Cities that rely heavily on the current financial-political order will suffer greatly. New York, London, Paris and Beijing will become unstable, maybe to the point of collapse. In their place, we will see the rise of autonomous city states. Well functioning towns with a healthy industrial backbone will increasingly retain their revenues for themselves. They will find it cheaper to evade taxes than pay them. Capital cities everywhere will in this way become starved of funding. Their influence over provincial towns will be greatly reduced.
Entire countries may fall apart into separate city states, and these cities may in turn loose control over the countryside. Wealthy land owners may find it cheaper to resist taxation than to pay it. They too will start behaving as autonomous political units.
Should this happen, we may see the return of private kingdoms, last seen in Europe during the middle ages. Such kingdoms are privately owned property, untaxed and unregulated by any external entity. A wealthy landowner who evades taxation and ignores external laws and regulations is by this definition a king. His wife is queen, and his children are princes and princesses.
A king owns land, productive capital, and gold. He does not pay any taxes, and rules over his domain according to his own wishes. He has absolute power to dispense of of his resources as he wishes, and anyone living on his land have to follow his rules.
While this may seem tyrannical, it is in reality a liberal arrangement. Such kingdoms are so small that anyone discontent with the conditions in one kingdom can move to another kingdom without much trouble. Kings that behave badly will lose labor and capital to other kings. Shunned in trade and unloved by people, such kings will quickly go out of business.
A system of city states and private kingdoms will provide plenty of opportunities for everyone. It will be a meritocracy where the clever and hard working will be rewarded in ways similar to that described in old folk tales. Young men can work their way up to the top. They may even marry a princess, and in that way get a stake in the family business. The same holds for women. They too will find plenty of ways to navigate the system to their advantage. There will be no lack of social mobility.
While this kind of arrangement may sound quaint, it is in fact commonplace even today. However, it is cloaked in oligarchy. Kings operate as vassals to the state. They are the business owners that pull political strings from behind the scenes. Such business owners are usually head of an extended family, and surrounded by advisors. The arrangement is pretty much identical to that of a feudal court.
The current oligarchical arrangement will last only as long as it is mutually benefiting the state and its vassals. The state must continue to provide protection and privileges in return for support by business leaders. However, once most competitors have been run out of business, and all economic power has been secured by the oligarchy, the state cannot any longer provide any further benefits to them. When wealth inequality becomes extreme, the state loses its value to the oligarchy. At that point, things fall apart. Taxes are no longer paid in full. Rules and regulations are not followed. Nobody cares much about dictates coming out of Washington D.C. London, Paris and so forth. Even more remote bastions of power, such as the UN, will be ignored altogether.
When this happens, things will be in enormous flux. Those with land, gold and capital will seek to align into new arrangements. They will seek to sever ties to higher authorities. In short, they will seek to establish city states and private kingdoms. A town with a dominant industry will typically fall under the business owner's direct rule. Cities may form republics with a seat of prominent business owners. Villages will fall under the control of prominent land owners. Few, if any, will give much political power to those with no land, no gold, and no capital. The charade of modern party politics will become unglued. The facade will be gone, and it will be clear that democracy was but a suckers' game all along.
No comments:
Post a Comment