Capitalist property relations, whose basic feature is the private control of the investment function in the hands of the few, generate systemic barriers to human flourishing and democratic life. These include ecological destruction, inequality and precarity, and high concentrations of political power for those with the capacity to make decisions about productive investments.
These crises have been recurrent ever since what we know today as capitalism began to be implemented about six hundred years ago with the initial wave of enclosures that “freed” the peasants from the land. That gave the new capitalist landowners control over how to cultivate that land and what to invest in and what not to. At its core, our major crises are the result of a basic design feature: capitalism shields investment decisions from democratic input.
