The Reign of the Corpocrat
He was a Fortune 500 International Consultant, an emerging glory hunter of the Celtic Tiger era whose annual income already surpassed the million mark. Known to his few friends and colleagues as Chris, he was unquestionably a brilliant young Irishman and exceptional International Consultant but whose head had been turned by the lure of Gold. Like so many of his peers, only money now made his brain tick, especially the kind of numbers that boasted lots of zeroes. Christopher Hawthorn’s business style was uber clear by now to his good friend, Joey. He displayed all the hallmarks of a Corpocrat, loved to take up that privileged and most desirable position on a deal that’s akin to ‘getting between the patient and their doctor’. It had already delivered a stream of significant project successes that marked him apart from all his peers.
Chris, who from his youth liked to play outside the box, soon set far higher goals for himself than had most of his peers. Unspoken to his best friends, but at colossal family sacrifice, he bet his future on attending one of Switzerland’s most exclusive Colleges in Lausanne, taking their esteemed MBA programme that ranked with the best in the world. Its sky-scraping tuition fees matched their MBA’s reputation, based on “the highest average salary five years after graduation”. It promised personalised leadership development experience that prepared their students for the top while dangling the promise of lifelong ties with their esteemed global executive network. His best mates took the less ambitious but affordable route through local Irish Universities at a fraction of that cost. On the day of his Swiss qualification, Chris’s entire class was block-hired, as he fully expected they would be, by a leading US International Management Consulting firm, who were already renowned service providers to the illusive Fortune 500 Corporations. With risk amply rewarded, the future was opening up exactly like he always planned it would. His peers already counted his class among the elites of the Global Consulting world; as fine-tuned Corpocrats in-the-making, they shared one worldview. Indeed, that was the only worldview worth having if they were to find their rightful place among such esteemed company. Chris has left his homeland and best friends behind to become a high flyer.
Their workplace location was suitably anchored at a landmark London HQ address with prestigious showcase offices that most of their peers could never imagine in the 1980s and 1990s Ireland. A bank of escalators would meet eager clients and take them directly from the sidewalk to be greeted by a galaxy of choreographed Receptionists in a conspicuous all-glass First Floor. A palatial arena, they would be escorted by four bubble lifts to pods of elegant Boardroom suites that beamed down from on-high onto the splendid Concourse below. A network of open-plan offices adjoined the suites, designed to impress the best, each with rotating Secretaries and bolstered by a unique, ultra confidential global extranet service dedicated to their most precious commodity and the holy grail, billable hours. All their best brains updated that extranet daily to ensure all their Consultants had their finger on every pulse every day. It ensured that they, as the premier Consulting Directors, were equipped to command the superior corporate earnings as guided by a stellar daily rate card. London was then the undisputed hub of the glittering Global Banking world and its Financial axis. Backed by teams of researchers with insightful knowledge banks just one click away, they would soon be unstoppable. It was Chris who opened Joey’s eyes, showed him the way the world works.
All that Glitters is not Gold
It awakened Joey to the pivotal role he could play in the world of Global Retailing. By 1997, Joseph had designed, developed and successfully tested an innovative global retail accessory concept, for which he had patented a point-of-sale display unit in the USA. Incrementally, he had added international production and distribution, together with the capability and capacity required to satisfy that gigantic accessory marketplace. His good friend Chris found it inspiring and, in supporting him, even sought to bring some of his growing international networks onboard. It was Martin, a hugely talented retail shop designer with a gilt-edge UK Global Brand of clothing and footwear who first appreciated its real value, having failed on three occasions to configure a retail accessory concept for his Brand. He immediately saw the massive potential in Joseph’s customised display and retail vision, having just launched it for a reputable Euro Brand. Representing his gilt-edge Brand, Martin moved straight away to sign an outsourcing contract with Joseph for procurement, assembly and delivery worldwide. He provided an initial order for £500,000 of customised retail accessories in Joseph’s concept but under their brand name; he backed it with a 10% deposit for priority attention. It was for delivery in Joseph’s patented point-of-sale system from a nominated distribution centre in Ireland for imminent authorisation. Within months it would become Joseph’s first major international retail success. To the Brand’s amazement, although not to Joseph, the enormous European production capacity he had contracted was sold-out at the seventeen (17) International Retail Exhibitions they hosted that Summer. The Exhibitions stretched from London to Dusseldorf to Las Vegas, sold and delivered into 5,300 leading Retail shops across the five continents in just four (4) months. It was a time of celebration for all parties involved. Still, above all, it was confirmation for Joseph’s of his unflinching belief in the potential for his innovative retail concept and display. It was such notable financial success for the Brand that it made the front page of the UK Financial Times that Summer.
It was then that the green monster raised its ugly head once again. The gilt-edged UK Global Brand demanded ownership of Joseph’s successful global innovation in newly imposed terms of trading and to pay the account due for his latest delivery, with £245,000 outstanding. Sensing that Joseph was at his most exposed and vulnerable with so much money due, that he was not in a position to refuse their demands, however unreasonable, the Brand issued its ultimatum. ‘Handover all rights to your intellectual property free of charge including supply chain logistics, the patent rights, patented packaging formes and retail concept plans or we’ll refuse to pay your account and discontinue all our business. Full stop. No negotiation entertained.’ They knew there was another £1.0 million work-in-progress in their Brand’s pipeline orders too; such was the concept’s phenomenal success. Joseph protested vehemently, called on the honour and justice of their Owners and Directors, having fulfilled his initial contract to their satisfaction, but they ignored him. Martin, however, was rewarded in being headhunted by a more prestigious Global Brand, at triple his salary. Joseph declined a request to join him there, choosing to honour the enormous volume of incoming pipeline orders. But the Brand never relented and, after a decade of intensive and expensive development work, Joseph refused to bend to their bully tactics, with great business and personal consequences.
So the UK Global Brand blatantly broke their contracts with Joseph and their authorised Distribution Centre, leaving the latter with a warehouse of work in progress. They already knew their European Supplier guarantees would prove legally unenforceable in the UK. They urged the Suppliers to sue Joseph, which they tried, unsuccessfully, for unpaid earlier supplies and for which falsely claimed they had already paid him on their behalf. As for the extensive work-in-progress orders, they placed new supply agreements direct with Joseph’s Supplier network instead. The Brand abandoned the accessory programme with their Retailers and independent Distributors. The Brand’s reputable UK Bank who legally co-guaranteed the account promptly broke their contract with Joseph too. They refused to pay what the Brand legally owed to Joseph. Joseph was incensed at the injustice of it all but was left voiceless, powerless, without funds and most vulnerable. Claiming UK jurisdiction, they knew that Joseph could not afford to fight a gilt-edged UK Brand in an English Court let alone expect to win. That too was the expert view Joseph obtained from an esteemed Irish High Court judge, on a sidebar. In his opinion, to get a judicial ruling in his favour in a UK court, one ordering payment against a gilt-edged UK Brand, and despite exemplary contract performance without any disputes – it would cost Joseph from £2-4 million in legal costs. The latter cost would arise if he won, and lost on appeal; and which scenario would likely end in personal bankruptcy. It was such an outrageous injustice but a risk too far for his family. His world was in tatters once again, but he was determined to make it count.
A Jackboot on your Neck
The Celtic Tiger was roaring in Ireland by that year, 1997, so Joey decided to turn to his old friend Chris for help, to get his expert advice. Chris had enthusiastically supported Joey’s retail accessory concept from the outset, was among the first to see its vast global potential, and Joey trusted him to understand his dilemma while countless others could not fully. He considered him a close friend; they had been to visit each other homes as couples, and Joey had seen his prestigious offices and apartment in London also. Chris had become a significant influencer in the world of business by then and, noteworthy, was by now an acknowledged vital influencer in the UK. And the Celtic Tiger had started to shine a spotlight on his rapidly growing impact in Ireland too. So Joey asked to meet up to which he readily agreed. He quickly relayed his story and the entirely unexpected treachery of a gilt-edged UK Brand, the Irish Courts opinion, as he spelt out the essential details required to paint the picture. Expected, perhaps, was an offer from Chris to place a call to the Brand’s Owner-Directors, well known from his UK business world and was influential enough to persuade them to do the right thing, to honour their contract; no more. But Chris had changed beyond recognition from the man he once knew; in retrospect, changed since the advent of the two-year-old Celtic Tiger Ireland, although that would be nothing compared with what would emerge in the decade directly ahead. The business was the only buzz word in his vocabulary now; it had become everything to him; friendship was the poor relation now; his ambition had devoured him. Greed had taken the reins.
I’m sorry to hear that, but what do you expect me to do about it, asked Chris rhetorically, his tone and attitude unsettling Joseph. I supported your venture at the outset, but now it is failing, regardless of the reason. You knew or ought to have known what you were getting involved in; were swimming out of your depth; that is what the big guns do. He didn’t want to hear about broken contracts or treachery. All shades of personal concern were long gone now. It’s all hard-nosed business now. “I was a supporter of your original global plans, my friend, in which I saw some real merit, but I cannot help you now since your business execution has failed”. Instead, in seeing Joseph’s vulnerability, he went for the kill just as the greed, it appeared, had taught him to do. “I have to think of myself, my situation, my investment here now”. Chris was speaking with intent now, instructing: What I want you to do for me is this, to transfer all your patents’ intellectual property to my account, and by that I mean everything.
To be more explicit, ‘I want you to hand over all rights to your intellectual property free of charge including supply chain logistics, the patent rights, patented packaging formes and retail concept plans’. “This is not a question of choice”, Chris stressed, acknowledging Joseph’s puzzled look, “you either do my bidding or there it will have grave consequences”. Joseph was shocked at the transformation before his eyes– no empathy, no sympathy, no compassion, no guidance, no help, just seeing opportunity instead for a business kill on a valuable asset he knew better than the rest. In 1995 he had co-crafted a detailed paper on the potential of Joseph’s US patents, which he computed effectively addressed a reachable Sportswear market of 1.0 billion units as a robust retail market share driver. Several US Sports Brands confirmed that potential. But, times and methods had changed so quickly that now: “If you don’t, I’ll be like a jackboot on your neck for the rest of your working days”. Such a lust for power rocked Joseph to the core.
Who does he think he is? What has become of him? Is this how it’s going to be now in the emerging Celtic Tiger Ireland of 1997, dog eat dog? What kind of business monster is the Celtic Tiger releasing on an unsuspecting people? His mask gone now, here was the new Christopher with soul bared. Yet he ploughed on like he was letting him in on a big secret, just in case Joseph had missed any of the nuances, so he translated for him. “Refuse, and that means every door will be closed to you from today, wherever you go in Ireland unless and until you do my bidding”. To underpin this new unrivalled new power, Chris boasted of being a member of an exclusive club with tremendous force, the Golden Circle Joseph presumed, who could and would make that threat a promise. They held the keys to his country now, and he would not hesitate to use them, he admonished. He was speaking as he strode to his cabinet for deliberate emphasis, to point out the many old-style cabinet files kept therein, symbolically; withdrawing one that he said was Joseph’s, as if for maximum effect. Those were ones that I hold, he said menacingly, on all those he wished ‘to persuade to his way of thinking.’ Joseph understood that threat in the message very well indeed! And sure enough, those doors were closed when he declined to accept. Joseph couldn’t help wondering if this was some weird type of guru test case. He counted forty (40) such doors closing before he was sure that Christopher had indeed held such raw power. That was the moment too that Joseph first realised they had indeed become unstoppable, felt invincible, even since those early Tiger years and would indeed all end in tears. The seeds of economic destruction were sprouting before his eyes, but he never thought it would be so close to home. Joseph still retained the freedom to choose, the power of the pen and a fertile imagination.
Mind spinning Joseph stood up to leave, memory in flash recording mode, capturing a razor sense of clear and ever-present danger. He shook Christopher’s hand firmly to mark, in his mind, an old friendship now gone forever. Looking him straight in the eye to throw him off-guard and, parsing his words carefully, said ‘when I return here, I will be ready to shake your hand in acceptance of your terms’. He looked quizzically at him before asking what exactly that meant. Joseph replied that ‘it means what it says on the tin’. He never did return, had no such intention, would never consent to be bullied, always refuse to be brow-beaten. He reminded himself once more that it’s not what happens to you in life but how to react to that. That’s what matters most. That’s exactly how you achieve something you would never have otherwise even attempted if it were not for invaluable if harrowing moments like these, he persuaded himself. He might feel fear, and he did, but he would never show fear and would never lie down. He knew that only quitters lose and he was never a quitter. Although long past its sell-by date, he remained acutely aware that Corporate Capitalism still possessed the great wealth required to retain that an ominous power and vast influence that brought it into that power in the first place. It was never going to be easy!
The Fleeting Tiger
When Joseph met him again, a decade later, he had undoubtedly changed. Old friends, family and even foes all met up for lunch after a close family funeral, a long tradition in Ireland; a day when bygones are bygones, if only for a day. Christopher wore a fierce ambition on his face like a badge of honour. A mover and a shaker by then, nothing less than a world stage could satisfy him now, and nothing would stop him rising to its very top. Joseph listened as Christopher boasted to his inner circle, with an air of considerable authority he detected, of how he had seen the Celtic Tiger rising from far afield in the early 1990s, long before the rest of his peers. He relocated back to his familiar home patch in Ireland, to where he could be first into the fray to make that all-important prime mover fortune he could see emerging. With his well-honed expertise and global networks, Christopher could cherry-pick the best-positioned businesses and gurus to benefit from the emergent Celtic Tiger goldmine of 1995. Christopher knew the world was flush with a massive overflowing chalice of cash, ready to be wooed by that rare thing, an unheard-of Celtic Tiger Ireland. And he had keenly observed how there were no limits on the house, and no banking regulators to be seriously concerned about either. The only missing piece of the jigsaw was that small nest of Corpocrats with the sharpest of business mindsets that were ruthless enough to make the most of the immeasurable opportunities that would soon suddenly rise to the surface. He had recoiled, however, at the Corpocrat description with which Joseph characterised him then in that spirit of old friendship, probably because it revealed him, he felt sure. The goldmines of California never had it so good, a century and a half before. By now a global team leader of public reputation, he was no longer the Christopher that Joseph once knew.
Christopher and his global colleagues loved to tell stories that impressed their audience; how they could work a room like no other, how they could instantly identify another member of ‘their club’ with one scan upon entering a room full of people. But to set himself apart, Christopher delighted in sharing his prized story of how he had flown what later became the ill-fated Concorde from London to California all of twenty-six times in one year. His compatriots and old friends of that time only dreamed of flying the Concorde once in their lifetime. Then, on 10th April 2003, Air France and British Airways announced they would be retiring their entire fleet of Concorde aircraft after twenty-seven (27) years in service. And Air France made its final flight on 27th June that year while British Airways retired its fleet on 24th October after a farewell tour. Recently, however, on 1st April 2019, Emirates announced that they would be re-launching the famous supersonic jet, bringing the Concorde back into service again in 2022. It was as near as they ever get to small talk.
Inevitably, the conversation turned to the much-publicised Tiger Bank that was making headlines. Christopher unexpectedly dived into a discussion about its pivotal role in, what was about to become, the most extraordinary story in Irish Economic history. Christopher knew the inner working of global banking and finance like no others present. The circle always had an open relationship, sharing insights without inhibition, where nothing appeared off-limits. And Joseph was extensively well-read on what he believed to be inevitable, perhaps imminent, decline and fall of that banking world. Just two weeks later, the US Bank, Lehman Brothers, would collapse without warning on 15th September, after which time no bank would be safe. Two weeks after that, the Tiger Bank would crash without warning over the financial heads on an entirely unsuspecting Irish public. That event would trigger the most infamous Irish Bank collapse ever and create an economic crisis so deep that it would shock their nation to its foundations. A few months later, on 16th January 2009, Independent.IE would report just how badly exposed the Irish Banks were on the day Christopher spoke: “All of the Irish-owned banks have been brought to their knees by the collapse in property prices. Between them, the six Irish-owned banks have total loans of about €420bn. Approximately €320bn, more than three-quarters, of this secured against property, indeed, all of Tiger Bank’s €72bn loan book was to builders and property developers.” That Tiger Bank collapse was the fastest’ bank boom to bust’ ever recorded in the world. It not alone brought down their bank, but all of the other Irish Banks caused a Government collapse and crashed the entire Irish Economy with it. Europe and the IMF were called-in to fund a €67.5bn Bail-out (nett) for their country, which lost its Sovereignty for the first time since winning its Independence a hundred years before, following 800 years of Colonisation. On 20th November 2010, the BBC reported that “European ministers have reached an agreement over a bail-out for the Irish Republic worth about 85bn euros. The deal will see 35bn euros go towards propping up the Irish banking system with the remaining 50bn euros to help the Government’s day-to-day spending. An average interest rate of 5.8% will be payable on the loans. The Irish Republic itself will contribute 17.5bn euros to the general fund. The EU will contribute 45bn euros, including direct bilateral loans from the UK, Sweden and Denmark. The IMF will contribute 22.5bn euros.” It was a calamity of biblical proportions! It hurt national pride in immeasurable ways. The Bail-out had more zeros than most people could comprehend, but everyone felt the enormous impact of the resultant Austerity on their lives. That monumental Bill had to be paid by an unfortunate people who had to endure great hardship and the Emigration of their children once more. It was to be the last meetup of Christopher and Joseph.
Ruled by Banksters
The Irish Banksters ruled the world in Joseph’s mind’s eye then, yes, since 1997. They went Scott-free after the Crash 2008 because Regulations Lite applied and the wealthy could pay handsomely to get best lawyers to ensure they broke no laws; they could operate in the fertile land where no law yet existed. It’s a simple world ready to be manipulated by those with ample money, making enough of it was their only challenge, living by that old maxim: ‘The surest way to satisfy the greed of the few is to arouse it in the many’. Why settle for a million, when a billion is possible? And share options, derivatives and subprime mortgages were emerging as the way to go for them, was relatively risk-free until something better came along. Subprime mortgages grew from 5% of total originations ($35 billion) in 1994, to 20% ($600 billion) in 2006. Indeed, Out of the top twenty-five (25) subprime lenders in 2006, only one was subject to the usual mortgage laws and regulations. The nonbank underwriters made more than twelve (12) million subprime mortgages with a value of nearly $2 trillion. The lenders who made these were exempt from federal regulations. Banks were gambling on Derivatives from 1998 which, according to Forbes of 22nd November 2011, became: “an ocean of Derivatives which in 2007 amounted to three times the size of the entire global economy..” Another old maxim came back to mind: ‘Money buys you everything and everyone in its path’, but you have to find that golden nugget first, the “inside information” to share with your exclusive club members, for whom knowledge is the source of all power. Christopher had it all worked out. Engage them, and the world becomes your oyster, regardless of where you live on this planet. In a nutshell, he left his circle with one abiding belief – ‘Christopher and his peers will never lose’. Joseph could see why they would think that, flushed with power and a laser vision from high up on his prominent perch.
Oh, he had clearly understood alright, better than he knew. Staring Joseph in the face was a man that struck him as a modern-day Proteus from Morris West’s (of Shoes of the Fisherman, 1963, fame) novel of 1979. That was about a guy who was head of a multinational corporation but also privately ran a clandestine movement of seven men to ‘free all prisoners of conscience in the world’; the difference then being it was a case of ‘free all such prisoners through conscience laundering’. Proteus was the guardian of all creatures who lived in the deep and endowed with a rare knowledge, intelligence and the power to change at will into different shapes or identities; protected by secret organisation symbols and codes. Christopher fitted into those shoes; with his extranet, superior education, and exclusive networks; and he could work a room in a way that was only recognisable to those in their highly secluded world of rotating club members. No, this is far from the man he once knew so well, Joseph reflected. He was now a card-carrying member of a seemingly faceless network of the few, which would soon become known as the Golden Circle of Bankers, or Politicians, Legal Eagles, Business Elites or Corpocrats; all with dedicated Followers. Money buys knowledge, but critical knowledge buys the keys to power for people in-the-know. It is a world where the taste of real power invariably corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And people possessing such raw power can hijack and held to ransom an entire country. Ireland was one such country in 2008; others followed. Yes! And it was the few who put the many to the financial sword of Austerity.
The Myth of Ethical Banking
Founded in 2010 as an independent, not-for-profit think tank based in Kansas City, Missouri, the Seven Pillars Institute for Global Finance and Ethics, was the first think tank in the world to focus on financial ethics. It recorded the stark event thus: “In 2011 the Irish Tiger Bank announced a loss of €17.7bn, the largest loss in Irish corporate history. It estimated that the eventual cost of the nationalisation of that Irish Bank would be over €29.3bn.” It concluded that the fall of the Tiger Bank showed that a rotten immoral and unethical culture had been allowed to fester for years before collapsing in on itself. The Depositors and Bondholders would escape their wrath. It left the Irish people to pay the Bill for many generations to come, while those most responsible walked away Scott-free. Joseph followed with great care the unfolding sequence of events, who won and who lost. He read avidly so to remain informed, as always.
The so-called Banksters walked away pretty much unscathed too, availing of settlements counted in many with millions. Yet! That just cleared the way for the next cohort of Bankers to rise and fill their freshly vacated hot spots. They would rebuild most of the same Banks by availing of the great new opportunities that lay ahead in an Ireland that was now in Recovery mode. There could avail of near-zero borrowing rates. They would be assisted by tax-exempt profits for 20 years, by utilising the vast bad debt write-offs that their predecessors had just created. The safety net of no-consequences, incredulously, remained rock solid in place. Who would have believed in Celtic Tiger land of 1997 that this would be Ireland’s reality one decade later, thought Joseph, still in shameful disbelief? He summed it up: Banks are not the risk-takers after all, just the credit takers, others will carry the entrepreneurial risks, but their people are always going to be there to ‘carry the can’ if everything else fails. Their People, once all proud clients of Irish Banks, have paid the price for their gross excesses. They have suffered grievous financial harm to their savings, their pensions, their businesses, their jobs and their homes. Also, their emigrant children have departed for far off shores once again, possibly never to return, leaving deserted Villages behind, broken-hearted parents and generations of separated grandchildren as a consequence. They left the mess for others to clean up and a national brain drain crisis to contend with during a more than decade-long National Recovery. And what about the lifetime of National Bond interest repayments to be carried on their backs, complete with all the bond instability risks attached? And so another reliable, trusted and once-respected Institution of Irish State had bitten the dust which, like the Church before it, shredding its nationwide trust without a thought – all inflicted by the careless hands and cavalier minds in a Circle of Untouchables. They were untouchable, not because they got away with breaking laws but because they found the grey areas and Grey Banks in which to operate where no law had yet touched. Their only concern now was in how quickly they could launder their conscience. Always remembering, it’s the way the world works!
Joseph Friel had immersed himself in the escalating Inequality debate, its pros and cons, for almost three decades. It was the yardstick by which he came to measure the rate of social progress around him, and it informed his worldview. The weight of that argument eventually drew him into taking an international perspective, one that reached far beyond the shores of his native Ireland. The heated debate had by now spread throughout the world, just like the Global Irish Diaspora themselves over the centuries– spread into the UK, Europe, Australia, North America, Latin America, Africa, India and Asia. Then, on 15th September 2014, Zeinab Badawi of the influential BBC HardTalk interviewed Prof Danny Dorling of Oxford University. That particular BBC interview awakened Joseph to the stark realisation that the entire subject of Inequality was boring the pants off of the wealthy people of the UK and America, but also the many who wished they could be more like them. Don’t the British and Americans love to celebrate the rich and famous people who reside among them – their Royals, Presidents, Titled people, Celebrities or wealthy elites? Don’t they love to celebrate wealth in all its trappings – lavish palaces, cathedrals, stately homes, private planes, luxurious cars, fabulous yachts, priceless paintings, or mysterious island holiday resorts? Don’t their audience know about the tax havens as exposed by Panama Papers in 2016 and Paradise Papers in 2017? Weren’t their people well aware of unemployed youth, ageing populations and others who were struggling to survive, just trying to scratch a decent living? They had expertly represented both sides of the argument in that interview. It was a well-articulated and balanced argument on the merits and demerits of Inequality, equally addressing the pros and cons. Yet! In the end, both sides remained poles apart, each sure that their worldview was the correct one. As to which view stood up best, each viewer could judge that for themselves. Those insights, however, enabled Joseph to see just why this debate was not so straight-forward, not as one-sided in the public view as was usually projected. Inequality was and is a significant issue; it is not going away. Instead, it is getting ever more vocal and more profoundly concerning. Joseph took a deep breath at Zeinab’s unpersuasive line, ‘why not let the 99% have all equality they want, among themselves, just leave the rich 1% to themselves?’ It was a slow revolution that we were witnessing which was emerging just as happened before throughout the 1920s and 1930s in rebalancing society, Danny had expertly countered. Now happening again, Dorling expected this rebalancing to take up to two decades, into the 2020s and 2030s, to materialise.
When Necessity Beckons
Paradise Papers of 2017 had asked very fair questions; Joseph was sure: How is it ok for the wealthy elite to hide their estimated $10 trillion in cash offshore while global Austerity picks up the Bill? How can that be ok with our Governments? How can that be ok with all of us? He realised that to their secret world; our silence meant tacit approval. And to the Corporate World, it revealed the price we all appeared willing to pay for the employment they brought, the incomes they generated to funds our lifestyles. By comparison, the super-rich saw it as a fair reward for their ingenuity that the rest of us otherwise envy. Yet, it struck Joseph how those rewards seemed quite unequal from country to country. Who picks up their Bill, then? We do, Global Austerity is the price they believe we are also willing to pay! Why? Because although we complain a lot, we don’t change the things we can change, so we appear quite happy to trade-off sharing in their trappings of fame for our jobs and Gov taxes. Who did the Papers 2017 expose? “The offshore financial affairs of hundreds of politicians, multinationals, celebrities and high-net-worth individuals, some of them household names, have been revealed. The Paradise papers also throw light on the legal firms, financial institutions and accountants working in the sector and on the jurisdictions that adopt offshore tax rules to attract money.” What’s their source? “There are more than 1,400GB of data, containing about 13.4 million documents. Some 6.8 million come from the offshore legal service provider Appleby and corporate services provider Estera. Another six million documents come from corporate registries in some 19 jurisdictions, mostly in the Caribbean. The leaked data covers seven decades, from 1950 to 2016.” No, this was not the handful of wealthy elites and a few rogue Corporations anymore, it was on such a mega scale that it could no longer be overlooked or just brushed aside, he felt. Who is obtaining the Leaks? “As with last year’s Panama Papers (2016) leak, the documents were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which called in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to oversee the investigation. BBC Panorama and the Guardian are among the nearly 100 media groups investigating the papers.” Governments had been outmanoeuvred, evidentially, by the wealthy in society. That had become clear with Panama Papers in 2016 and now clearer with Paradise Papers in 2017. That all looked very comprehensive to Joseph’s mind.
But, can we afford the super-rich, we ask? No. “Inequality won’t be solved by any grand plan, but by millions of people acting out of necessity,” said Danny Dorling, Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford. Joseph agreed, since 2007 he had come to believe that the only solution to the unbridgeable Inequality gulf he was witnessing was, specifically, the creation of a Social Economy of the Third Sector. Joseph never changed his mind on that but found few were open to persuasion or willing to travel that long road with him. So ‘how bad does Inequality have to get before we awaken to its ultimate calamitous consequences’ became the more commonly heard rhetorical question overheard in those days. What did Prof Danny Dorling of Oxford say in 2014, before the Panama or Paradise Papers in 2016 and 2017 revelations? “The UK is the only one of the G7 countries where Inequality had increased both before and after the Crash of 2008; – indeed, it rose four times faster after the Crash than before. Since 1978 Inequality has risen to the extent that around 15 per cent of all income goes to the richest one per cent. This is the highest rate in Europe. The UK would have to look beyond Europe to the United States to find somewhere that is as unequal, by this measure. The cleavage in society is no longer between the richest ten per cent and the rest, but between the richest one per cent and the rest. It will take an external crisis to bring about a change.” In 2014, such an external crisis was unthinkable, the idea of a Coronavirus pandemic lay far from everyone’s imagination.
Inequality the Antithesis of Democracy
Ireland had been fundamentally reassessing itself following its recent financial crisis that required a Trioka-led rescue and Austerity programme Bail-out during the previous decade. Their eloquent President, Michael D Higgins, led that debate as a politician, poet, sociologist, author and respected orator. He had just addressed the much talked about Ethical Society and was emphasising the lack of progress towards that elusive Equality goal. On 1st December 2015, said “There is no clear evidence that there is a major popular demand for Equality or that there is widespread support for an Ethical Society”, In observing that those who believe in Ethical Society in Ireland tend to remain passive in their belief, added: “The building of a Republic on true republican values such as Equality was, for much of the modern period of our history, a task for the future, frequently dismissed as utopian,” continuing “Since the 1980s, the redistributive state has lost support as ever more ground was conceded to an extreme individualism grounded in a hegemonic version of the market without limit – even into areas of social vulnerability.“. It was as shocking to Joseph to hear, but not entirely unexpected. The failure of all of the people to “question the concepts of individualism and insatiable consumption” had been “one of the contributing factors of our recent economic crisis”, Mr Higgins told his audience. Mr Higgins went on to say that it had been “greatly inspiring to witness the real will that exists to envision a new version of Citizenship, one that is fair and equitable and allows all its people to flourish”, he said. But, he concluded, “We cannot, however, assume that widespread support for an Ethical Society now exists, and that it is there for the calling upon into existence.” Those were realities with which very many people agreed.
Irishman O’Toole, described as a leading author, literary critic, historical writer and political commentator, was named in 2011 as one of “Britain’s top 300 intellectuals” by The Observer, despite not being British or living in Britain. In 2012 and 2013 O’Toole was a Visiting Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University. “Inequality causes poverty, social conflict, ruins lives, is a product of market society. Inequality is the Antithesis of Democracy.” Joseph loved to quote from Fintan O’Toole’s Ten Principles of Critical Citizenship. That Ten Principles quote came from Fintan’s published book, Up the Republic. It was Joseph’s privilege to attend one of his excellent lectures and get a sense first-hand of his thorough grasp of the true Irish spirit and its unique but complicated history. It expressed for him the true meaning of what the Irish (or any other) Republic ought to mean: “a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.” He implicitly understood how Inequality had taken the place of Participatory Democracy, sacrificed it on the altar of wealth with corruption as its guard dog. You have to ask yourself; Joseph conjectured: How can a voice be so clear, so direct, be so open, and carry an argument so persuasive and compelling; yet swept aside for so long by political platitudes? He couldn’t avoid concluding: Because intellectuals do not elect our political leaders, being those who make the laws and dispense our taxes on their priorities; instead, it’s the voters at the community grassroots who do, but they don’t realise the power they hold in those votes to bring about change.
Joseph found Fintan O’Toole’s Ten Principles of Critical Citizenship most compelling. Still, he found it unfathomable to reflect on how society could give the tremendous power of their vote to representative politicians who in turn did not engage with them in any participatory, interactive democracy, but which was yet so achievable in a digital world. One thing became self-evident to him; the pro-Equality and pro-Inclusion arguments were over, they had won the case for change, but the transformational shift in sentiment towards that Citizen Era was only beginning to gain momentum. Just how many will choose to take part is unknown, but their participation level and timing will determine its impact and how soon. So at least the answer is known, and it is in our hands. Joseph just had to dig one layer deeper to realise it.
Capitalism Without Principles
Could Regenerative Capitalism be the answer we need? “Our current Economy is destroying the Planet, for Profit! Much of what we want to understand we already know, but don’t know how to change it“. John Fullerton, Founder and President of Capital Institute, and a Collaborative was working to explore and effect the economic transition to a more just, regenerative, and thus sustainable way of living on this earth through the transformation of finance. Through his work at the Capital Institute, his regular public speaking engagements, and university lectures, John was a recognised thought leader in the New Economy space generally, and the financial system transformation challenge in particular. Previously, John was Managing Director of J.P. Morgan, where he worked for over 18 years. Following that, and after experiencing 9-11 first hand, John spent years embarked on more entrepreneurial ventures as an impact investor while engaging in the in-depth study of multiple interconnected systemic crises that led to the founding of Capital Institute, launched in 2010. Joseph asked himself: What does Fullerton say to us that ought to make us sit up and listen to his proclamation that our current Economy is destroying the Planet, the very basis of Civilisation, all because we see a Profit in it? Fullerton said:“Theory matters during times of great change…and right now we are in great change. Our assumption that GDP (Gross Domestic Product) Growth brings Prosperity in a Developed Economy is flawed. We need a Paradigm Shift. If we are to avoid a major Systemic collapse the leaders of tomorrow will need to think in Systems. My hope is that the framework of Regenerative Capitalism will serve as a Roadmap, help us find that better way.” That was a lot of food for thought.
His Regenerative Capitalism offers to guide us on that path, through what he sees as Eight Principles. Well, being familiar, like many others, with the Seven Principles that guided all Cooperatives for generations, that grabbed Joseph’s attention. What were these Principles, and how do they compare with the Coops – he had to know? We now have at least two alternatives, two optional ways to go to get to where we must go if we are to get off this global slippery slope?
A. Regenerative Capitalism Principles (8) – 1. In Right Relationship, 2. Views Wealth Holistically, 3. Innovative, Adaptive, Responsive, 4. Empowered Participation, 5. Honours Community and Place 6. Edge Effect Abundance, 7. Robust Circulatory Flow, 8. Seeks Balance.
B. Cooperative Principles (7) – 1. Voluntary and Open Membership, 2. Democratic Member Control, 3. Member Economic Participation, 4. Autonomy and Independence, 5. Education, Training and Information, 6. Co-operation among Cooperatives, 7. Concern for Community
Joseph mulled them over. Which one works best for the Global Communities in which we now live? Which one best addresses Inequality, Poverty and Instability that threatens our world today, all seven billion of us? Which one would he choose; or, would it be both or none of these? One thing he did know through – The Capitalism we have today has No Principles, and the value it does have only favours Profit– far removed from People, Planet, Prosperity or Purpose. So, reverting to Fullerton’s thinking again, he wondered about his views. He revisited his Youtube on 20th April 2015, where he said: “As an informed critic of present Capitalist system, I found I was not as smart as I thought I was. We need to Reimagine Capitalism. What we’ve witnessed in the Crash of 2008 is only a symptom; the problem is more systemic, more entrenched. Things aren’t the way they seem. The Maths no longer adds up.” John concluded ruefully. “Much of what we want to understand we already know, we just don’t know how to change it. The Finance System thinks it’s the driver on top when it ought to be underneath, serving.” Based on Fullerton’s response as a financial expert, knowing the inside track of Global Finance, Joseph instinctively knew that the Crash of 2008 had not resolved the underlying issues with Capitalism, not by 2015, and not by time of the current Pandemic of 2020 either.
Finally, Joseph’s wondered what happens to those who, as a result of Inequality end up on the so-called wrong side of the tracks. He had to know, and who better to ask. He went to hear him speak. Yes, What happens to people who commit a crime or break our debt laws due to social exclusion or lack of income? His simple answer: They end up in the same prison, live for a time among a community of prisoners for their redemption and eventually are sent back into the same society from whence they came, this time with a convict label on their forehead. Yet! We expect a different answer next time, observed the ex-prison Governor. “That’s the truth – and only the truth survives over time and against all-comers” were the wise words spoken by John Lonergan, retired Irish Prison Governor after 42 years in the prison service, who had many insights to offer after observing life from the inside out, so-to-speak. Then what happens to Governments when those people can’t get or lose their jobs?
The Government lose related taxes, instead fund social welfare to slow their descent into poverty in its aftermath. They then spend vast sums of money on grants to fund Big Corp startups to generate volumes of replacement jobs. Meanwhile, they cut back on social services for the voiceless and vulnerable in their Community. And what happens to those people as they get old and weaker? They end up frequently under-appreciated in under-funded Nursing Homes, often abandoned to a fate featuring few visitors. Yet! We all grow old, don’t we? Undaunted, the uber-wealthy increasingly live-on in ‘isolationist republics’, unware, unseeing, and without hearing or understanding the unfolding society all around as it drifts towards becoming less caring and less sharing. That was Christopher’s world, an elite world, into which he was privileged to gain such an exclusive insight that day. It gave him the most compelling reason yet for finding an alternative to this broken Corporate World. It was the way the world worked! Coronavirus 2020 arrived and then everything we took for granted changed overnight.
Eriuvation: A Village Vista 2020 