Technofeudalism - What Killed Capitalism

"Technofeudalism - What Killed Capitalism" by well-known Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis is the best book I've read in recent years! The central message: Corporations like Apple or Google sell licenses so that developers can program for their mobile operating systems. They don’t live off profits, but off license fees - essentially rent - and act like modern feudal lords who, for a fee, allow their vassals to cultivate the land. Such "cloud supercapitalists" exist in both the United States and the People's Republic of China; the remaining countries are vassals. This also explains the Biden administration's policy toward China, such as the ban on microchip exports.

Even before this central message is presented, several chapters of this book deal with the history and metamorphosis of capitalism. We learn that under Roosevelt, the American economy was more like a planned, Soviet-style economy than true capitalism, which might also be the reason why the Austrian philosopher Rahim Taghizadegan called it "fascist". We also learn about the Bretton-Woods system with its gold standard and fixed exchange rates between the dollar, European and Japanese currencies, which required that the USA export more than they import. Once this balance could no longer be kept, the gold standard was abandoned and European and Japanese currencies became free-floating. The economic system from those days on was what the author called "The Global Minotaur" in another one of his books.

Reading this book is quite challenging, as the analogies and explanations provided aren't easy to understand. But - no problem for high-IQ people!

Claus D. Volko 

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