177 Comments

John D. Rockefeller and his fellow 19th-century capitalists held one absolute belief: that great monetary wealth could not be accumulated under the impartial rules of a competitive laissez-faire society. The only sure path to massive wealth was monopoly: drive out competitors, reduce competition, eliminate laissez-faire, and above all, secure state protection for your industry through compliant politicians and government regulation. This approach results in a legal monopoly, and a legal monopoly always leads to wealth.

This "robber baron" scheme is also the socialist plan. The key difference between a corporate state monopoly and a socialist state monopoly is essentially the identity of the group controlling the power structure. We call this phenomenon of corporate legal monopoly—market control acquired by political influence—by the name of corporate socialism.

Antony C. Sutton, Wall Street and FDR, Chapter 5.

Expand full comment

Just started reading. Typo ... "necessary" should necessarily be "necessarily". Thanks Toby!

Expand full comment
author

Fixed! Thank you!!!

Expand full comment
17 hrs agoLiked by Toby Rogers

Don't know if you follow economist Richard Wolff, but he is worth listening to. He breaks down capitalism like no one can.

Expand full comment
author

He's great! I saw him speak in person in 2011!

Expand full comment
Oct 31Liked by Toby Rogers

People surely aren’t just waking up to all this?

What about this-The United States of America is a Corporation. The Constitution was changed-it’s all in this website-there’s a five minute film which shows people in a very easy way, what has happened to America: https://www.youhavetheright.com/tour1/

Everyone needs to know this, to know your real rights!

Expand full comment

This is false information. The federal act creating the District of Columbia in 1871 did just that and a few related things. Cities have always been called municipal corporations. However, they are publicly owned corporations responsible to the people and not private corporations responsible to private shareholders. Just read the entire Act very carefully and you will see for yourself.

Expand full comment

Washington DC, The Vatican and City of London are the control centres that the globalists or whatever anyone wants to call them, will be using to control people in 15 minute cities around the world. These 3 places are “untouchable” for any person who is not part of what will be the “ruling” elite.

By false info, do you mean that website, or the things I said, or both?

I’m not even American, so I won’t be going through that act very carefully I’m afraid. But I might, because it might be very important.

But sooner or later, probably by mid next year, people will realise that cities will simply become open air prisons, digital prisons at that, unless most of the world’s population ditch the phones that will enslave everyone, and stop using digital “stuff” as much as humanly possible, so we can be human and free, not living this existence that has fooled most of us into believing we are free.

I realise the irony of using a digital device to communicate, but look at the world! Europe (and U.K. soon) have misinformation laws. Australia has digital ID ready to go, and mis/dis information laws on the way. Canada is….in a bad way. As is New Zealand. Brazil, Argentina have tyrants for leaders, same same (meant to be double same, they often speak like that) for Singapore, they’ve only known tyrants and are too scared to say boo. I don’t know about Africa, but a lot of leaders there have been killed, e.g. Gadafi, but apparently he was doing a good job for his people, and was killed shortly before he was going to say bad things about the U.N.

False flag wars and rumours of wars are a’plenty. Each side of each war are serving the desires of the globalists. It’s just like a uniparty.

I don’t know what’s going to happen to the United States of America, (or the United States for America, which seems to not exist anymore) after the selection-but I know of a few people who live in America who are scared, one conservative but not really supporting Trump, another who is very left and they’re too scared to go and vote, another who is outraged (rightly so) by all the immigrants (illegals) who can vote, it seems, they also are too scared to vote, another who got “kicked out” of a voting station for complaining about the machine “flipping” their vote. I think that’s it, as far as voting goes.

But all these people know that their State’s Governor doesn’t care about the people, and nor do other State’s Governors, and that they only want to look good to the globalists, they’re being good little puppies, trained by their masters. These people know that not one politician really cares for the people of America. They know people have to stand up for the rights that are left for them. And cities will definitely not be caring about their citizens. People have to declare they are not citizens, but Sovereign Humans, or Sovereign men and women and children, all of whom answer to God only.

The laws from politics have turned on everyday people, all around the world, and if people don’t know that, they will be lost. These globalists want to kill most of us, just as described on the Georgia guidestones. I wonder why they blew them up?!

And those in charge will not care about acts and constitutions-all this has been planned for centuries, only the method has come to light recently. All that the WEF has been saying about agenda 2030 is bit by bit coming true. By 2030, we will all definitely own nothing, but I don’t know about being happy, if one is still alive.

Sorry for the long answer, off track because so much is happening, and soon I won’t even be able to write stuff like this. I don’t mean to come across as offensive, but I just want people to know what’s happening to them! If I can wake up only one person about this, it will be a win, of sorts.

Expand full comment

It’s going to be interesting the next few years as the Trump team takes on the challenge of what to do about it all- dismantling the dysfunctional system while maintaining a basic social safety net will be tricky biz! I hope the country has the gumption to face the hard task.

Expand full comment

"Baby boomers were going to retire with a record $76 trillion in assets. Stealing that $76 trillion was one of the objectives of Covid."

Toby, this feels too convoluted and complex. KISS please. I would rather just want to think that China intended to weaken and destroy the USA thru any and all means necessary. Trump got in their way and served him a dose of TsunTsu. They used their tentacles inside globalism's big pharma to poison the west and much of the world. They used blackmail to achieve it. Now its just of matter of waiting out the slow motion epic disaster train set in motion. When countries are sufficiently weakened, sickened and demoralized (the USA is close) it will be time for invasion, one nation at a time.

Expand full comment
author

Follow the money. China holds our debt, they don't want to invade. It was our virus in the first place, we just contracted it out to China for cheap labor. Cold War thinking does not explain this. China and the U.S. are working on this together. This is a robbery.

Expand full comment

BIG time robbery! Daylight robbery. Robbery under arms. Every government is in on this. These governments are trying to kill and not stopping others from killing—ALL of us! Governments and their heads think they’ll be spared and looked after by the so called globalists! They’re dreaming. They have much money now, but soon won’t. Just ask the WEF.

Expand full comment

"Then they gave the Presidential Commendations, the Nobel Prize, honorary doctorates, and every public health award ever conceived (and some new ones they just made up) to the people who came up with this scheme. That’s the world we live in today with the worst people in human history still holding all of the most prestigious positions in society."

No different than the kids who pick clover out of the grass right in the middle of every soccer game.

At the end of the season, they too receive a trophy.

Expand full comment

your succinct summary of capitalism is excellent, and something I want to share far and wide. However, the covid section makes it impossible for me to share with certain friends. They will see that part and dismiss the entire article. I believe it's likely that the covid section is all true. What I can't be sure of is how much of it was planned. And what I would not be able to do at all is convince my covid-vaccinated friends that it was planned.

I would love to see an abridged version of this article with the covid part left out. I could share that with everyone, regardless of their views on covid.

Or maybe I just create a pdf with covid stuff left out and share that if you have no objections to that.

Expand full comment

You confuse Capitalism and Statism.

Expand full comment
18 hrs ago·edited 18 hrs ago

Capitalism is a big umbrella, same as socialism. It's not fair but neither is wrong to blame capitalism for the system we have now. I think it's better defined as corporatism or fascism but in the end it doesn't matter. In some versions of capitalism the fruits of your labor (capital) is fairly accumulated but for that to happen the money must also be subject to competition. All the economic systems have failure points because they're all derived from humans, who have failings. Capitalism relies on honesty and since some people are willing to lie, steal and cheat it must eventually fail. Socialism relies on lack of ego and since some people are willing to exploit it too must eventually devolve. It's an endless cycle so no matter what -ism we use the battle comes down to whether the individual has rights and economic power or not. We did for a while early on in the American experiment. We don't now. Can we get it back? Maybe, maybe not. The fundamental structure of the Constitutional Republic is a major step for humanity, though. The American (or perhaps Swiss) model is a step in the right direction. I believe there are a couple of reasons why ours has failed. One is the Federal Reserve and the other was recognizing corporations as equals with people legally.

Expand full comment

You confuse capitalism and free markets. What he's describing is not statism, it's capitalism.

Expand full comment

please elaborate.

Expand full comment

Academic Agent's take on elite theory (The Populist Delusion) is very interesting.

Expand full comment

I still say that capitalism is not the problem. The fundamental problem underlying all this is the fraudulent monetary practice known as fractional reserve banking, which is undergirded and strengthened by central banks using fiat currency. If this were recognized for the fraud that it is and outlawed, we would have had a very different picture over the last 300 or so years. I'm ordinarily against the death penalty, but it might be effective against fractional reserve banksters.

Expand full comment
18 hrs ago·edited 18 hrs ago

Correct. When gains are privatized and losses socialized then it's not capitalism anymore. Fractional reserve banking introduces incentive to play loose and take risks that a bank would not if they had to cover the losses. But it's bigger than that, it's the money (or properly the currency) supply. If there was competition for money then a system of banks could decide to fractional reserve but they would be put at a competitive disadvantage against another money supplier who was more conservative if the economy contracts. On the other hand, in a strong economy the money supplier who is willing to hang closer to the edge might offer higher returns for such an appetite for risk. Ultimately for capitalism to function the risk of failure must be equal (or at least significantly possible) to the benefit of success. So if you make a poor decision bankruptcy has to be a real function to clear out malinvestment and punish wrong decisions. We stopped being capitalist certainly when the Federal Reserve was put in place and when there were public responses to depressions and too big to fail. Had we been capitalist in 2008 all those banks would have gone under. Problem is that in the prior decades everyone was pushed into 401Ks and tying their savings up in Wall Street and mortgages. So the economy was already too far gone for that to happen. There is no solution that does not come with pain and the longer we forestall the more painful the collapse will be. There's no was tens of trillions in debt is ever paid back and all those bankers with yachts and private islands aren't going to be the ones feeling it when it's the Animal Farm scenario and the nominal dollar "value" is lost against the actual utility of things.

Expand full comment

Fantastic overview and analysis- thank you Toby! Hopefully this can help overcome the huge resistance people have when they see anything critical at all written about “capitalism.” The reality, as you explain so well, is that there is no such thing as pure “capitalism” and we need to discuss it as a mutable, evolving economic system that goes through stages, like every other social phenomenon, and that can end up in bad places, despite the idealism of its initial adherents.

Just one nitpick: Arab Spring and Occupy were most likely successful uses by the deep state of the “free and open internet” to foment regime change abroad and deflect righteous populist rage domestically.

Expand full comment

Why does capitalism need to be partisan?

True capitalism precludes monopoly.

Expand full comment

Great piece. Carol Quigley tells a big part of the story and lately Kristen Ragusen offers some alternatives in "End of Scarcity". If we can survive the chaos the current sociopathocracy is trying to impose on us.

Expand full comment

Leaning towards goldbacks. Any thoughts? interview with Jeremy Cordon of Goldback Inc https://substack.com/@geopoliticsandempire/p-150777275

Expand full comment

What is wrong with gold bullion coins?

Expand full comment

The denominations are too large for simple daily trade.

Some years ago I came across a proposal for a bullion card: A thin sheet of gold weighing perhaps 1/10 ounce, that was creased and perforated so that smaller segments of a fixed size could be broken off and spent in commerce. This idea recreates the old "bit" from the 19th century - as in "shave and a haircut two bits", gold coins were cut into bits each 1/10 of the size of the original coin, to permit low-dollar commercial exchanges.

Expand full comment

The solution is called junk silver and gold "dimes."

Expand full comment

so silver coins instead

Expand full comment
Oct 30Liked by Toby Rogers

I'm an absolute moron when it comes to economics. Like Rust Cohle said, life is barely long enough to get good at one thing, so be careful what you get good at. I know we've got to reimagine all of this if we're going to survive, but I'm wary of the devil offering the solution to a problem he made. Escher stairs, and we always rediscover ourselves still inside hell. How do we stop the elevation of psychopaths and sociopaths when those traits appear well-suited to achieving earthly success and dominance? Nobody good ever even strives for power. Instead we scribble our dissent and bang our heads against the wall, in perpetuity. I'm not hopeless though. One day, some way, we'll figure it out. The sun will rise. God is good. Here he is, calling himself Toby Rogers. Whatever happens, I love you all.

Expand full comment

We call out the —paths, and keep doing it until they’re all in gaol or dead. Nobody voted for or appointed them to be our bosses.

That includes all politicians. There should be NO “career” politicians. Even Presidents get a max. of 2 terms.

Expand full comment

Economics is the study of human activity.

Expand full comment