Monotony Crapitalism

Capitalism has three tendencies.

First it tends towards monopoly. Larger, more powerful players tend to gobble up or drive out of business smaller, and sometimes better, players. Locally, First Niagara may not have been the best bank to work with, but for some people it was convenient and its services were competitive. It was also a locally owned and controlled bank. For some people, that really matters.

Enter Key Bank – working to swallow up First Niagara – and close numerous branches, denying services to those that used and needed them. Buffalo has a relatively high poverty rate and Key Bank's acquisition of First Niagara would result in branches being closed. These would hurt the low income neighborhoods first and the most. It would also serve Key Bank's interests by giving it a majority share in several NY markets.

In history we have seen this before – the “Big Three” automakers used to be much smaller. I grew up knowing AMC-Jeep as separate from Chrysler. Go a little further back and AMC and Jeep were two separate companies. It's a case of eat or be eaten.

There are six media companies that basically control our broadcast (TV) media. Almost the same for the radio (AM and FM). Almost the same for processed food companies. I saw a chart on-line that showed how 6 (I believe) companies control food production. Seeds and (cancer causing) pesticides are down to three or four. (Monsanto, Dow, Cargill, and Syngenta. Did I forget anyone?) And we wonder why everything is so bland and stale.

Yesterday I was reading an article about a beer company that actually controls 6 or so brands that I grew up knowing as independent beer brewing companies. All merged into one. And they are now trying to put rules into place that would benefit them in market control.

That's capitalism's second tendency. Control. It wants to control who is in the game, how they are allowed to play, and (ultimately) who wins. I read on-line (again yesterday) about how beer distributors are trying to write contracts that limit, restrict or outright eliminate the ability of independent craft breweries ability to sell craft beers in supermarkets. The big boys' sales are down almost 20% (I believe), while the craft brews are up over 400%.

Why? Capitalism's third tendency- Call it monotony. Call it mediocrity. Call it being mundane. Craft beers are exploding in sales because the main stream brewers are mass producing bland and boring beers. I don't drink -recovered alcoholic- so I am relying on family and friends who bring beers to the various gatherings we have. No one brings corporate beers. Everyone brings something from a small scale brewery that has the ability to be creative and experiment. Granted, they have their “signature” lines, but they also get to play around and produce some very interesting (and evidently good tasting according to various critics) beers.

And then there was the local distillery that sold out of it's first batch of vodka in four hours. I guess there is another one that is producing an organic vodka made from organic potatoes. (People will drink anything. As long as it is fermented.)  Then there are the local wineries that are producing some interesting vintage blends.

OK. Capitalism also tends towards drinking alcohol too. I'm not going to go into why.

Buffalo and it seems all of Western New York is having this surge of microbreweries that are doing what capitalism is claiming that it is supposed to do – create competition. And through this competition would come innovation, excitement, and creativity. The problem is that the large capitalists are losing because all they produce is crap. Since they are losing the battles in the market place, they resort to whatever they can to preserve their power.

And it's failing.

Because capitalism craves control through monopoly.

Monopoly tends towards monotony.

Monotony tends to fall flat.

Like it's beers.

Thus we have monotony crapitalism.

Bottoms up.