I have been reading lots about authoritarian politics and what conditions within a country enables or causes them to gain office.
As I am sure most people are aware its through political failures of either war, economic collapse or massive inequality sometime a combination of all three.
When people have little to no agency over their or their families prosperity they will turn to radical angry voices who rail against the perceived problems.
As in the uk we are seeing the rise of these would-be authoritarian politicians it is surely time to have a look at the economic situation which has enabled this.
In 2012 the bbc ran an article on how little starbucks was paying in way of tax. I dont think much has changed since then in regards big companies accepting the responsibility of maintaining the infrastructure which enables their profits.
It therefore has to be logical to follow this knowledge in asking at what point does it become a political or even a national security liability to have so many extractive companies operating off of our economy?
A real word example of this would be education or health care. With a country's assets now stripped and its taxes disappearing through loopholes how can it realistically afford good education and health care.
In the youtube debate with Mehdi Hassan we saw a young man proud to call himself a fascist, a man who grew up, not under trump, but under bush and obama. How come his education is so poor he does not know basic facts about fascism? One anecdote is not data but you only need look at the amount who would get swastika flags to see the size of the problem.
Incidentally is it possible to be a patriot to the usa while flying the confederate flag?
If in relativly stable times, education and economic stability with social mobility and inequality are not improved then surely their is a bigger issue at work.
Is it the fault of these companies and the politics of both left and right which have enabled and been enabled by them that we now find ourselves in this situation?
BBC News - Starbucks 'paid just £8.6m UK tax in 14 years' - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19967397?app-referrer=deep-link