Big Tech, State Socialism, and Economic Democracy

by J. Meeds

It seems we now have state socialism when it comes to big tech as in regards to the Intel and Nvidia investments.  Although we have already had this going on for some time in a slightly different manner via ongoing high government DOD expenditures to prop up the economy, especially so in certain impacted communities.  This has always been justified before though in terms of military preparedness, ongoing wars, etc.  This is the first time though that government intervention in the high tech sector has been defended in terms of being a "national security" concern.  The question is no longer when or whether the state will act, but in whose interests will it serve.  Is it possible that we can have some sort of public ownership and a democratic oriented industrial policy?

That same leader of the (((Republican party))) came to power in part by calling his opponents socialist or (((Marxist))) and is now using that same methodology of state intervention specifically in the high tech sector.  The current president claims he is an anti-socialist in that he has had tax cuts and deregulation, however he has promoted massive increases in government spending alongside incredibly high deficits and debt.  Also, the (((Democratic party))) has for some time now been the party of guns and butter - which has been foreign wars abroad and support of social programs at home.  The Republican party looks like their mantra now is guns (Department of War), state socialism for high tech, and no butter.

Moreover, many of the early pioneers of the Silicon Valley scene were individuals who very often had counter cultural ideas mixed with a free market ideology which allowed them to take part in the capitalist system.  However, as consent to capitalism is formed at the point of production, over time many of them evolved into a big "C" capitalist of a different sort - as in the case of Steve Jobs, who at one point during the Christmas holidays laid off quite a few of his employees at Apple so that Wall Street would give him the "bounce" in stock prices so that they could meet stakeholder expectations.

In addition, Nvidia chips are specifically manufactured and designed mostly for AI purposes, as opposed to Intel chips which are more of a general purpose chip.  Other big tech firms such as Amazon and Google have also started producing chips to improve the performance of their servers.  So, there is more that is going on here than initially meets the eye regarding the current instance of the government intervening in the two cases of Intel and Nvidia.  The motivation for this seems to come mostly from the "Big Brother" potential advanced power of AI surveillance systems, easier state access to the world's most powerful chips, and some sort of compensation to big tech for their financial and other support during the 2024 presidential campaign.

Especially important to note here is what actually are some of the theories of socialism and how they can be viewed in the current historical and political environment.  For some it could be a society which utilizes the viewpoint of anarchist politics which is based on the use of cooperatives such as the DATEV tech cooperative in Germany, which also has a fierce critique of the planned economy and state socialism.  Then there is also the concept of political economy which is often associated with the Marxist approach and which speaks to some of the ideas of worker control and the planned economy.  Finally, there is the social democratic approach to socialism which blends some of the ideas of state ownership and intervention in the economy alongside with allowing the capitalistic perspective to have a say in what takes place in the distribution of goods and services.

In sum, even though what is now happening as far as the recent state intervention in the tech economy is far from being the beginning of an economic democracy, it is still the first time such a state intervention has taken place in a non-wartime situation.  If we who are in the opposition to the present state of affairs don't start brainstorming what economic democracy might and could look like, we could end up having the result be one of a mix of some sort of crony capitalism alongside with state intervention in the big tech sector.

However, this is definitely a historical period in that by having this type of government intervention take place in today's political world, we can now begin to see how in Silicon Valley the very concept of an "American exception" could be in the process of being questioned.

Also, just having the term socialism (i.e., economic democracy) come up in our political discourse is a shift in emphasis that opens up a discussion as to the political possibilities of a different type of economy which could and may be in our future.