You Are Right About the Rot but It Is Not Capitalism Doing This

In an ever amusing cycle, pro state lefties diagnose real problems and then completely miss the cause. We have all heard the term late stage capitalism, as if it is capitalism’s fault that corporations act like predators. But no anarchist worth their salt believes we live in a capitalist system. What we have is corporatism, a state rigged economy where oligarchs are shielded from the consequences of their own destruction. If we are going to misuse the word capitalism, at least call it what it is state augmented capitalism.

The state enables this behavior through a range of legal fictions and policy distortions. Limited liability shields executives from personal consequences. Bankruptcy laws let firms default on promises while preserving executive bonuses. Tax codes reward debt based takeovers. Regulations entrench incumbents by raising costs for small competitors. And subsidized credit through central banks makes it easy to borrow billions, strip value, and exit before the collapse hits.

In a free market, these schemes would be far riskier. You would be personally liable for damages if your company failed. Investors would demand real transparency without legal shields. Reputation would be king, not quarterly optics. And no central planner would exist to rig the incentives in your favor or absorb your losses when the scam runs dry.

So no, capitalism did not rot, it was replaced. The people shouting about late stage capitalism are not wrong to notice the rot, but they are pointing at the symptom, not the cause. What they are seeing corporate bailouts, rigged markets, asset stripping, and hollowed out institutions are real problems. They just are not caused by capitalism in any meaningful sense of the word. What you are seeing is not the failure of markets, it is the success of state power doing what it always does protect the well connected, punish accountability, and make you blame the wrong target.