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Economic hypocrisies in the pandemic age Raphael Sassower [University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, USA] Copyright: Raphael Sassower, 2021
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Introduction This paper examines some of the most egregious hypocrisies associated with capitalist claims about the state of the economy in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic in the USA. To be clear, there is a difference between the hypocrisies discussed here and the internal contradictions of capitalism already outlined by Karl Marx. For him, unlike the expositions of classical economists from Adam Smith to David Ricardo, the division of labor that reduces the cost of production and promotes economies of scale in turn encourages systemic (monopolistic) over-production. Unlike classical political economy, Marx fleshed out his labor theory of value as a key constituent in an M-C-M system of capital accumulation in which competitive forces tend to lead to over-accumulation and over-production in a self-destructive and unstable system. Over-production depresses profits and wages so that consumption decreases as well, and bankruptcies ensue (with layoffs and market contraction); this logic differs from the everexpanding growth models of markets whose business cycles are mere short-term inconveniences. All of this is not to say that Marx would not be surprised at the ironic realities of our current economic logics, where some labor unions are completely in cahoots with management or when so-called leftist detractors of Wall Street find themselves invested in the stock market through their pension funds or 401K savings accounts. M i e e he e i ei he f Da id Ha e a a i (2014) f he i e i ab e de i e f a e ca i a i beca e f i i e a c adic i a g e agai J h Ca id (2009) i f a ed e e f ca i a i i e i ab e a i a g h a d cce de i e e ide ce he contrary. Rather, my focus is on the deliberate misrepresentati f ca i a i c e a failures. What is both fascinating and troubling is the manner in which the theoretical (read cie ific, f e) a a a i i ked he i e e ce ai i e e b ig ed f political expediency or even completely inverted to benefit the few at the expense of the many. (e.g., Robert Reich, 2015) By side-stepping the problematic logic of capitalism and offering ingenious explanatory excuses to ward off critiques, contemporary politicians and their servile economic apologists still maintain, falsely, that if approached correctly, (market and financial) capitalism is as sound as it ever was supposed to have been. Economic hypocrisies in this essay are contextualized within the current American political domain; they are seen as dubious economic policies adopted for purely political ends. My charge of hypocrisy is not concerned with obvious inconsistencies in political circles, but with the deliberate mischaracterization of capitalism as the ultimate platform for the promotion of freedom and equality, fairness, and prosperity for all participants. (Sassower, 2020; see also McCloskey, 2010 and 2019 on liberalism) The appeal to moral standards at times conceals and at others reveals hypocrisy: it is not aspirational but cynically self-serving to capitalist elites and their beneficiaries.
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