Vulture Capitalism: Meaning, Money and Values
I sit down with British economist, author and political activist Grace Blakeley to discuss her new book “Vulture Capitalism” and why everything we know about capitalism is wrong
As some of my regular readers know, I’ve been increasingly referring to the state of capitalism in my essays here on Substack. Not all of my essays are about economics, and I never intentionally set out to discuss it, yet the constant creep of capitalism into every area of our lives – from constant marketing, the housing crisis, the cost of living crisis to even how we date – is an unavoidable subject to write about as it is impacting how we live our lives, and the quality of how well we live. To what extent does the current state of economics work for us and against us? And how does politics and democracy contribute?
These were the questions I was recently asking myself after watching the horror-sci fi film They Live, an American film made in 1988 which explores the themes of neoliberalism under President Ronald Regan, the increasing commercialisation of popular culture and politics and unrestrained capitalism. Being slightly alarmed at how timely, accurate and relevant the film is in 2024, I went on a quest to understand more about the economics of this period and the politics surrounding it.
Grace Blakeley’s new book, Vulture Capitalism, was just the read I was looking for to get a clearer understanding of the history of economics with practical examples of corporate greed and how the revolving door of politics means that the “free-market economic system” isn’t as free as we think it is. As one of my contemporaries I was particularly excited to interview Grace about her new book and hear her thoughts on what we can do to bring the changes we wish to see.
Grace has been interviewed about her new book in a variety of places, from British Vogue to The Times (“I want politicians to be as scared of the people voting for them as they are those who are giving them money. I am optimistic about the capacity for bottom-up transformation, but politicians won’t do it without being forced to.” – wow, what a quote!) so I’m very grateful that she made the time to do a quick Q&A here with me in The Breakout Room!
Joanna: Hi Grace! I’ve heard you say in a few interviews that you’ve been surprised by the number of people who don’t know the difference between capitalism and socialism. Why do you think this is? For my readers who aren’t familiar with capitalism and socialism, could you explain what they mean in 2024?
Grace: Most of us have been taught to think that ‘capitalism’ means the same thing as ‘free markets’, in which small firms compete with one another to produce goods and services as efficiently as possible. And free markets are supposed to guarantee freedom.
But capitalist markets aren’t really free. Modern economies are dominated by a number of extremely large and powerful corporations that co-operate with one another as much as they compete. Many of these businesses are so big that they are able to dominate their entire industry, meaning consumers don’t have as much choice and workers have much less bargaining power.
And a lot of people think that socialism is the same as ‘big government’, perhaps thanks to the legacy of the Cold War. But capitalist societies have very large and powerful states – the US state, for example, is probably the most powerful in the world. These states do not generally intervene in the economy to protect workers, as you might expect in a socialist society. Instead, they provide massive subsidies to the large corporations that dominate the economy.
Capitalist societies aren’t ‘free market’ systems with small states – instead, they’re based on a toxic fusion of public and private power in service of the interests of capitalists. Businesses and politicians are able to work together to plan who gets what, even in allegedly free market systems. This capitalist planning undermines freedom and democracy everywhere.
Joanna: At what point did capitalism turn to “vulture capitalism” and why?
Grace: Capitalist economies have always been characterized by these trends – all the way back to the origins of capitalism. Just think of the East India Company – a massive monopoly based on cooperation between governments and merchants. There is no capitalism without vulture capitalism!
But the power of the ‘vultures’ varies across time and space. The nature of a capitalist society really depends upon the balance of power between workers and bosses. When workers are more powerful relative to bosses, the system is fairer and more equal. But bosses tend to find a way to crush worker power – often using the state to do so.
In the post-war period, for example, workers had much more power than they do now because they were organized into unions that could advocate on their behalf. But the shift to neoliberalism in the 1980s crushed labour unions and atomised workers, making them easier to exploit. So, today wages aren’t increasing as fast as they once did and bosses are extracting ever more from their workers.
Joanna: You make an acute observation about how humans are increasingly viewed as consumers and not citizens. What action do you think is needed and from whom to change this so that we are viewed and treated in a more humane way?
Grace: We live in extremely individualistic societies, in which we’re all taught to believe that we’re these individual, atomised consumers, competing against each other for scarce resources and voting for political parties in the same way we would choose between different products at the supermarket. In the past, people were much more organized – as workers and as citizens – which meant they were able to demand more from their bosses, and from the government.
A big challenge in moving away from this model is overcoming individualism. 40 years ago, if you couldn’t afford to put food on the table, you’d talk to your fellow workers and organize to demand your boss pay you a fair wage. Today, you’re more likely to take out a high-interest payday loan and think of yourself as a failure. And when you blame yourself in this way, your boss gets to walk away with higher profits, and politicians don’t have to worry about citizens organizing for change.
Instead of individualistic societies, we need to build collectivist ones. We need to work together – in our communities, in our workplaces, and on the streets – to demand change. We need to make our democracies work for us, rather than just a privileged elite.
Joanna: Freedom and power are important themes in your book. You say that there has been a death of freedom under capitalism. Which is the most urgent aspect of our freedom that we need to reclaim?
Grace: When big businesses, financial institutions and governments are able to work together to plan who gets what, it undermines freedom and democracy.
Big businesses and banks are able to make decisions about investment, wages and production that affect everyone, yet they do so without any democratic accountability. We’re told that the market acts as a counterweight to their power, but these institutions are often powerful enough to override the diktats of the market and do exactly what they want.
And while capitalist states are supposed to be democratic, most of the time politicians ignore the interests of the vast majority of people and instead focus on providing handouts to the already wealthy and powerful. Our ‘democracies’ are characterized by rampant corruption and there’s very little that the average citizen can do to stop it.
This is why trust in democracy has fallen to such low levels in recent years. People have watched while successive governments – of all different political strips – have dished out cash to the rich, while everyone else has been faced with lower wages and higher prices.
Rather than adopting an individualistic view of freedom, which sees us all as free only to the extent to which we can choose between different products and cast a vote once every four years, we need to build a social view of freedom. To understand freedom in this way, we need to consider not only the freedom of individuals to make choices, but also their freedom to work with others to shape the way our society works. Rather than just choosing between products and politicians, we should be able to determine which products and politicians we’re choosing from.
Joanna: I’m fascinated by the idea of money as a political construct and the correlation between work and economic reward. You mention that after the 1980s capital became the main focus instead of workers. I think that this has created a spiritual crisis in the point and purpose of work and what it adds or takes away from the human experience. So many jobs now aren’t permanent which is also impacting how we view effort and economic reward. How do you think this is impacting society on an individual and collective level?
Grace: A lot of people feel very anxious about their jobs, but they feel powerless to do anything about it. This is the spiritual crisis created by Vulture Capitalism – we all know that the system doesn’t work for the vast majority of people, but we feel too powerless to fight for change. We can see the ways in which governments and big businesses work together to plan who gets what, but their power seems almost unchallengeable.
A lot of the time, this sense of powerlessness encourages people to join the far right rather than the left. Many young men, in particular, react against their own feelings of powerlessness by lashing out against those around them. They may also feel unable to protect themselves against exploitation, so they will project their political agency onto a messianic figure who claims to be able to save them. But these figures rarely follow through on their promises, and instead end up serving the same vested interests that dominate our society.
The only way to combat peoples’ feelings of powerlessness is to encourage them to join up with other people to fight for change.
Joanna: What do you think about a Universal Basic Income? Do you think that this would alter our current state of capitalism for the better or worse?
Grace: I think Universal Basic Income would deepen individualism rather than challenging it. Simply handing out money from on high strengthens the paternalistic relationship between the powerful and everyone else. Politicians could give people measly sums of money, and say that its up to us as individuals to manage that money – and if we don’t manage it right, then we deserve to starve!
Instead, I think we can encourage a more collectivist approach through the provision of Universal Basic Services. On this model, everything a person needs to live would be provided free or cheap for them to use. These services – from healthcare, to housing, to food – would also be governed democratically at the local and national levels, encouraging people to get involved with decision making and work together to build a fairer world.
Joanna: To me, Vulture Capitalism is at its peak in the US. In your opinion, which country offers the most humane form of stakeholder capitalism and why?
Grace: While workers and citizens in some countries have more power than in others, I don’t think there’s a perfect social model out there yet. Instead, we should learn from innovations in economic and political democracy that exist across many different countries – from the community wealth building movement in the UK, to the participatory budgeting movement in Brazil, to the international labour movement, each of which I cover in Vulture Capitalism.
Joanna: When I think about how the values of politics has been replaced with economics my mind turns to the wellness industry and how it attempts to steer and direct us – at our own economic expense – on how to live a better life, despite this being an issue for the political realm at a more collective level. What are your thoughts on this?
Grace: A lot of people feel scared, depressed and powerless as a result of the trends we’re seeing in society. Wages are stagnant, living costs are rising, the climate is changing dramatically, and democracy doesn’t seem to be working. But the ideology of individualism encourages us to view our very rational emotional responses to these trends as personal problems that we can solve by reading self-help books.
There’s a lot that we can do to heal on a personal level – particularly for those who have experienced complex personal trauma. But we can’t truly heal until our basic needs are met – you can’t expect to deal with your depression and anxiety if you’re living on a poverty wage in insecure housing. In fact, I would go so far as to say that none of us can truly heal until all of us are healed. We are social beings – we feel each other’s pain, and we feel the pain of the world.
Joanna: Popular culture economically rewards and gives attention to individualism, whether that be through the personalities of social media influencers or trends such as main character energy. We’re told that this kind of behaviour and reward makes us powerful, yet capitalism’s excessive focus on individualism has contributed towards a mental health and social isolation crisis. What role can politics play here?
Grace: When people come together to demand change, they not only challenge the power of those at the top, they experience a profound psychological transformation. We are encouraged to view ourselves as isolated, atomised individuals, struggling against each other and the world just to survive. But when we work together – whether that’s as part of a protest against climate breakdown, or just a campaign to save our local libraries – we realize how much we have in common. Co-operation is just as much a part of human nature as competition, yet we encourage the latter at the expense of the former.
When we work together, amazing things can happen. Just take some of the examples I use in my book. In the 1970s, workers at Lucas Aerospace developed a plan to transform the struggling business from a weapons manufacturer into a democratically-owned and run producer of socially-useful technologies – like wind turbines and kidney-dialysis machines. In the 1990s, the participatory budgeting movement emerged in Brazil, where ordinary people were given control of the municipal budget and used it to invest in health, education, and resources for their communities. In Jackson, Mississippi, ordinary citizens came together to establish Co-Operation Jackson – a network of co-operative enterprises that provides work and resources to members of the community, and helping them to organize to elect progressive leaders to the municipal government.
If we want to fix all the major problems afflicting our societies today – from climate breakdown, to inequality, to the erosion of democracy – we need to demand change. And this means we have to get organized.
Joanna: Thank you so much for your time Grace!
Joanna, you were right that I'd enjoy this interview. I've been following Grace on social media for some time now, but I appreciated your perspective in this interview as well.
In the US, as Grace mentions here, there was a brief era following WWII in which unions had the sway to be able to advocate on workers' behalf to foster equality and collective power. The gap between corporate executives and everyday workers was smaller than ever during this time, and this was largely seen as a positive thing! I'd say the negative trend began a bit earlier than the 1980s, both on the government front (deregulation under Carter) and big business (the 1971 Lewis Powell memo). The latter, in my opinion, was more influential because it had a normative impact on our perception of free enterprise vs. collectivism — Reagan exacerbated this, of course, but the blueprint for elevating the standing of US businesses (and the extractive capitalist model in general) had been fully laid out by the 1980s. Unfortunately, they were, and still are, much better coordinated — not to mention better funded — than the movements for collectivism and equity. This is why books like Vulture Capitalism are so important, because we've essentially been brainwashed for the last 50 years about what capitalism and free enterprise are in reality, clouding our view of how capitalism actually operates in the United States and around the world.
A very interesting interview, Joanna. I like how Grace insists on structural changes and collective solutions. That criticism of UBI is very apt.
I think monopoly is the natural trajectory of all systems; they generally progress towards amassing power and entrenching themselves. I also think this is the trajectory of capitalism. As inequality deepens, those at the core (governments, corporations) will have to find a way to cede some power to consumers/citizens. Otherwise, the periphery will become so large and unstable such that the natural reaction will be implosion.
Communism and socialism are poor at producing; they just cannot last. Capitalism does poorly at distributing. This is a problem that can be postponed but not ignored. That time frame for postponing could be nearing its end.