The Cure to Late-Stage Capitalism
Choice Taxation gives us the power to save ourselves from late-stage capitalism and create a private sector rooted in our values and beliefs.
As fans of facts and reality are well aware, America is suffering from what may very well end up being a fatal case of late-stage capitalism. Evidence that we’re deep in this predatory stage of capitalism abounds. Witness:
Billion-dollar companies paying poverty wages while their CEOs make 290 times more than the average worker. Or take the fact that about 100 million Americans owe over $220 billion in medical debt, while Big Pharma is paying less than their fair share of taxes and getting tax refunds despite booking billions in revenue. Or how about corporate landlords colluding with a tech company in a price-fixing scheme that used algorithmic pricing to artificially raise rents — this at a time when skyrocketing rents have left half of America’s renters (22.4 million renters) cost burdened and spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities.
And don’t forget the privatization of nearly everything: prisons, schools, weather forecasting, and, of course, space — where the risk has been socialized but the profits remain privatized. Public goods have been strip-mined for profit, and billionaires all but demand parties and parades for their “philanthropy” — charity that wouldn’t be necessary if they just paid their fucking taxes. It’s trickle-down crumbs and subsidies, dressed up as innovation and altruism.
Meanwhile, the political establishment—on both sides—mostly shrugs. They let corporate titans off with fines for criminality that would get the rest of us tossed in jail. From HSBC laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel, the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma pushing “hillbilly heroin" on the country, Boeing prioritizing profits over safety and getting hundreds killed in the process, Perdue Farms and JBS allowing children as young as 13 to clean the meatpackers’ slaughterhouses (on the overnight shift, no less), to corporations nationwide employing undocumented workers who end up getting disappeared to foreign gulags, corporate America is allowed to commit all manner of criminality without ever doing a day in jail. Because under late-stage capitalism, justice is just another luxury good — reserved for the wealthy, unavailable to ordinary Americans, and permanently out of stock for the plebs. The unspoken not-so-secret secret is that the system isn’t broken — it’s working exactly as corporate oligarchs intended.
Many on the Left (especially progressives) argue that we’ve got to scrap capitalism altogether because it will always, inevitably devolve into late-stage capitalism. But here’s the thing: there’s nothing wrong with capitalism in and of itself—it’s just that the moment, the second, the instant Republicans (and corporate Democrats) get involved, it all goes to shit. The cure for late-stage capitalism, then, is ensuring predatory capitalists have minimal say in the rules and regulations that govern our private sector. Which is exactly what Choice Taxation does.
If you’re not familiar with Choice Taxation, you’ll find a guide to it here. But for now, here’s all you need to know:
Under the plan, our government would end all involvement in education, healthcare, entitlement programs, and the private sector regulations that affect consumers and workers (e.g., food safety standards, nutrition labeling requirements, workplace safety rules, and labor laws). These critical issues would then be fully governed by four new partisan tax systems: the Progressive Tax System, the Democrat Tax System, the Republican Tax System, and the MAGA Tax System.
Once the systems have crafted their laws and regulations, American companies and corporations will be able to apply for membership in the tax system(s) of their choice. However, the tax systems won’t be required to accept every company that applies. Additionally, they’ll have the power to revoke a company’s membership if it stops following the system’s rules.
With these powers, both the Progressive and Democrat Tax Systems would be able to deny membership to any businesses owned and/or operated by billionaires, broligarchs, corporate oligarchs, or any other Republicans. Ultimately, this means both systems will be able to curate for their members a private sector composed entirely of businesses owned, operated, and regulated by people who share their members’ values, beliefs, and economic policy goals.
This assures those of us on the Left that the businesses in our private sector will all operate in accordance with the rules and regulations established by our like-minded peers. It also means none of those businesses will be owned or operated by right-wing billionaires, broligarchs, corporate oligarchs, or a Republican by any other name.
Excluded from our system’s private sector, those predatory capitalists will be powerless to rig the system against us.
Additionally, giving each tax system the freedom to create its own private sector will make it easy for us to ascertain whether or not a business we support is, in turn, helping to support us with the taxes it pays. Since the tax systems will be in charge of education, healthcare, and entitlement programs, we’ll know the taxes paid by the businesses in our system are being used to help fund our schools, healthcare system, and entitlement programs. Meanwhile, the taxes paid by companies outside our system are being used to fund someone else’s.
Similarly, this arrangement will take the guesswork out of job hunting. Those of us on the Left will know that if we apply to work at a company that shares our tax system, then we’ll be treated fairly and with respect. But if we seek employment at a business outside our system, then we can expect to see its profits prioritized over our wellbeing.
Late-stage capitalism is dragging America toward permanent corporatocracy — a nation ruled not by laws or people, but by profits and shareholders. But with Choice Taxation, we get to rewrite the story. We trade capitalism of, by, and for the wealthy for capitalism shaped by shared values — where justice isn’t a luxury, dignity isn’t up for debate, and prosperity isn’t locked away at the top.
With Choice Taxation, we reclaim our power. We can then build a private sector that mirrors our beliefs, a government that speaks in our voice, and a future that belongs to us — not to Wall Street, not to billionaires, not to those who’ve rigged the game for decades. Yes, the oligarchs will rage, the Establishment will wail, and dark money donors will howl — but let them. Their empire was built on extraction and exploitation. Ours will be built on equity and fairness. So while they clutch their golden lifeboats, we’ll be charting new waters — together — aboard a ship strong enough to weather the storm of late-stage capitalism, and bold enough to sail beyond it.
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