American business will regret writing off democracy

AMERICAN Big Business is in the process of writing off democracy, or so it seems. Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, the real-estate investment/private-equity conglomerate, is only the latest business leader to endorse Donald Trump’s candidacy for the presidency. The chief executive officers of major oil companies have done the same, and Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, recently remarked that Trump’s views on Nato, immigration, and many other critical issues are “kind of right”.

Much has changed since January 2021, when Trump’s followers stormed the Capitol to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election. In the weeks following the insurrection, many businesses solemnly vowed not to fund candidates who denied that Joe Biden had won fair and square. But these commitments turned out to be no more than hot air.

The business world has never shown a real penchant for democratic governance, of course. When it comes to its own operations, it prefers autocracy over self-governance. Chief executives demand the obeisance of managers and workers, and shareholders, who are supposed to be in charge, are easily appeased with financial rewards and rarely muster the kind of collective action that it would take to hold executives to account.