if that's a real thing that's taking place -- not denying it but acknowledging that I just haven't looked into it -- that almost feels like a trap
because any corporations vocally leaning liberal/politically correct are just doing so because it's socially acceptable and scores free marketing points, while benefiting from all the conservative policies in place for the rich/elite, they're not going to reject that because they're soulless and have no real ability to "take a stand" as a corporate entity
if regular america goes right, and rich corporate america sounds left but is still quietly right, then who is even left?
What's laughable about the US corporate sector supposedly leaning left is that they are consistently breaking unions and any sort of worker power while promoting identity politics.
How the fuck does that line up with "left" politics? The Democrats wholeheartedly back this stance as well because they are exactly the same.
It's all a matter of control.
Before COVID there was a big movement to make the labour market more 'flexible'. Short term gigs, project based jobs, small business, startups and self-employment. Mostly because corporations were setting the rules of the game and they were mostly concerned with making money not the planet or other such things. This was supposed to give people more freedom but it already started to show cracks because small businesses can't compete with corporations let alone state corporations like China and people with poor business skills simply lower their prices so they sort of become a 'cheap' alternative which then get hired by the corporations. And things like startups again were a way to drive wages down, "we don't pay you but you are part of something bigger". Of course when the owner quits they get jack and when the actual owners sell the joint to a big corpo everyone loses their jobs within a year or so. The epitome of this is of course 'the platform' like Uber, AirBnB or Deliveroo. Where you simply built a website that matches supply with demand without actually having to produce or deliver anything. Because small businesses give up their brand in favor of the platform that is growing in popularity they lose all control over their pricing and offerings. The platform owns them.
But during the Trump presidency and especially COVID liberals the world over realized that this flexible market meant that they had less control. It was easy to lockdown big franchises and have them work it out with bank loans than it was to close millions of individual businesses and it was easy for the corporations to spend money on all sorts of measures including working from home. As it would actually be cheaper than having everyone work from the office. They also realized that having outsourced everything to all sorts of different companies and contractors their governments weren't able to move fast. Unlike in China where they could just shut everything down on a moments notice because it is all state controlled. And finallly you have family businesses and these are an even bigger threat because they are often large, succesful enterprises that don't have shareholders to answer to. Also the governments weren't sure if could they trust these small businesses with government support or if they would just use the money to buy a new car or go on vacation and the population didn't trust that the government had their best interest in mind or made the right decisions. So in the end the liberal governments all realized that the combined health, social, economic and some would argue climate challenges needed quick decision making and long term planning that goes beyond the time any politician spends in office but they don't want to give up democracy. The government and corporations however were too corrupt to be trusted by society. This is basically where Adam Curtis' documentary ended and he wondered what the new post-COVID world would look like. If it would look like China or if we could built something better.
The corporate world, NGO's and modern liberalism however just doubled down on the course they had already set out, at Davos under the banner of the WEF or the Bill Gates Foundation. Corporations, NGO's and governments together map out and shape the future of society. Where the corporations accept that their role is not just making money but also signing up to the liberal world view and the government provides them with the incentives, tax breaks and policies to achieve it. The jobs of the politicians is merely to manage this process and have the public vote on 'how' not 'if' they want to achieve this. They just ask the corporate leaders: "What do you need to hire more PoC's?, what do you need to become climate neutral?" etc. basically the 19 goals that the UN set-out is the framework for all these plans. The third wing of this are the scientists and researchers. People like Birx and Fauci who are no longer limited by just the grants from government but can tap into unlimited funding from corporations as long as their research covers and promotes the topics that the government and corporations are interested in. And finally there is a group of very vocal stormtroopers on the ground, the activists and news media. Who mostly just act as the marketing branch of this endeavor. The modern left likes it because they can use the corporations to further their own goals that they would never be able to put to a vote. The corporations like it because it is very profitable for them. Banks were 'dying' for example but now the EU intends to use their infrastructure to store the medical records of all their citizens. Soon a CO2 budget needs to managed, again a service the banks will provide. At the same time the government starts to regulate the crypto currencies that threaten the banks. And most people that are on the "losing" end of these policies don't have any means to go up against this, so all they can really say is "They" are doing this to us. Because they realize that something is wrong but they can't articulate or understand how the system works.
The conservatives realize that if the corporations, liberals (center), NGO's/universities (left) work together they are vastly outnumbered and that time is running out.
Which is why some of them simply join the ranks of this alliance while others seek out by any means necessary the only force that can stop this, the voters.
Because if the liberals can no longer deliver the protection and funding from government, the corporations will jump ship.
