Political Wrangling is Corporate Wrangling

I can't help but feel that S&P's decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating was a political move in response to the impending federal investigation of their practices (e.g. giving AAA ratings to all those bundled sub-prime loans).

I have contended repeatedly that the state is nothing more than a tool of capitalist interests. However, while one should not view the state as a coherent entity representing the will of "the people," distinct from the public realm of private property and the free market, neither should the capitalist class be viewed as a coherent faternal society secretly controlling the world. Usually capitalist interests are not completely hidden, but merely disguised as the "public good." More importantly, the carefully calibrated competition that is necessary for profitability includes competition among sectors and enterprises. What is good for one capitalist is not necessarily good for others, and the general conditions necessary to sustain the capitalist system may conflict with particular capitalist interests. The system that exists is a reflection of competition, conflict, and compromise. Though still, it benefits a handful of capitalists to the detriment of most everyone else.

The chess match between S&P and the U.S. government illustrates this well. An even more striking example is the way in which individual CEOs have run their own corporations into the ground so that they could run away with millions of dollars.

The allowed variance in public opinion (the political spectrum) in many ways, and very conveniently, reflects this type of capitalist competition. What is at stake is not the validity of the system, but what is good for one enterprise versus what is good for another, the general conditions required for sustainability versus immediate individual gain.

At this point, though, it seems that future options are limited and compromises may crumble under the gravity of the situation. We have the choice, at this moment, to decide we have had enough of the corporate oligarchy, to demand something better and more just. Or we can fall prey to squabbling over debt and budgets, arguing over solutions that are equally doomed to failure; watch ourselves descend into chaos; and see if what comes next is even worse than what we are leaving behind.