All Episodes

December 14, 2024 • 18 mins

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Michael Berry Show. Michael Rectenwald is known for his
critiques of political correctness as well as woke culture and
the intersection of corporate and government power, which is literally
what fascism was about. Formerly a professor of liberal studies

(00:23):
at New York University, Rectenwaal gained prominence after writing anonymously
under the non de plume of the anti PC NYU
prof and eventually he publicly voiced his opposition to what
he considered ideological conformity in academia. His discussion of quote,

(00:49):
the Rise of Corporate Fascism critiques the growing influence of
corporations aligning with governmental power to enforce policies that prioritize
ideological agendas over free market recipes. Remember how the government

(01:09):
during COVID would use your employer to threaten you that
you had to do what they wanted. You had to
take the clock shot or they would fire you. Well,
that's how government uses private companies as their agents, and
it's evil. So this special bonus podcast is a discussion

(01:36):
by Michael Rechtenwald r ect n w Ald. If you
want to read more of what he does, I like
his stuff. It's called The Rise of corporate fascism. I
suspect that for many people, fascism is a word they've
heard used many times. They're not even sure how it's
different than Nazism. But that's what this is, and he

(01:59):
explains it well, and you're going to see that, Yes,
this is happening in America today.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
So today I'm going to talk about the rise of
corporate fascism. But the title of the talk is Woke
Capitalism is economic fascism. So we're going to begin by
addressing just what I'm talking about here, How is woke
capitalism economic fascism and what's wrong with it? So, as

(02:29):
we know, economic fascism has a long history, dating to
the nineteen twenties and thirties. Naturally, when the word fascism
is used, we think of the totalitarian regimes of Mussolini
and Hitler and the ugly, racist and anti Semitic characteristics

(02:50):
of those regimes, But there was also an economic policy
and component of fascism known in Europe in the nineteen
twenties and thirties as corporatism. Corporatism is the subordination of
the economy to the state and the state's adoption of

(03:10):
favored corporations. Corporatism was an essential element of the economic
totalitarianism practice under Mussolini and Hitler. Corporatism was adopted in
Italy and Germany during the thirties and was held up
as a model for policy makers and intellectuals in the
United States and the rest of the West. A version

(03:36):
of economic fascism was in fact adopted in the United
States in the thirties, and it survives to this day.
In the United States, these policies were not called fascism.
They were called planned capitalism. We have witnessed, though, of late,

(03:57):
a parade of economic fashion policies under Divide administration, with
its twelve plus executive orders directed at climate change, and
even its Chips and Science Act, all of which are
instances of economic fascist intervention. So today, economic fascism or

(04:24):
corporatism flies under an entirely different banner. Today we see
it called woke capitalism by its critics, or by its proponents,
stakeholder capitalism. So it's stakeholder capitalism and woke capitalism that
I'll talk about. And these two, in fact, I'll say,

(04:47):
are the same. And I'm going to try to explain
to you just why these corporations have adopted leftism exactly
what's in it for them? Okay? So stakeholder capitalism, we're told,
as a form of capitalism that benefits customers, suppliers, employees,

(05:08):
the local communities, society, and the planet. In addition to shareholders,
a stakeholder is supposedly anyone that stands to benefit or
lose from corporate behavior other than competitors, we may suppose.
Stakeholder capitalism involves changes to the behavior of corporations with

(05:28):
respect to carbon based energy use, but also in terms
of the distribution of benefits and externalities that corporations produce.
It means not only corporate cooperation but also major governmental
intervention in the economy. However, as to sync from standard corporatism,

(05:50):
it is being driven first and foremost by corporations themselves,
and only later is endorsed and enforced by the state.
Stakeholder capitalism includes not only corporate state responses to ecological
issues such as climate change and also climate change, but

(06:14):
also rethinking their commitments to already vulnerable communities within their
eco systems. Says Claus Schwab, this is the social justice
aspect of stakeholder capitalism. These special stakeholders are supposed to
include women and black, brown, Indigenous, transgender, and other special

(06:35):
identity groups who supposedly stand to benefit from this stakeholderism. However,
they don't. Its proponents pits stakeholder capitalism against what they're
called neoliberalism. Now, neoliberalism is a weasel word that is

(06:56):
used by different people to mean different things. But Claus
Schwab and his co author Tieri Malaret, they use the
term to refer to what is otherwise known as the
free market. This is the enemy of stakeholder capitalism. The
free market is to them a corpus of ideas and

(07:19):
policies that can loosely be defined as favoring competition over solidarity,
creative destruction over government intervention, and economic growth over social welfare.
As if those terms economic growth and social welfare can
be opposed, that's the absurdity here. Stakeholder capitalism thus is

(07:43):
opposed to free market, the free market system, to capitalism itself.
Now we're told that stakeholder capitalism will benefit all these stakeholders,
but in interfering with the market economy, stakeholder capitalism presents
a grave injustice to the real stakeholders of businesses, not

(08:04):
only their stockholders or owners, employees and customers, but also
society at large. Today I mean to show you just
how stakeholder or woke capitalism poses a threat not only
to the free enterprise system, but also to individual liberty
and a free society. So let's take a little foray

(08:26):
into popular culture. What is Who is? Doctor Evil? General
Motors Super Bowl advertisement Doctor Evil? This was the twenty
twenty two Super Bowl last year, summon viewers to ponder
the issue of climate change. The ad introduced the company's

(08:46):
electric vehicles stylized as v's, before apparently committing the corporation
to a net zero future. In the same breath, GM
subtly suggested what it ordered to be a looming catastrophe
of climate change. Baby and gentlemen, our takeover of General

(09:08):
Votors is complete.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Doctor Abel. We can now use GM's ultium platform to
power our whole operation.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Now we can reduce tailpipe of missions. I'm sorry, am
I no longer Doctor Evil? I'm Doctor Good. Now.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
I didn't get the meaning.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Climate change is arguably the number one threat to the world.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Now, doctor Abel, you are now the number two threat
to the world.

Speaker 2 (09:28):
I refuse to be number two. Number two. We have
to help the planet. Oh, please cheer for my son.
Your son, I shall name him baby me. No, his
name is Kyle. You must help save the world first,

(09:50):
then you can take over.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Okay, for how about you let me do the business?
All right?

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Hold on, I've got it. I will help save the
world first, man, then take over the world.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
She literally just said that, Scott, you just don't get it,
do you? What?

Speaker 2 (10:06):
What's then? I get you? You're gonna get it.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
You can't draw me into these little you have like
a charmin adult.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
You can't push my buttons anymore.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Will reduce that common footprints? Whatever?

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Okay, let's get you're going Oh on that trick, nor
you Scott. One day you're going to run the company,
baby me.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
So.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
The ad reprises the theme of the Austin Power series.
Mike Meer, Seth Green, Rob Lowe and Mindy Sterling play
Doctor Evil. Dr Evil's son, Scott number two and foul
Fraul Farvarsina, respectively, as his cohorts inform him. Despite having

(10:56):
taken over GM, Doctor Evil has been just placed by
climate change from his position as the world's number one threat.
Not to be outdone or to have his plans for
world domination. Thwarted Doctor Evil co ops Frau Farbuscina's words,
vowing to regain his number one position by becoming part

(11:19):
of the climate solution. I will help take over the
world first, then save the world. The irony of GM's
Doctor Evil appropriation was not lost on Gizmoto columnist Molly Taft,
for whom GM is a real life super villain openly

(11:40):
pretending to be a superhero and making its pretensions blatant.
She writes, GM's long history of climate denial makes this
ad painfully literal and is a warning about how polluting
companies are now trying to greenwash their reputations. But for Taft,

(12:01):
GM is Doctor Evil himself. Marshaling this iconic character is
too clever by half and cuts matters too close to
the bone. Now the ad should strike us as ironic too,
But GM's playful adoption of Doctor Evil was a joke
on such observers as Taft. The company ironically suggested that

(12:25):
it is not the criminal force that Taft and others
have made it out to be. After all, Doctor Evil
is a fictional villain and not the real CEO of GM.
But even more ironic is perhaps GM's perhaps unintentional representation
of the world economic form. Just as GM appropriated Doctor

(12:50):
Evil and Doctor Evil appropriated Frau Farbarcina, the AD seem
to reference the men and ethos of Claus Schwab, the
chairman and founder of the WF or War of Economic Forum,
who has been popularly likened to the villain. Schwab is

(13:12):
the world's leading corporate mouthpiece of climate change catastrophism. He
and his corporate stakeholders signed onto the wf's agenda also
stand again outside economic and political power, as this agenda
is enacted through his brainchild stakeholder Capitalism. Its Environmental, Social

(13:35):
and Governance Index, the ESG already measures corporate compliance with
the agenda. Stakeholder capitalism makes partners of corporations in the
world's governance system as well while advancing their monopolistic economic ambitions.
Now does GM Does GM really mean to appropriate Klaus Schwab?

(14:09):
Whether the whether the appropriation is conscious or not, the
AD nevertheless recalls Schwab's stakeholderism, and given the prevalence of
the comparison of Doctor Evil and Clock Schwab all over
the Internet and the expenditures for the ad, which had
to be in the multi millions. It is highly unlikely

(14:32):
that the creative team was unaware of this comparison, But
whether the infegation of Schwab's intentional or not, the AD
nevertheless issued a biting, tongue in cheek criticism of the
agenda that GM and consumers are being compelled to accept. Furthermore,
the Doctor Evil ad tacitly acknowledges that something is evil

(14:56):
afoot with the establishment of stakeholder capitalism. No matter how
much the WF and its corporate partners gloss the project
in terms of equity and sustainability, the sense that an
evil is an agenda is being conducted under the imperatives
of stakeholder capitalism is irresistible. Now this has also been

(15:20):
called wo capitalism. The phrase woe capitalism was coined by
a New York Times editorialist, Ross du Taught. It was
used to describe a new form, a new corporate activism
in line with the woke agenda, the promotion by for
profit corporations of identity politics, gender prolalism, transgender rights, lacks,

(15:48):
immigration standards, voting reform, climate change mitigation, and so on.
You know the list. Upon coming, coining the term to
thought ventured to explain it. He essentially suggested that woe
capitalism works by substituting symbolic value for economic value. That is,

(16:11):
under woke capitalism, corporations offer workers and consumers a rhetorical
placebo in place of real costlier concessions such as higher
wages or better benefits or lower prices. The same gestures
of wokeness also appealed to the elite, the liberal elite

(16:32):
political elite, whom the woe corporations hope will spare them
higher taxes as maplis pointing out increased regulations and antitrust
legislation aimed at monopoly.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
If you liked the Michael Berry Show in podcast, please
tell one friend, and if you're so inclined, write a
nice review of our podcast. Comments, suggestions, questions, and interest
in being a corporate sponsor and partner can be commit
unicated directly to the show at our email address, Michael

(17:04):
at Michael Berryshow dot com, or simply by clicking on
our website Michael Berryshow dot com. The Michael Berry Show
and Podcast is produced by Ramon Roeblis, The King of Ding.
Executive producer is Chad Knakanishi. Jim Mudd is the creative director.

(17:29):
Voices Jingles, Tomfoolery, and Shenanigans are provided by Chance McLean.
Director of Research is Sandy Peterson. Emily Bull is our
assistant listener and superfan. Contributions are appreciated and often incorporated
into our production. Where possible, we give credit, where not,

(17:52):
we take all the credit for ourselves. God bless the
memory of Rush Limbaugh. Long live Elvis, be a simple
man like Leonard Skinnard told you, and God bless America. Finally,
if you know a veteran suffering from PTSD, call Camp
Hope at eight seven seven seven one seven PTSD and

(18:17):
a combat veteran will answer the phone to provide free counseling.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.