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雖然下文主旨在批評美國「政治行為」，但作者對「資本主義」的詮釋相當到位(1)；所以，我把它置於此版。希望反對「資本主義」的朋友們願意花點時間仔細並深入了解作者的論述。
此文跟我：「用『資本主義』的經濟政策，來達到『社會主義』的政治理想」這個主張相容。
附註：
1. “All industrial nations are capitalist by their very nature.“；
“The USSR was capitalist. Modern-day China is capitalist. And European nations are capitalist.”；以及
“Capitalism is the application of capital to increase gross factor productivity.”
這三段話。
索引：
Gross factor productivity：「宏觀經濟生產力」，或「整個經濟體的生產力」
Capitalism Is Not What You Think
Why failure to understand what capitalism really is causes so much dysfunction in the USA
Allan Milne Lees, 09/30/25
For 99.999% of US citizens, “capitalism” means something vague but definitely connected to massive disparities in wealth and a total lack of care for those who are unable to survive in the winner-takes-nearly-everything economy of the USA. Even those who are homeless believe that “capitalism” creates wealth and jobs and if a few million people are essentially indigent then that’s because god doesn’t love them and therefore they are worthless in the grand scheme of things.
This total failure to understand what capitalism really is means that no one is capable of seeing what’s fundamentally wrong with the USA and no one is capable of articulating realistic solutions. So the USA continues to be absent from the roll-call of civilized nations. Not because it’s “capitalist” but because of its political structure.
All industrial nations are capitalist by their very nature.
The USSR was capitalist. Modern-day China is capitalist. And European nations are capitalist. The fact that all these places have exhibited very different social systems and structures should tell even the most obtuse observer that “capitalism” is clearly not the main force shaping how social structures emerge.
Unfortunately for US citizens, they grow up being told that “capitalism” is what makes ‘Murka so rich and “socialism” turns people into impoverished slaves. Which is ironic considering that US workers are far more slave-like than their European counterparts. US workers toil for more hours in the day and have essentially no freedom to disconnect from the corporate umbilical cord. Whether during supposedly non-working hours or on vacation, vast numbers of US citizens remain tethered to their jobs via electronic means. Because keeping a roof over one’s head and keeping one’s health insurance depends on keeping one’s job, US workers feel impelled to be on-call always and forever lest the Big Boss decides to replace them. Loss of a job in the USA can very easily result in a person ending up on the street and carrying their few remaining belongings in plastic bags.
This is almost impossible in Europe. For example in Germany by law employers are forbidden from intruding on employees’ private time. Yet European nations are no less capitalist than the USA and anyone who’s spent time in Europe will notice that roads are better, streets are cleaner, there are few if any homeless people begging on street corners, and in general people seem happier and somewhat less unhealthy thanks to universal healthcare. So much for “capitalism” making ‘Murka “great.”
So what explains the difference between US barbarism and European civilisation? Why doesn’t “socialism” result in Europeans being impoverished but instead enables Europeans to live far more peaceful, far more secure, and far more meaningful lives than their US counterparts?
To understand the real causes of US dysfunction we need first to understand what capitalism really is. And it’s quite simple:
capitalism is the application of capital to increase gross factor productivity.
That’s it.
So what does it mean? Let’s imagine you have a farm. It takes two days to plow a field by means of an ox and a hand-plough. Now instead of doing things the old-fashioned way, the farmer invests capital into a tractor. That same field can be ploughed in an hour. The farmer’s productivity has just increased twenty-fold, freeing up time for more value-added activities such as repairing the barn, bringing new land under cultivation, and spending more time looking for the best markets for the food that’s being grown. Meanwhile, because it now takes less time to plough the field, the net cost of the produce being grown declines. This means consumers pay a little less for their groceries — yet the farmer is making more money overall. All thanks to the tractor, which increases the farmer’s gross factor productivity.
Let’s consider the manufacturing of automobiles. In 1912 Mister Rolls and Mister Royce had a small company that was able to turn out a single car in around seven months. In 1925 Mister Ford’s factories were turning out around 10,000 cars per day. The reason for this difference? Mister Ford invested capital into machines that radically improved the productivity of the workforce. The result: workers at Ford’s factories were actually paid more than their peers over at Rolls-Royce, but instead of cars being unaffordable for all except the ultra-rich most US citizens were able to afford a Model T. Capitalism meant everyone benefited: both the producers and the consumers.
We could go on with literally thousands of examples showing that the application of capital to increase gross factor productivity results in higher wages and lower unit costs, but hopefully the general point has been made.
So why, then, does the USA resemble modern-day Russia in which a few oligarchs control nearly all the wealth of the nation? Why is Trump much more like Putin (using the State as a way to enrich himself and his family) than any European leader? Why is Europe nearly as prosperous as the USA despite the supposed evils of “socialism” and why are Europeans far happier than their serf-like US counterparts?
There is a very simple one-word answer: politics.
In the USA, politicians are perpetually in campaign mode. No other nation operates an every-two-years cycle of elections. This ultra-short-term revolving door means that politicians are always focused on the next election. Moreover, lack of any restraint on election campaigning means that politicians are always desperate to draw in more and more cash to fund their next re-election campaign. Not surprisingly, if a wealthy person or large corporation shows up offering a big bag of money, politicians are exceedingly inclined to agree to sponsor legislation that will favor the giver — and who cares that the costs of such favoritism will be paid by the rest of society? Politicians know that ordinary people understand nothing about anything and thus will never connect the pay-to-play with the total dysfunction that results.
Back in 2020 researchers at Stanford University found that 86% of all legislation promoted by the US Republican Party favored the ultra-rich and impoverished the remaining 99% of US citizens. The Democratic Party meanwhile favored unions and tort lawyers, with around 34% of their proposed legislation favoring these constituencies. This is because the ultra-rich buy Republican politicians while the unions and tort lawyers used to buy Democratic politicians. The skew in favor of Republicans tells us why US tax laws massively favor the ultra-rich and leave everyone else to foot the bill. It’s why someone like Elon Musk can pay essentially zero tax while an administrative assistant will pay around 22%.
This is not the result of “capitalism.” It’s the result of the USA’s uniquely dysfunctional political system. Europeans also have capitalism but in most European nations it’s far more difficult to buy politicians to create legislation that favors the buyer. In the USA bribery and corruption have been legalized (“hey Joe, let’s call it lobbying!”) whereas in countries like Norway not only are such actions illegal but there is total transparency regarding personal wealth so hiding bribes is nearly impossible. Everyone can see if a politician suddenly has access to more money than can be accounted for through conventional means — and this results in criminal charges being brought. In the USA, conversely, the laws legitimize bribery and corruption and oligarchs take full advantage.
The second reason why the USA is so dysfunctional is closely related to the first. Politicians need buckets of cash to fund TV and radio ads. In most European nations there’s a firm limit to how much airtime Parties and individual politicians can utilize. Therefore, more money doesn’t mean more airtime and therefore the appeal of more money is significantly diminished. In the USA, conversely, the more cash you have the more empty-headed voters you can reach with your lies and the more votes you can garner.
Of course, much of Europe is unfortunately sliding down into the same sort of cesspit the USA has wallowed in for nearly two hundred years. Brexit in the UK was illegally funded by Kremlin money funneled in through Aron Banks and the British authorities sat back and did nothing, thus ensuring more and more such illicit fundings would occur. The French have always been ambivalent about corruption and this has taken its toll, opening up the road to the likes of Marine Le Pen whose far-right National Rally was overtly funded for years by the Kremlin and which now benefits from plenty of undisclosed Russian assistance. Italy is a basket-case in which today Russian money competes with Mafia influence to shape the future of the country. But the Nordic nations and still to a reasonable degree the Dutch continue to hold firmly to the idea that money from the ultra-rich and powerful ought not to be the primary force shaping national destiny.
In the USA, it’s taken for granted that money is the only thing that matters. Sure, ordinary US citizens are fed the Disney fairytale of “work hard and you can make it” but the reality is that for the last twenty-six years the USA has had far less upward social mobility than in Europe. Today if you live in Denmark or Poland you’re far more likely to become wealthier than your parents; in the USA the reverse is true for more than 40% of the population with 59% barely clinging on to what they have. Children of the richest 1% however are extremely likely to be even richer than their parents thanks to all the legislation that favors the ultra-rich in the USA.
In order to ensure that US citizens never doubt the “greatness” of their servitude at the feet of the oligarchs, the message is constantly repeated: if we abandon “capitalism” then “socialism” will create death panels to deny medicines to the sick (whereas in reality that happens only in the USA where private insurance companies deny coverage in order to boost profits). If we abandon “capitalism” then socialists will take away our freedom! (whereas in reality the USA is the only OECD nation that has the confiscatory power of Eminent Domain). On and on the lies spew forth, convincing empty-headed US citizens that there’s no possible alternative to their current serfdom. The system thus survives all the evidence of total dysfunction because most US citizens believe the lies they’re told.
And because very few US citizens have even the vaguest clue about the world outside their own nation, they are totally unaware of the fact there are real and far better alternatives.
So the next time you read an article lamenting the evils of “capitalism” because it gives rise to the grotesque wealth US oligarchs amass, try to remember that in reality these outcomes are the result of legalized corruption and have nothing whatsoever to do with increases in gross factor productivity. The USA didn’t have to be a cesspool of corruption and illegality; it chose to become this because the ultra-rich and cynical politicians found it to be the most convenient way for them to prosper at the expense of literally everyone else in the nation.
And there’s every sign this state of affairs will not merely continue but will becoming increasingly worse. After all, seventy-seven million Maga Morons think that ensuring the ultra-rich take even more from everyone else is “smart.”
Written by Allan Milne Lees
Anyone who enjoys my articles here on Medium may be interested in my books Why Democracy Failed and The Praying Ape, both available from Amazon.
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