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> money is power Money isn’t power. Power is power. If Putin became bankrupt tonight, he’d still be one of the most powerful people on earth tomorrow morning.
by hudon 7y ago
> money is power
Money isn’t power. Power is power. If Putin became bankrupt tonight, he’d still be one of the most powerful people on earth tomorrow morning. Power is the capacity to have others do what you want, including handing you their money when you need it.
Case in point: how many million-dollar lottery winners ended up having any nontrivial influence on their community or state? Nearly 0.
- aetherson 7y agoHolding all else equal, of course it is the case that giving someone more money increases their ability to something done in the political plane. But it seems to be an article of faith in many people that money can be very simply translated into unlimited amounts of political power in a way that is I think not supported by the evidence.
- coredog64 7y agoWhich is why Steve Forbes won the presidency in 2000 and Bloomberg or Steyer will take it this year and hold their inaugural ball at the Amazon campus in LIC. :) As you say, money helps. But there limits to what money can do.
- claudiawerner 7y agoNitzan and Bichler argue quite convincingly that capital is power - money isn't necessarily power, but money-capital absolutely is.
- ghostwriter 7y agoNo amount of capital (economic power) will save you from the power of the state to take it from you, should that idea arise in the minds of those who define the state policy.
- paulddraper 7y agoLobbiests + campaign finances
- claudiawerner 7y agoIn the world of international trade, only a stupid nation would do that. Systemic fear among the capital-holding class is usually unrelated to the fear of the state. Nevertheless, Nitzan and Bichler argue the ways in which capital uses its political arms to influence policy. One particularly obvious example is the strengthening of IP law, another is the military industry. Political power and capital are intertwined, but neither is above the other in a direct hierarchical relationship, because both can hold a gun to each other's head. So long as the state keeps the right to property, and it almost always will, capital has nothing to fear.