for your top 10 revenue SKUs (contracted volumes, line trials booked).

• Stand up an export-compliant SKU squad (legal + architecture + PMO) for rapid re-binning when rules move.

• Refinance/raise with non-politicized capital where possible; scrub covenants for government control optics.

• Harmonize to a global ingredient baseline to reduce U.S.-only reformulation overhead and recall exposure.

• Segment data + keys by region (SaaS, logs, model weights) with clear subpoena boundaries.

The 2-3 Year Crash Program: Renewal Under Fire

Once the bleeding is stopped, rebuilding must begin. But there is no time for the luxury of gradual reform. The crash program is about embedding sovereignty into the foundations of economy and culture.

• Build Sovereign Tech Stacks and Payment Systems
  Regional clouds, open-source platforms, local chip fabs, multipolar payment corridors. Every dependency on Silicon Valley and Wall Street must be replaced with resilient alternatives.
• Establish Regenerative Local Supply Chains
  No more monocrop dependence, no more single-source fragility. Food, energy, and manufacturing must be grounded in regenerative local systems that restore soil, water, and community wealth.
• Rebrand Away from U.S. Identity
  A company or state tethered to American imagery will face backlash. Rebrand as sovereign, rooted, regenerative. Authenticity replaces Americana.
• Anchor in Culture, Commons, and Stakeholder Value
  Long-term resilience depends not only on economics but on meaning. Governments must reinvest in schools, water, and justice. Businesses must create value for workers, ecosystems, and communities. Culture must be renewed from within, not imported.

Industry Vulnerabilities

• Tech – Most exposed to U.S. tech bans and export controls.
• Food & Agriculture – Tied to U.S. monocrops and vulnerable to climate.
• Finance & Energy – Anchored in the dollar, exposed to sanctions.
• Consumer Brands – Exposed to cultural backlash and identity rejection.
• Defense/Pharma – Dependent on U.S. legitimacy and regulation.

What should Key Industries Do?

The table below captures a summary of our ideas. The details are specific to each company of course. 

The De-Americanization Strategy Toolkit (what companies are actually doing)

1) Footprint Diversification (“China+1…+N” and “USA+1”)

Move assembly/componentization into multiple jurisdictions to arbitrage tariff/ex-control lines and qualify for local content rules.

2) Product Segmentation for Controlled Markets

Design “export-compliant” SKUs for restricted jurisdictions (reduced compute, different interconnects).

3) Supplier Base Re-wiring & Dual-Sourcing Critical Inputs

Build mirrored BOMs (e.g., U.S./EU + ASEAN), qualify alternates, and modularize so single-country shocks don’t halt final build.

4) Corporate (Re)Structuring to Ring-Fence Risk

Spin-offs, carve-outs, or holding-company redesigns to separate “U.S.-centric” from “global” businesses.

5) Financing Mix that Minimizes Political Strings

Prefer private/ally-market capital; if accepting U.S. subsidies, avoid equity-like upside or governance hooks that create “state-instrument” optics abroad.

6) Currency & Invoicing Diversification (De-Dollarization Light)

Set contracts in EUR/JPY/CNH where feasible; add FX collars and multi-currency AR/AP netting to blunt tariff-induced price shocks.

7) Data-Sovereign Architectures

Adopt multi-cloud with strict data-localization (EU, India, ASEAN), in-region encryption key custody, and sovereign PaaS variants to reduce reach of U.S. subpoenas.

8) Export-Control Readiness & “Compliance DevOps”

Embed a real-time rules engine (ECCN mapping, end-use/end-user screening) in quoting/fulfillment; maintain “kill-switch” SKUs tied to new BIS rules.

9) Ingredient & Label Strategy for Food/CPG

Shift away from U.S.-specific additives toward globally acceptable baselines to avoid dual formulations.

10) Contractual Risk Transfer

Bake in tariff/sanction pass-through clauses, movable INCOTERMS, and material adverse policy change (MAPC) triggers to reprice or reroute quickly.

11) Talent & IP Hubs Outside Single Jurisdictions

Spread critical R&D across allied regimes; ensure IP ownership structures prevent export-control “taint.”

12) Listings, IR & Banking Diversification

Pursue dual listings and multi-bank relationships outside the U.S. to keep capital access if OFAC/BIS actions disrupt dollar rails.

Case Studies 

Here are some early thoughts;

Intel: Government Ownership as Risk

When the U.S. government acquired ~10% of Intel, it blurred the line between state and corporation. For foreign partners, Intel became less independent — a U.S. political tool. This case illustrates why tech sovereignty matters: reliance on U.S. platforms makes companies and nations vulnerable to Washington’s whims.

Heinz Spin-Off: A Fork in the Road

Kraft Heinz split into two firms: Global Taste Elevation (Heinz, Philadelphia, sauces) and North American Grocery (Kraft Singles, Oscar Mayer). The split allows Heinz to rebrand globally, diversify supply chains, and pivot from Americana ketchup to a regenerative taste company. Meanwhile, the grocery unit remains locked in U.S. food culture. A lesson: de-mergers can themselves be a de-Americanization strategy.

Nestlé: Incremental Decoupling

Nestlé’s move to eliminate synthetic dyes in U.S. foods reflects how non-U.S. firms adapt to American consumer norms while trying to maintain global flexibility. But incremental reforms are not enough. True sovereignty requires deeper decoupling from U.S. agribusiness and branding systems.

The Path Forward

De-Americanization is not about rejecting innovation. It is about rejecting dependency. It is the refusal to collapse alongside a failing empire.

The roadmap is clear:

• Governments must reclaim sovereignty in finance, commons, and culture.
• Businesses must localize, regenerate, and lead differently.
• In crisis, time compresses: survival first, regeneration next.
• Across industries, vulnerabilities differ, but the imperative is the same.

The American model is failing.

The question is: will your country, your business, find a way to regenerate beyond it?

Stay tuned. Capitalism is changing.

UPDATE: Try the De-Americanization App >>

Trump’s second term is answering that question with devastating clarity.

Our institutions are not just buildings or agencies. They reflect us – our ideals, our hopes, and even our future. If we allow them to be hollowed, or even destroyed, we will lose our democracy – surrendering our freedom to fascism and authoritarianism. If we fight to rebuild them—anchored in the Common Good—they can live again.

Institutions as the Foundations of Democracy

Institutions are not abstractions. They are the bones of democracy, the connective tissue of our society. They are the safeguards that protect us from tyranny, arbitrariness, and the corruption of unchecked power. They are the guardians of the Common Good.

For decades, Americans assumed that their institutions—though imperfect—were durable. The National Parks belonged to all of us. The Justice Department pursued fairness. The Census counted us equally. Public broadcasting told us the truth. The State Department upheld alliances.  Voters could vote by airmail and use voting machines.

But what happens when a leader decides not to steward institutions, but to hollow them out? What happens when loyalty to a man replaces loyalty to the law, to truth, to history, to the people?

Donald Trump’s presidency has answered this question. His first term weakened the foundations. His second term, which began in 2025, is demolishing the pillars.

This demolition of our Democracy is not accidental. It is the strategy of authoritarianism: dismantle, delegitimize, and dominate.

This is the very definition of misleadership – leadership which destroys the Common Good.

Let us count the ways.

1. National Parks & Public Lands

 Before Trump:
America’s national parks and protected lands were celebrated worldwide—“America’s best idea.” These lands were set aside for the public, conserved for future generations. Presidents of both parties expanded protections, treating nature as a shared inheritance.

First Term:
Trump shrank Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante monuments by millions of acres. He opened sacred lands to mining, oil, and gas drilling. Environmental reviews were bypassed, and the voices of Indigenous communities were silenced.

Second Term:
In 2025, Trump accelerated leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, weakened the Antiquities Act, and gutted rules protecting water and forests. The Department of the Interior became an arm of extraction industries. Public land is no longer held in trust—it is treated as a business asset to be sold off.

The Department of the Interior laid off 1,000 National Park Service employees, a nearly 20% drop in park workforce in some cases.  At Yosemite, cuts in personnel forced rangers into tasks like restroom maintenance and led to a surge in overtime and search-and-rescue missions.

Consequences for the Common Good:
Biodiversity loss, Indigenous dispossession, park visitor dissatisfaction and climate damage. A common inheritance privatized for short-term profit.

2:  Public Broadcasting (PBS/NPR)

Before Trump:
Public broadcasting was one of the most trusted institutions in America. PBS documentaries and NPR journalism connected millions of citizens to fact-based reporting and culture.

First Term:
Trump repeatedly threatened to eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). NPR journalists were attacked as “fake news.”

Second Term:
In 2025, the administration slashed CPB’s budget by 30%. Political appointees were installed on oversight boards. NPR affiliates in rural areas lost funding, forcing closures. PBS had to seek corporate sponsors, eroding independence.

Consequences for the Common Good:
A misinformed citizenry. Public broadcasting reduced to private influence. Truth itself put at risk.

3: Voice of America (VOA)

Before Trump:
VOA was a beacon of American credibility worldwide. Its independence made it a trusted source in countries where truth was scarce.

First Term:
Trump installed loyalists in leadership and pressured VOA to promote his narratives. Journalists resigned in protest.

Second Term:
In 2025, VOA became an overt propaganda channel. International credibility collapsed. Journalists were pushed to repeat White House talking points on China, Ukraine, and immigration.

Consequences for the Common Good:
The U.S. lost its moral voice abroad. Authoritarian regimes celebrated. The US has lost a way to counter misinformation or to pursue the truth on the global stage.

4: History of Slavery & American Sins

Before Trump:
Schools were slowly integrating honest accounts of slavery, Jim Crow, systemic racism, and Native genocide into curricula. The 1619 Project symbolized this reckoning.

First Term:
Trump launched the “1776 Commission” to promote “patriotic education” and ban “critical race theory.”

Second Term:
By 2025, the Department of Education tied federal funding to state compliance with “pro-American curricula.” History standards were rewritten to minimize slavery, colonization, and racism. Teachers who dissent face dismissal.

Consequences for the Common Good:
Historical amnesia, and institutional erasure of the truth. A nation unable to face its sins cannot heal them.

5: Arts & Culture (NEA, NEH, Smithsonian)

Before Trump:
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) funded community projects across the U.S.—theaters, museums, libraries. Art and culture were treated as public goods.

First Term:
Budgets proposed eliminating both agencies. Funding survived, but barely.

Second Term:
In 2025, funding cuts of 40% forced small arts institutions to close. Federal support for museums dwindled. Art and culture became dependent on wealthy donors, reinforcing inequality.

Consequences for the Common Good:
The arts became privatized luxuries instead of democratic expressions of creativity.

6: Environmental Protections (EPA)

Before Trump:
The EPA regulated air and water quality, enforced emissions standards, and protected human health.

First Term:
Trump rolled back more than 100 environmental rules. The Clean Power Plan was scrapped. Climate science was suppressed.

Second Term:
In 2025, a former coal lobbyist ran the EPA. Emissions regulations collapsed. U.S. climate pledges abandoned. Climate denial returned as official policy.

Consequences for the Common Good:
Increased pollution, rising health risks, and the loss of America’s climate leadership. The loss of biodiversity.

7: Healthcare (ACA/Medicaid)

Before Trump:
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded healthcare to over 20 million Americans. Medicaid was strengthened.

First Term:
Trump failed to repeal ACA but weakened it through executive orders and lawsuits.

Second Term:
By 2025, Medicaid eligibility was narrowed. Subsidies shrank. RFK Jr., as Health Secretary, gutted vaccine policy. Millions lost coverage, women’s reproductive care restricted.

Consequences for the Common Good:
Health became a privilege, not a right. The most vulnerable suffer first. Increased mortality rates for infants and women.

8: Immigration 

Before Trump:
Deferred Action for Childhood (DACA) protected “Dreamers.” Refugee admissions held steady.

First Term:
Trump imposed the Muslim ban, reduced refugee admissions, and separated families at the border.

Second Term:
In 2025, family separations quietly resumed. Refugee cap dropped near zero. DACA frozen in courts. Deportations surged – some 1.2 million immigrants have been removed from society – leading to a crisis in the labor workforce. The administration doesn’t acknowledge habeas corpus.

Consequences for the Common Good:
Humanitarian crises at the border. America’s moral credibility shattered. Loss of illegals lead to rising prices of food, construction, and infrastructure-related services.

9: Department of Justice / Judiciary

Before Trump:
The DOJ enforced civil rights laws and was seen as largely independent.

First Term:
AG Barr used the DOJ to protect Trump and attack his critics.

Second Term:
In 2025, Harmeet Dhillon gutted the Civil Rights Division. Voting rights cases dropped. DOJ loyalty tests proliferated. Over two-thirds of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division staff are expected to leave their jobs, accepting a resignation offer as the Trump administration moves to drastically reshape the agency.

Consequences for the Common Good:
The law was weaponized for partisan purposes. Equality before the law has eroded.

10: Census & Voting Systems

Before Trump:
The Census was nonpartisan, ensuring fair representation and resources.

First Term:
Trump tried to add a citizenship question, aiming to suppress counts of immigrants.

Second Term:
In 2025, gerrymandering expanded so that black Americans have less representation. Census methodology skewed. Voter ID laws proliferated under DOJ approval.

Consequences for the Common Good:
A distorted democracy. Some voices silenced; others amplified unfairly. The GOP holds on to power at the expense of the people’s wishes.

11: Education 

Before Trump:
Title IX protections ensured equity. Federal support for student loans expanded access.

First Term:
Betsy DeVos dismantled borrower protections and weakened Title IX enforcement.

Second Term:
Trump attacks major universities such as Harvard and Columbia, on accusations of antisemitism and reduces previously granted funding for many student science projects.  In 2025, federal funding tied to “a patriotic curriculum.” Charter schools expanded, public schools underfunded. Trump cancels many foreign students from coming to American universities that accepted them.

Consequences for the Common Good:
Education became a battlefield of ideology, not a ladder of opportunity. America’s educational and scientific future is threatened.

13: State Department / Diplomacy

Before Trump:
The State Department relied on a professional corps. Alliances were stable.

First Term:
Diplomatic corps hollowed, Paris Accord abandoned, NATO weakened.

Second Term:
In 2025, further staff exodus. Partisan loyalists replaced career diplomats. NATO fractured. Trump raises tariffs on its close allies. Allies bypass America.

Consequences for the Common Good:
U.S. global influence diminished. Allies no longer trust America.

14: Consumer Protection (FTC, CFPB)

Before Trump:
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) protected consumers from predatory finance and monopolies.

First Term:
CFPB defanged under pro-industry leadership.

Second Term:
In 2025, antitrust actions abandoned. FTC slowed enforcement. Tech and finance corporations operate unchecked. Staff and contractors at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have been told they cannot “perform any work tasks.”

Consequences for the Common Good:
Consumers exposed to predatory lending, monopoly abuses, and privacy violations.

15: Social Safety Nets (SNAP, SSI, WIC)

Before Trump:
Social safety nets such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and the Wicked 7 Project ( WIC) reduced hunger, supported children, and alleviated poverty.

First Term:
Trump proposed deep cuts to food stamps and SSI, blocked in Congress.

Second Term:
In 2025, work requirements were reinstated. Funding cut. Eligibility narrowed. Millions lose food assistance.

Consequences for the Common Good:
Food insecurity and poverty rise. The poor and vulnerable abandoned.

What Next?

We listed 15 institutional areas that Trump and his MAGA (Make America Great Again) followers devastated.  Sadly, Trump’s actions changed MAGA to MAWA (Make America Weak Again).  Foreign countries are shocked and dismayed by how rapidly America sunk from the world’s Leading Democracy to a collapsing Empire with crumbling power.

Trump talks about acquire Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal.  Trump had the audacity to dictate new tariffs that he would charge not only to his enemies (China 50%), to neutral countries (India 50%, Switzerland 39%) and to his allies (Canada and Mexico 25%).  At the United Nations Security Council in June 2025, the U.S. was effectively the only country opposing an effort to move toward peace—specifically, it vetoed a resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza.  

Within America, instead of Trump uniting Americans, he deepens divisions daily. His purpose is to openly vilify and destroy the Democrats and their party and to set himself up as a lifelong dictator. Seriously, does anyone doubt this still?

What will it take to stop this madness and restore Democracy in the USA? Time is running out.

IMAGE credit.

There is a growing incidence of toxic leadership in organisations across the world. This is clear from anecdotal evidence as well as research which suggests that one out of every five leaders is toxic. My own research shows that closer to three out of every ten leaders are toxic.

This cancer of toxicity threatens the well being of both individuals and organisations. It also affects the performance of a society and country. That’s why there is a pressing need for leaders to understand the nature, dynamics and evolution of toxic leadership and organisations.

The word “toxic” comes from the Greek “toxikon” which means “arrow poison”. In a literal sense, the term in its original form thus means to kill (poison) in a targeted way (arrow). Toxic organisations and leaders therefore are those who deliberately destroy the fabric of the institution.

What makes a toxic leader?

Toxic leadership represents the “dark” side of leadership. It affects individuals as well as organisations.

In the case of individuals toxic leadership refers to ongoing, deliberate, intentional actions – the “arrow” – by a leader to undermine the sense of dignity, self-worth and efficacy of an individual – the “poison”. This results in exploitative, destructive, devaluing and demeaning work experiences. These destructive actions may be physical, psychosocial or even spiritual when they diminish a person’s meaning and purpose.

A toxic organisation is one that erodes, disables and destroys the physiological, psychosocial and spiritual well being of the people who work in it in permanent and deliberate ways. In other words, an organisation becomes metaphorically a “poison pill” for employees.

Workplace bullying is similar to toxic leadership, but is just one form of it. Bullying is more centred on individual, one-on-one, physical or emotional abuse by any one individual, including a leader, on another person.

In contrast to toxic leadership, healthy, authentic leadership nurtures and affirms the dignity, worth and efficacy of an individual. It creates enabling, empowering and meaningful work experiences.

And a healthy, authentic organisation is one that nurtures and grows the physiological, psychosocial and spiritual well being of its organisational members.

Can toxic leaders be competent?

Leadership toxicity and incompetence are not directly related. Both competent – getting the desired results – and incompetent leadership can be toxic.

If a narrower definition of competence is used – only focusing on technical and professional competencies – a toxic leader may still be seen as competent because they are “delivering the goods”. This is particularly true if a short term view is taken. But over the longer term their short term success is unsustainable. This is because they are destroying their teams, departments or organisations in the process.

If a comprehensive, long term view is taken toxic leaders are incompetent because they are not competent across all domains of a well-rounded leader. Taking a comprehensive view, leadership qualities include personal attributes, technical and professional competencies, values and attitudes, and conduct.

I believe that toxic leaders, regardless of their level of technical and professional competence, are incompetent. After all, competent leadership is all about getting things done with people.

Typical toxic leaders

Five typical toxic leaders exist:

• The Cold Fish: the ends justifies the means. So any decision and action is justifiable in terms of the results desired.
• The Snake: the world serves me in the endeavour to satisfy my personal needs like greed, status and power.
• Glory Seeker: personal glory and public visibility at any cost, regardless of whether I have made any real and meaningful contribution.
• Puppet Master: absolute, centralised control over everything and anyone, under all circumstances.
• Monarch: ruling the organisation as if it is my kingdom. All of its assets are available for my personal use.

The more prolific these toxic leaders are in an organisation, the more toxic the organisation. The table below profiles these toxic leaders.

Typical toxic organisations

The typical manifestations of a toxic organisation resulting from toxic leadership are:

• Negative emotional moods and mood swings: anger, despair, despondency, frustration, pessimism and aggression.
• Unproductive and meaningless work.
• Destructive and counterproductive conduct.
• Employee physical and emotional disengagement and withdrawal such as absenteeism, lack of contribution, and turnover.
• Unethical, deviant conduct: theft, fraud and sabotage.
• Poor well-being and health.
• Low (team) morale and work satisfaction.
• Organisational dis-identification and low organisational commitment.
• General life dissatisfaction.

But organisations can be toxic in their own right through the organisational culture they have. Organisational culture refers to shared ways of seeing, interpreting and acting upon the world that becomes ingrained in an organisation’s DNA. It’s the glue holding it together and provides an organisation with a way of looking at and relating to the world.

When toxic patterns become ingrained into the DNA of an organisation the following patterns emerge:

• Paranoid: the defensive, afraid, suspicious, trusting no-one or nobody organisation.
• Compulsive: the over-planned and over-programmed organisation.
• Hyperactive: the impulsive, unfocused organisation, acting like an adolescent.
• Deflated: the energyless, depressed and impotent organisation.
• Delusional: the reality estranged, make-believe organisation, living in a world of its own.
• Conscienceless: the unethical, amoral organisation.

There appears to be a growing incidence of the cancer of toxic leadership and organisations. This is in no uncertain terms endangering the well being of organisational members, compromising future sustainable organisational, community and societal performance and success, as well as the very continued existence of them.

This article is based on a longer, more comprehensive academic paper.

Theo Veldsman, Professor and Head, Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, University of Johannesburg

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Is your business degenerative? Is it following the well-thumbed playbook of corporate crapitalism?

Here’s an undeniable truth: most businesses are degenerative. They exploit, extract, and destroy – decimating the Common Good. Let’s confront the ugly reality of how most companies operate:

1. You Can’t Kill Your Customer and Call It Value Creation

It’s basic: if your business harms your customers, it’s doomed. Selling junk food, addictive products, or predatory services might work for a while, but it’s a race to the bottom. You can’t build trust—or a future—on exploitation. Long-term value means putting people’s well-being at the core of your business.

2. Business Is Part of Nature, Not Apart from It

A no-brainer. All business depends on the beneficence of Nature, yet most treat Nature like it’s disposable. The truth is, your business can’t thrive if the planet doesn’t. Whether it’s your supply chain, energy consumption, or waste management, ask yourself: are you regenerating or destroying? The future belongs to companies that heal, not harm.

3. Spreadsheets Don’t Lead, People Do

If your CEO runs the business by spreadsheet, you’ve already lost. Decisions made by algorithms and bottom-line thinking strip humanity out of the equation. Customers and employees aren’t data points—they’re people. Businesses that fail to connect on this level will be replaced by, well, algorithms. Real leadership is about purpose, empathy, and vision—not just numbers.

4. Profiting from Suffering Won’t Last

You can only profit from pain for so long. Sweatshops, environmental destruction, wage theft—they all come back to bite. Public outrage and growing awareness will destroy businesses that thrive on suffering. A regenerative business profits by solving problems, not creating them.

5. Hedge Fund Rule Equals Extraction

When hedge funds run the show, businesses stop being businesses. They become extraction machines, sucking out value for short-term profits and leaving employees, communities, and ecosystems in ruin. These companies strip-mine everything they touch. Real businesses build—extractive ones destroy.

6. CEO Pay: How Much Is Too Much?

When it takes over 100 years for your workers to earn what your CEO makes in a year, you have a problem. Inequality within organizations is a ticking time bomb. Pay disparities demoralize workers, erode trust, and fuel resentment. It’s not just about fairness; it’s about survival. Companies that share the wealth will endure. The others? Good riddance.

7. Does Your Business Give Back More Than It Takes?

Communities are the backbone of any business. But how many companies extract from their communities without giving back? If your business takes more than it contributes, it’s not just unsustainable—it’s parasitic. Businesses that reinvest in their communities create loyal customers, happier employees, and long-term resilience.

8. Do Your Employees Fear You?

When employees are afraid to speak up, to organize, or to challenge the status quo, your business is broken. Fear kills creativity, innovation, and loyalty. A thriving business creates a culture of trust, respect, and empowerment. Fear-driven workplaces collapse under their own weight.

9. Do Your Leaders All Think the Same?

When leadership is homogenous, you get groupthink. Homogeneity limits perspective, stifles innovation, and reinforces the status quo. Diversity isn’t just about representation—it’s about better decision-making. If all your leaders vote the same, think the same, and act the same, your business is on autopilot—heading for a crash.

The world doesn’t need more degenerative businesses. It needs regenerative organizations. Regenerative businesses don’t just reduce harm—they create value for people, communities, and the planet. They restore what’s been destroyed. They repair what’s broken. They rethink what’s possible. They regenerate the Common Good.

The path forward is clear. The question is: will your organization make the Big Shift, or will it double down on crapitalism?

Predicting the winner of a U.S. Presidential election is especially hard in this election year. The candidates are running close to 50-50 and voters are highly polarized. The two candidates have extremely different views of what is the Common Good.

So we choose not to make a prediction.

However, we want to vote. If this was an election in Australia, we would have to vote or pay a fee for not voting.  Furthermore, we would have to rank our candidate preferences if there are three or more candidates.

But we are American citizens. Also, we are largely independent voters.  We aren’t one-issue voter although this would make it easy.  For example, what if we cared only about abortion and voted for the candidate who favors abortion rights for women. We really want to consider all the policy differences between the two candidates.  

How can we do that?

Let’s imagine the economic, social and political outcomes that are likely to follow from each candidate being elected.

Our best step is to list the outcomes that we expect to follow with each candidate if elected. We stand ready to revise our views.  In fact, we invite you, the reader, to look at the two lists.  Feel free to add missing outcomes.

You can send your revised list to us >>  info (at) fixcapitalism dot com >>

Here are our initial lists:

What will happen if Trump wins the 2024 Presidency?

1. Economic chaos as higher prices result from Trump’s rising tariffs and irrational trade policies
2. Cutbacks and/or elimination of Social Security, Medicare, and the possible repeal of Obamacare
3. Social chaos with increased violence towards minorities, workers, and union organizers
4. Political arrests targeting opponents (Trump has also said anyone criticizing the Supreme Court should be jailed)
5. Government appointments not based on merit but ideology (existing government employees will be purged unless they are loyal to Trump)
6. Fewer dependable allies from abroad as NATO(and the EU) is abandoned; China becomes stronger as Taiwan is abandoned
7. Russian power increases as Ukraine is left to itself; US pivots to possible war against Iran
8. Climate problems worsen – pollution regulations are eliminated; drilling allowed in National Parks
9. Polarization and hatred worsen as “remigration” and forced deportation is scaled up
10. Leadership focuses on past grievances – including personal vendettas against people who didn’t support Trump
11. Possibility of mental deterioration of Trump after election – leading to the installation of JD Vance as President
12. Women lose their reproductive rights, and other civil rights as well
13. More tax cuts for the rich and corporate interests, leading to further deficits (military programs to increase at the expense of everything else)
14. Increase in Christian Nationalism and intolerance for other faiths
15. Implementation of Project 2025 and abandonment of constitutional boundaries

What will happen if Harris wins the Presidency?

1. Lower prices as Inflation continues to fall; corporate price-gouging is dissuaded
2. Major job creation with new factories and new investments in renewabletechnologies
3. Higher taxes on the super-rich and corporate profits to support better health and education – this funds Social Security and eliminates austerity measures
4. Strong dependable allies abroad – NATO is supported to create a better, secure future
5. More progress in controlling climate problems – investment in renewables and battery technologies
6. Her international experience will further peacemaking to reduce international disputes
7. Union support instead of opposition and more worker benefits including a higher minimum wage
8. Less polarization and more goodwill amongst the general population; opposition to the culture wars
9. Leadership is younger and motivating for younger generations
10. Women’s rights are secured nationally and across states; abortion rights are strengthened
11.  Church and state are kept separate and America avoids a decline into Christian Nationalism by embracing a culture of respect
12.  Increased regional investments in Latin America to encourage residents to remain in their home countries
13. Support for a two-state solution regarding Israel and Palestine
14. Support for  job-creation through small business and start-up incentives
15. Corporates and billionaires pay a fairer share of taxes

Does this comparison of likely outcomes help you choose your candidate?

ASK: Which candidate is working for the Common Good? Which candiadte is working for the future wellbeing of our children?  Which candidate has demonstrated a commitment to justice?

May the best candidate win.

As more campuses join the protests against Israel’s continuing engagement in war crimes in Gaza, one common thread runs through the student demands. It’s this: divest from supplying the Netanyahu government and the IDF with weapons of mass destruction.

What compels many of these youthful demonstrators to occupy the public spaces and offices of their universities is the complicity of college portfolios with investments in U.S. weapon manufacturers. They know that the products of defense contractors, like Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighterjet and General Dynamics’ MK 84—a 2,000-pound bomb—are slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent civilians throughout Gaza.

They also understand that the U.S. government, from President Joe Biden to the Congress, is opposed to legislative efforts to hold Israel accountable to its violation of various on-the-books prohibitions for governments “engaged in gross human rights abuses” (Section 502 B of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act). Instead, they see the Biden Administration exploiting every loophole in any restrictions to supply Israel with unending transfers of bombs and military equipment. While countries, like Canada and numerous others, have stopped shipping weapons to Israel, the U.S. seems oblivious to the suffering and devastation caused daily by the IDF in Gaza.

They are aware that Israeli state propaganda spreads constant disinformation about its war crimes in Gaza, from rationalizing its attacks on the staff and patients in hospitals to the murder of over 200 aid workers. They know that countless human rights agencies have condemned these kinds of war crimes in Gaza. (These same human rights agencies have also condemned the brutal killing of 1,200 Israeli civilians and the taking of hostages on October 7). In order to justify the murder of so many innocent civilians, the Netanyahu government has insisted that they have actually killed 9,000 Hamas militants. However, if they read one of the recent articles in the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz from March 31, they understand this figure is reflective of what the IDF calls “kill zones” (think “free-fire zones” in the U.S. war on Vietnam) where anything in those zones, including women and children, were legitimate targets to then be counted as Hamas militants.

They are surely aware of what Netanyahu cabinet members have said about the Palestinians in Gaza and on the West Bank that they are just “human animals.” The Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, has bragged about destroying the “electricity, food, and fuel” in Gaza. One of his advisers, a former IDF General, reflective of the targeting of aid workers, including those murdered seven from World Central Kitchen, acknowledged that “in order to make the siege effective, we have to prevent others from giving assistance to Gaza.” Such mass murder and wanton destruction of property in Gaza is part of a campaign of killing that one UN official has cited as “probably the highest kill ratio of any military killing anybody since the Rwandan genocide of 1994.”

When students see and hear about all of this, they are obviously motivated to express their moral outrage. On one hand, these expressions may not always comport with so-called civility. On the other hand, they are not prepared to remain silent and/or passive in the face of an unfolding genocide. In their adherence to Dr. King’s reference to the “fierce urgency of now,” they are committed, as Dr. King was, to disturbing the peace.

Indeed, we need to be reminded of another quote from Dr. King that was central to his famous Riverside Address (“A Time to Break Silence”) from April 4, 1967. He warned prophetically that “a nation that continues year after year to spend more on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” Beyond the horrors in Gaza and the long tragic history of the oppression of Palestinians, these student protestors are trying to save their own nation from its death-dealing spiral. What their protest ultimately signifies is their commitment to an authentic advocacy for peace and justice abroad and at home.

Fran Shor is a Michigan-based retired teacher, writer, and activist.

Licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Original here.

Has capitalism taken us over the cliff? And why can’t we stop?

Marjorie Kelly‘s most recent book, Wealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises is one of the most important explanations of how wealth and power have created an unlivable world and sacrificed the future for the greed of a few.

Why aren’t the SDGs working? Why can’t our politicians do the right thing?

The first answer: wealth supremacy.

Wealth supremacy is defined as the cultural and political processes and attitudes by which persons of wealth accumulate and maintain prestige, privileges, and power that others lack.

The impact of wealth supremacy is everywhere.  Kelly explains:

It’s about status, in a culture where the wealthy are revered as the possessors of godlike powers. It’s about influence, including the power to control philanthropy. It’s about political and legal power-including the power to finance candidates, to influence lawmaking through lobbying, and to escape the justice system that ensnares those without wealth.

(And, in case you were wondering, Kelly shows us the link between wealth supremacy and white supremacy).

The second answer: capital bias.

Capital bias is defined as the idea of making as much money as possible, which primarily benefits those who are already wealthy.

Kelly explains that this bias is present in the systems and institutions that allow money to wield significant influence. Capital represents the active side of wealth. It’s the money that’s expected to keep growing endlessly. Capital is what drives wealth, and it does this through various means like making profits, setting the rules of accounting, and blurring the line between speculation and investment.

When you put wealth supremacy and capital bias together, you have the “DNA of our capital-centric economic system.” These intertwined biases shape how the system operates, grows, and sustains itself. The goal is to keep the rich at the top, safe and comfortable, and capital bias is the way they achieve this. Capital bias is the essence of the system, and this system is what we call capitalism.

The Root Cause of the Polycrisis

Kelly shows us that systemic wealth extraction has become “the deep force sapping the resilience of our society, driving, exacerbating, or profiting from the largest crises of our day.”

The interconnected world of systemic risks–climate change, biodiversity loss, deepening inequality, and rising authoritarianism are converging into what’s being called a polycrisis.  Kelly explains that while ecological overshoot is one root cause of the polycrisis, equally implicated is financial overshoot: the accumulation of too much financial wealth, even as the system remains intent on a limitless more. US financial assets are five times the size of GDP, a ballooning since the 1950s, when assets and GDP were roughly equal in size.

Kelly spells out the connections:

The long rise of irresponsible consumption has been driven by the corporate drive to maximize profits. Our efforts to tackle climate change have been blocked by the misdirection of fossil fuel companies and the capture of politics by monied interests.

As a global food crisis has unfolded, corporations have been out there using inflation to hide outsized price increases.? The white working class, left adrift by the loss of good jobs, finds its anger misdirected into racial and misogynistic hatred by the conservative forces determined to retain or reinstate the social order governed by wealth, by men, by whites.

Many of us don’t fully grasp how the complex, obscure, mathematical rules and norms of our extractive system lie behind these crises. It’s rarely explained to us how expanding pools of great wealth create and rely upon the precarity and indebtedness of the rest of us. Instead, our culture tends to view “wealth creation” as benign and wonderful. This bias toward wealth makes it difficult for us to digest the warnings of economists that the world is awash in far too much financial capital, just as the atmosphere is awash in too much carbon.

Naming the Disease that Ails Us

Kelly’s expose shows us the way out: the first step must be to name the disease, to in see how wealth supremacy lies at the very core of our economic system, and our mental map of reality itself.  The narratives we are taught perpetuate wealth supremacy – Kelly calls theme the myths of wealth supremacy.

The relentless financialization of everything leads to the decimation of workers, as capital drives labor income – and labor itself–out of the economy. She adds: Even more frightening is how the hard right, fueled by plutocratic dark money, now seeks to eradicate democracy in its quest to keep powering the machine that supports … the “unseen ruling class.”

The 7 Myths of Wealth Supremacy

Kelly maps out the seven myths of wealth supremacy—the bias that institutionalizes infinite extraction of wealth by and for the wealthy and is the hidden force behind the polycrisis:

1. The Myth of Maximizing—No amount of wealth is ever enough.
2. The Myth of Fiduciary Duty—Corporate managers’ most sacred duty is to expand capital.
3. The Myth of Corporate Governance—Corporate membership must be reserved for capital alone.
4. The Myth of the Income Statement—Income to capital must always be increased, while income to labor must always be decreased.
5. The Myth of Materiality—Profit—that is, material gain-alone is real, while social and environmental damages are not.
6. The Myth of Takings—The first duty of government must be the protection of private property.
7. The Myth of the Free Market—There should be no limits on the sphere of influence of corporations and capital.

Kelly’s explanation of how these myths block us from doing the right thing for the future is a tremendous contribution to the growing debate around regeneration, and a regenerative economy.  Kelly and Ted Howard defined the democratic economy in their book The Making of a Democratic Economy:

A democratic economy is an economy of the people, by the people, and for the people. It’s an economy that, in its fundamental design, aims to meet the essential needs of all of us, balance human consumption with the regenerative capacity of the earth, respond to the voices and concerns of regular people, and share prosperity without regard to race, gender, national origin, or wealth. At the core of a democratic economy is the Common Good, in keeping with the founding aims of democracy in politics.

The Steps towards a Democratic Economy

SO what must be done?  Kelly offers a blueprint for the shift we need:

1. Breaking the Trance: We Participate in System Change
   When We Change Our Minds
2. Pranks, New Naming, and Other Subversive Acts: Helping Others to Awaken
3. The Democratic Economy: Imagining Its Design, Seeing Its Models Demonstrated
4. Democratizing Finance: Pathways Toward a Next System of Capital
5. Beginning Where You Live: Building Community Wealth

Each of these steps is explored in detail in her magnificent book!

I’m especially struck by Kelly’s clear explanation of the differing visions we see in the politics of our time, not just in the US.  Here’s Kelly again:

“In the economic world envisioned by neoliberals, the rights-bearing citizens are corporations and investors. Democracy is about protecting human rights and the rights of nature.”

Which one do you choose?

Repurposing the Corporation

In our book on regeneration, we argue that the corporation is obsolete. Kelly agrees. Here’s her take on what needs to happen:

The challenge is to envision, and create, private enterprises and investing processes that remove capital bias. Enterprises may still be profit making; that’s an imperative of staying in business. What is dangerous, … is the unfettered aim of profit maximizing.

There’s much, much more.  We’re running out of time, and Kelly’s timely book is a force for the change we so desperately need.

About Marjorie Kelly

Marjorie Kelly is a Distinguished Senior Fellow with The Democracy Collaborative and has authored several books before this one, including The Making of a Democratic Economy with Ted Howard, Owning Our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution, and The Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy

Kelly argues instead for the democratization of ownership: public ownership of vital services, worker-owned businesses, and more. And she sketches the outlines of a nonextractive capitalism that would be subordinate to the public interest. This is an ambitious reimagining of the very foundations of our economy and society.

Kelly and her colleagues at The Democracy Collaborative played a pivotal role in advising and designing the launch of the Fund for Employee Ownership, now hosted at the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland. Originally consisting of a network of three worker-owned firms, the fund has expanded to include four new firms through conversions. Additionally, Kelly co-authored research on the role of capital in scaling up employee ownership and conducted research and convening on the model of 50 employee-owned firms that are also B Corporations, which she terms “next-generation enterprises.” Jay Coen Gilbert credits Kelly with inspiring the creation of the B Movement of B Corporations through her book “The Divine Right of Capital.” Prior to her current role, she served as a Fellow at the Tellus Institute and co-founded and served as president of Business Ethics magazine.

GET the BOOK >> Wealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises

Christian Sarkar is the co-author (with Philip Kotler and Enrico Foglia) of REGENERATION: The Future of Community in a Permacrisis World – IDEA BITE PRESS (May, 2023)

In yet another instance of disaster capitalism, private equity companies like Blackstone have found two ways to profit from the climate emergency: first by investing in fossil fuel infrastructure and then by buying up restoration companies that clean up after increasingly extreme weather events.

That’s one of the main takeaways from a report released Thursday by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) and Resilience Force titled Private Equity Profits From Disaster at the Expense of Workers, Communities, and Climate.

“Firms like Blackstone should be ashamed of this sinister investment strategy that contributes to catastrophe and rebuilds after it strikes,” report co-author and PESP research coordinator Azani Creeks told Common Dreams.

“The investments Blackstone has made in both ServPro and its fossil fuel companies have long-term consequences that are borne primarily by already marginalized communities in the United States.”

The report documents a shift that took place in the disaster recovery industry following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Before that historic storm, cleanup work in a given area was usually done by smaller local companies.

“After the massive efforts required post-Hurricane Katrina and the increasing frequency and magnitude of climate disasters, private equity firms saw an opportunity to consolidate the market by buying up smaller companies,” Creeks wrote in the report.

And the trend continues. Private equity firms bought 72 restoration companies between January 2020 and June 2023, with the number of purchases rising each year. They acquired 13 in 2020, 20 in 2021, 25 in 2022, and 14 during just the first six months of 2023. If that pace continues through the end of the year, the 2023 total will rise to 28, more than double the yearly purchases three years ago.

The report includes a list of 14 major disaster relief companies owned by private equity firms, five of which also invest in fossil fuels. For example, Blackstone, which owns ServPro, also bought Ohio’s General James Gavin Power Plant—one of the leading single sources of coal pollution in the U.S.— in 2017.In another example, Louisiana-based disaster relief company the Lemoine Company also manages Lemoine Pipeline Services. The company is owned by the private equity firm Bernhard Capital Partners.

This profit-making strategy has major environmental justice implications.

“The investments Blackstone has made in both ServPro and its fossil fuel companies have long-term consequences that are borne primarily by already marginalized communities in the United States,” Creeks told Common Dreams, adding that ServPro often hires immigrants and people of color who are vulnerable to unfair and unsafe labor practices like wage theft.

“Furthermore,” Creek added, “Blackstone’s financing of fossil fuel assets also inflicts direct harm on these same communities, who bear the brunt of toxic emissions and climate disasters.”

Even if private equity firms aren’t funding fossil fuels, their acquisition of restoration companies still means they have a responsibility to workers and communities, the report argues.

As disaster restoration companies have consolidated and gone national, they have organized themselves in a series of franchises and subcontractors. Of the 72 companies acquired in the last three years, more than 80% of them were instances of larger companies buying up smaller ones. These often-opaque corporate structures can make it difficult for workers to challenge their employers over issues like wage theft or unsafe working conditions. Undocumented workers are especially vulnerable, because any complaint may be met with a threat to contact immigration authorities.

“Though issues with wage theft and worker health and safety have long existed in the construction and disaster restoration industries, with an investment from the world’s largest asset manager, you would expect to see these issues less frequently as more resources can be implemented to protect workers,” Creek said. “Instead, the problems at ServPro and other private equity-owned disaster restoration companies persist, with even less mechanisms for accountability and public scrutiny than before.”

One worker named Joél Salazar, who is also an organizer with Resilience Force, shared his experience ServPro subcontractor Royal Services. He said the company offered to pay his way from Florida to Colorado in early 2022 to help with wildfire recovery there, and promised him 40-hour workweeks and weekly paychecks when he arrived. But the travel costs never materialized, weeks started out closer to 20 hours, and the pay ended up being every other week instead.

“The company is stealing from me.”

What’s more, the payment was made via a Visa card. When Salazar said he had to return to Florida, the company canceled his card despite the fact that a significant amount of his earnings were still on it.

“The company is stealing from me,” he said in the report.

Salazar said he wanted private equity firms and investors to be aware of what their companies were doing.

“Investors, I’m calling to ask you to consider worker safety at the companies you invest in, especially the private equity firms you rely on for profits,” he said.

Another problem is unsafe working conditions. Companies owned by private equity firms racked up a total of 194 federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration violations between January 2015 and January 2022. The most common violations were exposing workers to asbestos and failing to provide them with respiratory protection, followed by failing to communicate dangers and protect workers from falls.

Recovery workers are organizing to protect themselves through the group Resilience Force, which says it is “building a strong, stable, inclusive, million-strong workforce that will be able to perform year-round climate preparation and adaptation work, as well as rebuild after disasters.”

The group’s founder and director Saket Soni said in the new report, “We must ensure that these companies, and their private equity backers who profit from disaster, pay and protect the resilience workers who are essential to helping communities adapt and recover.”

What’s better for workers will be better for the communities they help, as well. The report found that the private equity-owned firms engage in price gouging. For example, a ServPro franchise settled with the state of North Carolina for overcharging residents following Hurricane Florence.

The report highlights the legislative efforts of U.S. Rep. Pramilla Jayapal (D-Wash.), whose Climate Resilience Workforce Act would fund jobs and training through grants and make workers less vulnerable by providing a pathway to citizenship for immigrant workers and banning employers from asking about criminal history.

“The innovative Climate Resilience Workforce Act responds to the worsening climate crisis at the scale necessary by investing in a skilled workforce that is capable of not only responding to but preparing for the destructive impacts of climate change,” Jayapal said when the bill was introduced in 2022. “As we create millions of good-paying, union jobs and center the very communities who are disproportionately impacted, we are finally building back better, greener, and stronger.”

The report also issues recommendations to private equity firms to better protect the workers at the companies they own, such as setting up complaint lines, minimizing the use of subcontractors, funding programs to monitor their companies, and allowing their workers to unionize.

Finally, Creeks noted that firms like Blackstone manage public pensions, and have a responsibility to these workers as well.

“Public employees, such as teachers, nurses, and firefighters, have a right to know that their pension dollars are being used to purchase fossil fuel plants that are contributing to climate disasters all over the country,” Creeks told Common Dreams. “In turn, their retirement capital is also being used to buy companies that profit off of these very disasters.”

Olivia Rosane is a staff writer for Common Dreams. This article is republished under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Image from The Visual Capitalist.