Alain Denault is an expert on Simmel’s theories about money, but this conversation was mainly about the probable global catastrophes, which he attributes to capitalism. He and Metta share pessimistic views, but she sees benefits as well as dangers in globalization. She also presses him to propose a workable alternative to capitalism. He complains that her arguments were popular decades ago, after the USSR dissolved, but that they are pointless now. But he foresees a collapse of the global corporate system, which he thinks will lead people to look to their regional or local authorities for aid to simply survive. Metta claims that only organizing people at the transnational level offers as prospect of success. Alain believes that the regional solution will not work, but that it is the only thing that can realistically be expected. He predicts that the survivors may later try to form some relationship linking these local or regional polities. Panelist:
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I think that Deneault has some valid points. Capitalism tends towards monopoly and oligopoly and not towards very many small producers. We see the big actors (transnational companies) abusing their power in the market, like Microsoft, etc. Jeff Bezos controls a huge number of companies for instance https://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-not-just-amazon-and-whole-foods-heres-jeff-bezos-enormous-empire-in-one-chart-2017-06-21. Therefore, such concentration in so many markets renders a disservice to democracy and counteracts further democratization. The ultra-huge conglomerates need to be controlled.