Michael Parenti on Capitalism

Michael Parenti lecture "Democracy and the Pathology of Wealth" given on January 6, 2012 presented by La Peña in Berkeley, California.

“I actually want to talk about something I call the pathology of wealth, or profit pathology. I've given it two names and that's really what I'm going to be talking about mostly because that's the thing that's really oppressing us and much of the world today. 

And capitalist ideology, and it does have an ideology, has numerous popular myths attached to it. What the anthropologists would call the “Miranda and the Sacranda”. The, you know, the scenarios to be admired and the ones that are sacred, the stories that is sacred about its origin’s meaning and the myth of capitalism has a lot of that. 

There's the myth of capitalism and social prosperity, that capitalism just brings social prosperity. Well, in fact, most of the world is capitalist and most of the world is poor. Don't talk about social prosperity to capitalist Nigeria, don't talk about it to capitalist Honduras, or capitalist Indonesia, or any number of places. 

There's the other myth about capitalism and individual success and ready access to wealth for those who have the gumption in the get go. Capitalism and the free market self regulation, you know that you know that one, i'll be talking much more about that later on. Capitalism brings international trade and peace. You notice all the peace we've got in capital? I think I slept late one weekend and I missed the peace. 

And capitalism and it's supposed symbiosis with democracy and, that's another thing, I was going to talk about tonight because the title is demo..., but, you know, I've written about that one so long I just thought I would just meander around on some of these other subjects. 

There's one...there's one common theme or myth when you launch into a critique of capitalism, it's, it's the one I call the mom and pop litany. It's the people who then celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit and say, “Well, two people start a little business and then it grows and they employ some other people” and it's usually said in this sentimental nostalgic singsong way and all that. And I think those are good eggs. Yeah, I've been accused on the internet, you know, you get accused of everything on the internet, I get ac...I've been accused of some guy wrote, “Parenti is soft on small business.” 

In fact, I am, I think small businesses are okay, you know, but we're not talking about small businesses tonight. We're talking about giant corporations. As Lenin said about 100 years ago (you didn’t know I was going to quote Lenin so early in the talk). He was in one of his more hyperbolic moments too. He said, “A million small businesses count for nothing. A few giant cartels count for everything.” They are what lay down the law. They are the thing that shaped the face of the whole society and such. Well, so whenever I talk about capitalism, I'm not talking about mom and pop. I'm talking about the big corporations, okay? 

The free market core mythology, to which both political parties in this country and just about all mainstream commentators are wedded to, argues in effect that, and here I'm kind of paraphrasing John Maynard Keynes because he said this too about free market capitalism. The free market mythology, it argues, that the most ruthless, selfish, opportunistic, greedy, calculating plunders applying the most heartless measures in cold blooded pursuit of corporate interests and wealth accumulation will produce the best results for all of us through something called the invisible hand.”