One
little-remarked consequence of central banks' policies of near-zero
interest rates and quantitative easing is the unrivaled dominance of
mobile global capital. The
source of corporate political power is the ability to borrow
essentially unlimited sums for next to nothing: what I have long termed
free money for financiers. Armed
with central-bank supplied unlimited credit, global capital can outbid
local residents and businesses. Over time, profitable enterprises and
assets end up in corporate hands....
The same dynamic — the unparalleled power of cheap credit — then funds corporate dominance of the
political process. As corporations buy up productive assets, they consolidate these assets
into cartels and quasi-monopolies that can be protected from competition
by lobbying and campaign contributions. Governments come and
go, candidates come and go, and political movements come and go, but the
Corporatocracy remains in charge.
-- Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds blog (edited)
