Michael Hudson : The Kleptocracy Stage of Finance Capitalism
Michael Hudson
All oligarchies are kleptocracies in the broadest sense of running governments and their tax systems for their own class interests. The wealthiest members of the financial class, landlords and monopolists back the election campaigns of politicians committed to representing their interests. America’s Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court has ruled all such pay-to-play transactions as legal. Its normalization has led the term “pay to play” to be added to the English language
But the politicians agreeing to sell their talents and souls to the Donor Class are supposed to benefit only indirectly through the sham of campaign contributions, and to reciprocate by passing laws and tax rules that apply to the entire economy, not on a person-to-person level.
That transition marks the evolution of finance capitalism into straightforward kleptocracy. Trump typifies what local politics in America have long been, best illustrated by the Tweed Ring in New York City a century ago.. He has granted pardons to gangsters accused of crimes, and even tried to give them restitution of the illegal gains that prosecutors have taken from them. This personalizes corruption.
The most recent kleptocracy has been using his son-and-law as a bag-man for contributions by a Syrian-Emirate billionaire for a $4 billion luxury beachfront project on an Albanian island. That deal required Trump to revoke a ban on payments to Syrians dating from the Assad regime. Kushner and Ivanka have been granted financing (including a Donald Trump Golf Course) as part of a deal freeing $12 billion, negotiated on the yacht of Nathan Rothschild.
The story is told in https://x.com/aj_geo_analysis/status/2062747219933938038?s=43, “𝗣𝗮𝘆-𝘁𝗼-𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆. 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀-𝗴𝗼-𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆.” Barbed-wire fences already have blocked the island’s population from their traditional access to the beach and riots have ensued in Albania’s capitol itself for its election today (Sunday, June 7).
Kleptocrats at war
Trump’s war in Iran seems to have been an even larger a deal-for-money, starting with the $250 million that he brags about receiving from Miriam Adelson paid for his political campaign for his promise to support Israel and appoint Rubio as Secretary of State and general backing. The enormous funding from AIPAC to Republican and Democratic Party candidates alike for such support is all considered legal.
But what is at least a grey area is Trump’s bewilderingly destructive war alongside Israel against Iran. Many critics have speculated that this war has been so destructive of U.S. national interests that there must be some unseen personal benefits at work. Perhaps, they say, Netanyahu has Epstein files on Trump that would be so embarrassing to Trump that he has waged this war to keep the files secret.
I don’t find this likely. Trump has bragged that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. His abusive behavior toward women already is notorious, as is his long relationship with Epstein – on terms that can easily be imagined.
The explanation may well be more straightforward: Trump is not afraid of the past, but is looking for payoffs in the present and future. Israel’s support of his family’s personal benefit from his Board of Peace to “develop” Gaza once Israel clears the land of all Palestinians offers billions of dollars in real estate gains. That’s always been Trump’s game as he accumulated wealth by stiffing contractors, financial backers and labor for his projects.