The trap and the irony of the Establishment in an Enshittified world
The trap
Neoliberal capitalism has been the rage since Regan and Thatcher. It has reached its peak. No amount of extraction from a dead zone can bring life.
As Cory Doctorow has so perfectly surmised, we are in the age of enshittification.
Capitalists, better known these days as oligarchs, hate capitalism. They do not want competition. They want domination. Their entire business model is based on monopolisation. Owning the entire market. Once they own the market, they have you and me, the customer, trapped.
And then they treat you like shit. Hence, enshittification.
My partner was talking about this this morning in the Australian hospitality industry. One company, a hospitality finance company, owns the software to be sure you get maximum return on food costs; they also own the software for ordering food, selling food, and booking tables. They now own the market. If you want any of this software, you are almost forced to buy the whole suite. You are trapped. Once trapped, how they treat you is irrelevant.
This business model is everywhere, and growing by the day. It is celebrated, still, in the entrepreneurial bro club.
The irony
These same oligarchs are about to be in charge of the entire US government. They are winning elections in nations around the world. They do this by ensuring that those suffering from the cost of living pressures, which are real, are fretting over those who are often worse off from them taking the little they have. Immigrants. People of colour. LGBTQ. Women. The ‘other.’ They sell a story of being anti-establishment. Of breaking the Deep State.
Yet the snake oil salesmen peddling oceans of BS are the Establishment. They are the ones who only care about the enrichment of their world.
Trump 2.0 used his MAGA acolytes to get elected. They are trapped. Now the stage is set for the irony. Once trapped, enshittification will be the order of the day.
The only winners, if Trump gets his way, will be the Establishment. And they will have more power to dominate, cripple, and enshittify.
Unless, we, the people, get on the streets and raise our voices, and vote with our feet.
This includes Social Media. With Meta announcing today their new anti-disinformation laws (Essentially they have removed all guardrails so that propaganda, conspiracy and election interference win), the only way for people to protest is to get off the platforms.
Photo Taken January 8th, 2025, Article written January 8th, 2025.
