The old Marxist view was that ideologies like this are developed by economic elites in order to convince society that they care; that they are humanitarian, and think of people's best interests rather than profit. Miliband's dad, the rancid old academic Marxist, talked of "the soulful corporation", I recall.
There's probably something in that, but the lockdown couldn't really have benefited capitalists in the short term. No work being done, no future proletarians being trained, no international trade. Unless, of course, it was a way for some capitalists to destroy and hinder the businesses of their rivals. Certainly, massive corporations came out of it very well (Amazon, drug companies, financial companies, telecoms like Zoom) whereas the little guys were hammered and are yet to recover. The same applies to the race and gender aspects of "woke". Every company employing people and selling something needs expert legal and marketing advice. That's hard to get if you are struggling to start up.
Sam - I agree, the massive corporations did come out of it well and some little guys went down. Whether they could have foreseen that and pushed for it, I don't know, but it's possible.
dearieme - from bits of info picked up during and shortly after the pandemic, I have the impression businesses benefitting were those such as Amazon, eBay, big courier companies, News Corporation, Netflix, Mastercard, Visa, PayPal - major outfits linked to online activity. I can't recall who, but someone told me that big delivery vehicle manufacturers did well too - I certainly saw huge numbers parked near Bristol docks.
4 comments:
The old Marxist view was that ideologies like this are developed by economic elites in order to convince society that they care; that they are humanitarian, and think of people's best interests rather than profit. Miliband's dad, the rancid old academic Marxist, talked of "the soulful corporation", I recall.
There's probably something in that, but the lockdown couldn't really have benefited capitalists in the short term. No work being done, no future proletarians being trained, no international trade. Unless, of course, it was a way for some capitalists to destroy and hinder the businesses of their rivals. Certainly, massive corporations came out of it very well (Amazon, drug companies, financial companies, telecoms like Zoom) whereas the little guys were hammered and are yet to recover. The same applies to the race and gender aspects of "woke". Every company employing people and selling something needs expert legal and marketing advice. That's hard to get if you are struggling to start up.
Sam - I agree, the massive corporations did come out of it well and some little guys went down. Whether they could have foreseen that and pushed for it, I don't know, but it's possible.
"the massive corporations did come out of it well ": apart from Pharma, which ones do you mean?
dearieme - from bits of info picked up during and shortly after the pandemic, I have the impression businesses benefitting were those such as Amazon, eBay, big courier companies, News Corporation, Netflix, Mastercard, Visa, PayPal - major outfits linked to online activity. I can't recall who, but someone told me that big delivery vehicle manufacturers did well too - I certainly saw huge numbers parked near Bristol docks.
Post a Comment