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Vulture Capitalism: Empire, Bailouts, Monopoly Power | Grace Blakeley

Jan 28, 2026
Grace Blakeley, author and journalist who critiques modern capitalism, explains corporate planning, state-backed bailouts, and imperial extraction. She unpacks how concentrated firms shape policy, why competition gets harsher for everyone else, and how democratic planning and local organizing can rebuild agency. Short, sharp, and provocative takes on monopoly power and financialized ownership.
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INSIGHT

Imperialism As Monopoly Capital's Tool

  • Imperialism is a structural feature of monopoly capitalism, rooted in production relations rather than just political acts.
  • Capital and state form an alliance that exports exploitation abroad to maintain profitability and suppress domestic challenges.
INSIGHT

Capitalism Is Domination, Not Freedom

  • Capitalism is a social relation of domination where concentrated ownership controls production, politics, and culture.
  • Planning exists within firms and the state, so the real question is who plans and who benefits from it.
INSIGHT

Firms Plan; The State Reflects Capital

  • Large corporations centrally plan complex production systems, contradicting the myth that planning equals socialism only.
  • The state inevitably aligns with concentrated capital because political power reflects economic power.
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