The Feudal System, common in Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries, and capitalism are quite different except for a specific similarity; each system involves a hierarchy that includes lords at the top and serfs at the bottom. The system we call capitalism and the corporate lords who administer it, have transformed once valuable and productive manufacturing workers into no more than serfs.
Feudalism was a social, political and economic system in
which the king was the supreme ruler. The lords, sometimes called barons, were
appointed by the king to essentially run the system; to carry on commerce,
primarily agricultural, generate taxes for the kingdom and, when necessary, provide
men to fight in the kings' wars.
Lords allotted land, called fiefs, to vassals who utilized
peasants and serfs to work the land, grow the crops and return a portion of the
harvest to the lord as payment for rent. Peasants and serfs were much the same
but peasants were a cut above as they had more privileges and less onerous
duties. In this discussion we will specifically refer to those indentured
workers as serfs.
Some might say that trying to compare feudalism and capitalism is irrelevant and meaningless because the systems belong to completely different periods in history and they are so dissimilar. And, yet, I believe that there are some elements of each that are worth analyzing.
And that's where the similarity ends. In the feudal system
there was a long, uninterrupted, although dominating, relationship between lords
and serfs with the latter having jobs for life, even though their tenure might
be dangerous and short. Serfs were largely bound to the land and to their jobs.
The lords did not want to lose them and, in fact, took steps to guarantee that
they stayed in their employ in that very tightly controlled system of bondage.
In today's America
the situation is exactly the opposite with the lords of Corporate America doing
everything they can to destroy and end their relationship with American
workers. These corporate lords have decided that they want a vastly different
system for they feel no sense of connection or obligation to America's
workers, otherwise known as American serfs.
Without a doubt, the feudal lords needed their serfs,
depended upon them. However, in America
our corporate lords have no allegiance to the worker/serfs. They have learned
that they can readily use peasants and serfs in other lands to produce far more
"crops" at much lower labor rates, with no job benefits. This new, very
profitable alliance is, of course, commonly referred to as outsourcing jobs to
overseas nations, and it's working beautifully; not for American workers who are
forced into unemployment, but certainly for the corporate lords who grossly
enrich themselves.
Now let's discuss how the feudal system ended and how that
relates to the continued erosion of our system of capitalism. The Black Death
or bubonic plague ravaged North Africa, Asia and Europe
beginning in 1349. It spread through many countries and was a large
contributing factor in ending the feudal system, as it killed many millions of
people. This deadly disease greatly weakened the system, causing a
deterioration of the land and crops.
As time went by there was a natural evolutionary process
whereby peasants and serfs who no longer had jobs became freedmen and gravitated
to new types of employment as carpenters, stone masons, blacksmiths, tanners
and other trades. So, in actuality, the feudal system ended on an upside as the
masses of peasants and serfs were freed from their years of bondage and began
entirely new lives and occupations. In the long run, this also benefited the
nations of Europe as it enabled them to
advance their commerce.
The American system of capitalism is headed in the exact
opposite direction - downward. This system was once the envy of the world but,
in recent decades, it has steadily eroded largely because of corporate greed
and manipulation designed to garner enormous profits. While not of the scope of
the Black Death, this erosion is still a deadly societal disease that has
created a vast imbalance between the ultra-rich, including corporate lords, and
the rest of America, primarily the disappearing middle class and the growing
poverty-stricken segment of our nation. We might call this disease the Economic
Death.
In our form of capitalism, as we all should know by now, it
is imperative that the people buy the products and services that fuel our
economy and contribute to our GDP. What did the corporate lords think was going
to happen to the economy and their profits when they began the process of
outsourcing American workers jobs to overseas nations? These actions have
created a rapidly growing population of worker/serfs who previously had decent
jobs and pay but are now being forced to take lower paying, less skilled jobs in the service sector.
The corporate lords are hard at work stuffing their
pockets and enriching their bottom lines and, though they refuse to acknowledge
it, their actions and policies are bringing Economic Death to America and
capitalism. The more they outsource the more workers go on unemployment or take
lesser paying jobs, the less purchasing power they have and the less the contributions
to the economy and corporate profits. This is a vicious circle that seemingly
has no end and which will eventually bring disaster to our obsolete, unworkable
capitalistic system.
The most respected economists have stated that the
healthiest economies in U.S.
history have been those where worker employment has been high and where wages
have been fair and reasonable because their purchasing power directly benefits
the economy. Henry Ford was well aware of this fact and he paid his auto
workers very good wages because he knew that many of them would, in turn, buy
his Ford autos. That was one of the keys to his great success. Why can't
Corporate America understand these basic tenets of economics?
Corporate America
has chosen to completely ignore those astute economic principles and has taken
an opposite misguided direction in which it somehow feels that it can destroy a
sizable portion of the people's purchasing power and still remain extremely
profitable. Before long, this disastrous, irrational logic will bring down this
corporate dynasty and our economy with it. When these corporate lords wipe out
the economic foundation of America,
and the middle class, they will bring about their own demise.
It's called Economic Death.
Michael Payne
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