I’ve been trying to think of a way to describe how America generally enshittifies everything over time in ways that other countries don’t, despite other countries also being capitalist. If our economic problems are caused by “capitalism,” then why are we nearly alone in experiencing them? How is capitalism making China better but the USA worse?

I think I’m circling “financialization” as a universal descriptor.

I’ve often ranted against private equity specifically, but in quite times I have to admit that there are good and bad PE firms. The legal and cultural incentives are aligned against the good ones, but they do exist. I think most of our problems are caused specifically by private equity firms financializing everything, but sometimes the call is coming from inside the house. For example, I don’t think Boeing’s current woes are PE-caused. They put MBAs in charge, and those MBAs financialized the company, leading to enshittification.

I have nothing against people with MBA degrees. I just don’t think they should be in charge.

With Tim Cook in charge of Apple, his tendency to financialize things is pushing out Apple’s long history of good stuff in ways that taint Apple and make me glad governments are digging in. It seems like the company has been in tension between good engineering and design on one side, and Tim Cook insisting that Services revenue grow on the other side, and Cook is CEO, so that side is winning.

Financialization. I’m not sure where I first picked up the word, but a search of Cory Doctorow’s site tells me he’s used it quite a bit, so possibly there, or possibly the book “These Are the Looters,” which I–well, enjoyed isn’t the word–appreciated recently.

I’‘m but one quiet voice, feeling slightly uncomfortable as people push for changes to the status quo I think are slightly too radical. I think of myself as a progressive but not a revolutionary, and I think labeling “capitalism” as inherently evil isn’t productive.

Our economic problems in the USA aren’t caused by “capitalism,” no matter how many times people say they are. As evidence, see other capitalistic countries not having the same problems. They’re caused by financialization, relentlessly making finance the ultimate arbiter of everything. That’s not uniquely an American issue, but it’s run amok here like nowhere else, and it has ruined, is ruining, or will ruin everything you enjoy about capitalism unless it is stopped.

#blog #capitalism
#enshittification #financialization #apple #boeing