capitalism

Donald Trump Can Be Bought

Brendan O'Connor · 05/12/16 12:20PM

On Tuesday, Donald Trump told the Associated Press that he doesn’t plan to release his tax returns before the presidential election in November. “There’s nothing to learn from them,” he said. Then, on Wednesday, he said he would release them. “I’ll release. Hopefully before the election I’ll release,” he told Fox News. “And I’d like to release.” (Doesn’t seem like it.) “You learn very little from a tax return,” he added. Maybe, but you learn a lot from someone’s ambivalence about releasing them.

Warren Buffett Is the Best Argument for Capitalism. Is It Good Enough? 

Hamilton Nolan · 05/05/16 10:55AM

As the “Empire State of Mind” beat filled the packed CenturyLink Arena in Omaha, the chorus slid in: “At Berkshire, financial strength is what dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t dooooo….” The white, middle-aged crowd of investors jammed. Is this is the humble setting from which champions arise?

BuzzFeed Got a Haircut

J.K. Trotter · 04/12/16 03:05PM

Last Friday, the media industry toasted BuzzFeed for successfully drawing the attention of nearly 800,000 Facebook users to a livestream of two employees wrapping hundreds of rubber bands around a watermelon until the fruit exploded. The gambit capped another quarter of widespread confidence in BuzzFeed’s business model, which sells native advertising against a mix of silly listicles and enterprise reporting published on an ever-increasing number of third-party platforms, with everything heavily underwritten by periodic injections of venture capital.

Hamilton Nolan · 02/03/16 04:48PM

Goldman Sachs analysts are getting attention for speculating that if corporate profit margins stay at their abnormally high levels, it may raise fundamental questions about “the efficacy of capitalism.” But don’t fool yourself—Goldman Sachs is far too sophisticated to believe that capitalism “works.”

The Best Things We Bought in 2015

Gawker Staff · 12/30/15 04:10PM

Since the Middle Ages, human beings have purchased various goods—ranging from bare necessities to unimaginable luxuries—using money acquired from wage labor. We routinely report on how the past and present iterations of this system, commonly known as market capitalism, depend on the subjugation of the planet’s most powerless populations and the destruction of the earth’s most fragile ecosystems. We much less routinely acknowledge the fact that we buy stuff ourselves, and that we like a lot of the stuff we buy. Pursuant to our goal of editorial transparency, here’s the best thing each member of Gawker’s staff bought in 2015. If you have your own suggestions, hop in the comments below.

We Have So Much Freakin Oil! 

Hamilton Nolan · 12/30/15 11:12AM

As recently as last year, oil cost close to $110 a barrel. Today, oil costs less than $37 a barrel. Why? There’s so much god damn oil!

Capitalist Babies Lash Out at Pope in the Most Capitalist Way Possible

Hamilton Nolan · 09/21/15 08:49AM

Cool Pope “Francis” (a pseudonym) has said some things in the past that could be interpreted as less than completely enthusiastic about the predations of unrestrained capitalism. That bastard. The plutocrats will show him he’s wrong—the capitalist way!

Hamilton Nolan · 07/10/15 08:40AM

Cool Pope “Francis” (a nickname) in a speech yesterday “called the unfettered pursuit of money ‘the dung of the devil.’” Damn—now that’s a cool Pope.

Brendan O'Connor · 07/04/15 12:30PM

“The European financial system was architected to make lending to Greece — and Spain and Portugal and Italy — a money machine for bankers... [who] understood perfectly well that there was in fact a long-term risk, an uncertainty, a constructive ambiguity.” Gosh, this all sounds awfully familiar.

How to Save Lives: A Conversation With Peter Singer

Hamilton Nolan · 04/17/15 10:00AM

Do your charitable donations suck? Are you failing to save lives due to greed you don't even realize you have? Do poor people have the right to take all of our stuff? One of the world's most famous philosophers talked about these very topics with us.

The Capitalist's Plan to Prevent the Revolution 

Hamilton Nolan · 03/20/15 03:30PM

Paul Tudor Jones—whose net worth is $4.6 billion—is one of the most famous hedge fund managers in American history. He is a heavy donor to Republicans. And he is warning of the possibility of class-based revolution in America. Also, he has some ideas.

McDonald's Is America's Most Cynical Corporation

Hamilton Nolan · 02/02/15 11:46AM

McDonald's, the molded plastic king of America's molded plastic cuisine, has decided that money will no longer suffice to purchase its meager offerings; the company now demands that you degrade yourself in order to be fed.