Why do corporate leaders embrace socialism?
It risks destruction of their livelihoods
The Trump derangement syndrome has been so pervasive that corporate leaders from Google, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and wealthy public figures like Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo, Leonardo di Caprio, John Kerry and dozens of others have been working tirelessly to promote the Democrat party despite its shift to the far left and embrace of policies that are uniquely dangerous to capitalism and the system that created the wealth they enjoy. Conspiracy theory? Nope. Just an observation which, coupled with the partisan left wing bias of the FBI, DOJ and SEC make this era in history an interesting study for students of history like me. For anyone who is interested, I was the History Medallist at Royal Military College of Canada in 1968.
Let ‘s review some of the bidding.
Mark Zuckerberg turned a fanciful but creative piece of software he wrote in his dorm room into a fortune that at one time exceeded $100 billion, something that could only happen in a capitalist regime. He then donated some $400 million to the Democrats and used the power of Facebook to promote Democrat ideology, suppress the Hunter Biden laptop scandal that might have sunk Joe Biden’s Presidential hopes, and put in place a team of “fact checkers” who have no ability to adjudicate “facts” but suppress free speech whenever Zuck sees it as antithetical to the Democrat Party regime.
Anderson Cooper inherited hundreds of millions from Gloria Vanderbilt, became a famous CNN anchor, and uses his platform to diminish capitalism, promote socialism, and vilify Donald Trump. The Vanderbilt empire was a product of capitalism and freedom.
Jeff Bezos created the brilliant Amazon empire from his family’s garage, used the capitalist system to raise money, and became for a time the world’s richest man. He then purchased Washington Post whose editorial bias towards promoting the Democrats is patent. Without free markets and access to market capital, Bezos would still be working from his garage.
Sergei Brin and Larry Page capitalized on the need for internet search and developed the most effective search software in existence. Their baby, Google, went public in the capitalist system and made them billionaires many times over. Under their leadership, Google actively suppressed news favourable to Republicans and promoted search returns that advanced the Democrat Party agenda.
Jack Dorsey took the idea of the public square into the virtual world of the internet creating a powerful medium for the free exchange of ideas making him hundreds of millions of dollars, once again using the free market system. He then used the power of Twitter to censor news favorable to the Republicans and promote the socialist agenda of the Democrats, supressing the free speech his product was intended to promote.
John Kerry inherited millions and married even more millions of Heinz family money, and flits around the world promoting the left wing narrative of “climate change” whose only raison d’etre is to rally support for global socialism. Why would he care that his wealth and power came from the capitalist system he now attacks?
I could go on and on. As a descendant of Irish immigrants to Canada in 1790, I like to think about the famous Irish Curse - “may you get your wish”.
Democrats today (not historically) want big government, centralized power, high taxes, more economic intervention, limits on free speech, open borders, and weak institutions. In a word, and without doubt, they are socialists. They are aided and abetted by “deep state” institutions like the FBI, DOJ and SEC who use the power they have been given to attack anyone who supported Trump and to enable school boards and teachers’ unions to install racist curricula and indoctrinate American children with Critical Race Theory and socialist ideas of “equity, diversity, and fairness” which to them means taking money from those who have earned it and giving it to those who have not in return for their votes.
The Democrat policies of higher corporate taxes and lower interest rates are a stealth way to tax the poor and transfer wealth to the Democrat elite. Corporations don’t actually pay taxes but collect them. Like all costs any taxes corporations pay are passed on in price to their customers and the tax is actually regressive in that the bulk of consumer spending is done by the poorest segments of society. Lower interest rates were enacted to make housing affordable, but of course had the opposite effect, driving up home prices beyond the reach of poorer families. What Elizabeth Warren likes to call “corporate greed” is in reality Democrat greed which punishes the poor by driving up home prices and the cost of living while keeping the flow of donations from the socialist elites coming in.
Democrats like to spend borrowed money which they know (or Bernie Madoff could have told them) they can never repay, so they have a vested interest in inflation without which America would eventually fail financially. Inflation allows the government to pay back money borrowed today with future dollars after decades of inflation. Who is hurt by this? Only the poor. Inflation is another stealth tax on the poor since it is the lowest income segment of society that feels the brunt of inflation most directly. Who benefits? Debtors, including the government, since they can repay the debt with inflated currency when it comes due.
I find it interesting from a historical perspective that Democrats have sold this bill of goods to about one half of all Americans, who buy this snake oil without having had enought actual “education” to peer through the rhetoric and see what is actually going on. I have it on good authority that half of Americans have below average intelligence and I suspect many of those are Democrats.
“Socialism” means government ownership or control of the means of production and distribution. Communism is a subset of socialism which adds centralized control of decision-making. Socialism does not mean pensions, health care, public education, clean water, sewage treatment or environmental regulation - those are part and parcel of all systems of government. Democrats like to conflate their actual ideology with terms that embody some social good and use that as a counterfoil to claim Republicans or any conservative of any ilk is against that good - which is nonsense of the highest order. They use the power of their offices when elected to buy votes using taxpayer money (the latest “student loan forgiveness” is an example) to retain power. Madoff would be proud.
Republicans are just as corrupt as Democrats but have one saving grace - they are clear that they support personal freedom, free markets and capitalism and the Constitution that created the institutions that preserve those values. Take those away and America will sink into an economic abyss from which there will be no painless escape.
Read Woke Inc. in which Vivek Ramaswamy provides a convincing answer. There is cash involved. That will explain why corporate leaders support Democrats. There is no convincing answer anywhere as to why Democrats push corporate taxes and inflationary policies which damage their voting base materially since both are "taxes" on the poor, or why they push "climate change" which is based solely in political science and demonstrably inconsistent with the laws of physics, except to retain power since they have persuaded their base with their rhetoric on "corporate greed" and AGW.
You have not convincingly answered the tittle question. I have similar questions for many years but I still don't have a convincing answer.