As an analogy to late Rome, I see the multinational corporations as the barbarian invaders. They are much more nimble than governments and can attack and retreat as convenient, but they are still vulnerable to a concentration of government action.
What our governments are doing is trying to play ball with them, using them against political enemies, which is allowing them to get inside the existing power structures meant to protect against them.
I figure one of two outcomes: either they'll get enough access to simply overrun governments entirely, or they'll be subsumed by the systems they're trying to infiltrate. Either way, it looks like a state/corporate hybrid and bad for everyone else.
They're not barbarians. They are warbands sent as proxies on behalf of other governments. Our government is allowing these warbands to settle at the behest of other governments that have bribed ours. It's not so much as trying to "play ball" as intentionally using them.
King Charles was executed primarily because after he was expelled he reinvaded England with a French & Scottish Army, filled with Catholics. The King of England invaded England with a foreign army. That's why the English said: "No, it's impossible that this isn't a crime. If we can commit crimes against ourselves like suicide, then the king can commit crimes against his subjects like invading with a foreign army and killing his subjects."
As an analogy to late Rome, I see the multinational corporations as the barbarian invaders. They are much more nimble than governments and can attack and retreat as convenient, but they are still vulnerable to a concentration of government action.
What our governments are doing is trying to play ball with them, using them against political enemies, which is allowing them to get inside the existing power structures meant to protect against them.
I figure one of two outcomes: either they'll get enough access to simply overrun governments entirely, or they'll be subsumed by the systems they're trying to infiltrate. Either way, it looks like a state/corporate hybrid and bad for everyone else.
They're not barbarians. They are warbands sent as proxies on behalf of other governments. Our government is allowing these warbands to settle at the behest of other governments that have bribed ours. It's not so much as trying to "play ball" as intentionally using them.
King Charles was executed primarily because after he was expelled he reinvaded England with a French & Scottish Army, filled with Catholics. The King of England invaded England with a foreign army. That's why the English said: "No, it's impossible that this isn't a crime. If we can commit crimes against ourselves like suicide, then the king can commit crimes against his subjects like invading with a foreign army and killing his subjects."
We're much closer to that.