Film Sessions: Capitalism and a World on Boil

 

Editor's note: welcome back to Film Sessions; our quasi-regular feature here on Media Madness in which I share, analyze and expand on a relevant video created by someone on the left wing of YouTube.

Capitalism Is Incompatible With Survival

Back in early February of this year, I featured a video about the ongoing minimum wage debate in American politics by YouTube creator JT Chapman, otherwise known by the moniker "Second Thought." As I noted then, Chapman's work features an extremely high production quality, his essays are always jam packed with information, and the presentation is both articulate, as well as quickly paced; a quality I appreciate greatly. In fact, the only real problem here, and the major reason I haven't featured more Second Thought mini-documentary videos on Film Sessions, is that most of them are so damn short - I can say with some experience that it's surprisingly difficult to crank out a thousand word analysis of a seven minute video you almost entirely agree with.

Over the past couple weeks however, Chapman has released consecutive, interrelated video essays about climate catastrophe as it pertains to capitalism, and its handmaiden imperialism respectively. In response, I'm going to change up our format a little bit here on Film Sessions and group these two videos together with a third, slightly older video about why the origins of our climate crisis don't actually matter to our survival as a species, into a single analysis essay. To facilitate organized reading, I'll put my analysis under each embedded video and then lump all the additional resources and citations into a footer at the bottom.

As always you can check these presentations out on YouTube by clicking the headers above each video, or simply watch inside the embedded boxes below.

Why Capitalism Can't Handle Climate Change

At this point I strongly suspect that anyone reading this is already well aware of the statistical boundaries of the problem humans, and pretty much all other living creatures on Earth, are now facing down in terms of climate catastrophe. The situation is, to put it politely, extremely f*cking bad. Furthermore the problem is rapidly going to get much worse, our models may have underestimated just how horrifying the effects of boiling the planet might actually be, and we have precious few years to completely alter human energy production before any number of tipping points are reached. Despite the paid ravings of fossil fuel propagandists, our shared Earth is quite simply a planet on the brink, and the primary culprit is of course our old friend capitalism.

Given these unarguable realities, you might be tempted to say the obvious solution here is to get rid of capitalism to help save all life on Earth; and you'd be right. Unfortunately, but perhaps unsurprisingly, rich capitalists and most of the Pig Empire governments they control do not agree. While a more thorough discussion of the subject is somewhat beyond the scope of this essay, it is sufficient for our purposes here to note that virtually all serious ruling class action on climate catastrophe is currently being filtered through the completely unworkable rubric of  so-called "green capitalism."

In fact green capitalism is itself, a part of the problem. Even as we speak, trillions upon trillions of dollars are currently be funneled to private capital, for the sole purpose of subsidizing the profit margins of the very same companies and investors who caused the climate crisis, while we transition away from fossil fuel production; money that could be spent on simply saving the planet instead. The primary barrier here is neither public will, nor technological advancement; we can stop burning fossil fuels today, but we can't produce clean energy cheap enough to make pursuing alternatives "competitive" with oil and gas profits for the private sector.

The bald truth is that a our capitalist society is incompatible both ideologically, and practically, with our shared goal of preventing climate catastrophe; as Second Thought demonstrates succinctly in the above twelve minute video. Touching on concepts like the profit motive, and infinite growth, as well as his own personal experiences with the deregulated Texas energy sector, Chapman effectively eviscerates the self-defeating trap that is green capitalism, while pointing out the incompatibility of massive infrastructure spending with a near fully-privatized economic model. While much of the content in this video is also covered in the links above, our presenter also offers up a recommendation to a companion video that's worth checking out: Why Capitalism is Killing Us (And The Planet) by Our Changing Climate.

Let's Talk About Human Influence On Climate Change

Of course, understanding and accepting the relationship between capitalism and climate catastrophe doesn't mean much if you're unaware of how serious that catastrophe is. In this July 31st, 2020 video, Chapman offers an extremely brief overview of why climate crisis is definitely real, what sorts of catastrophic effects boiling the planet is likely to have, and why it fundamentally doesn't matter if you believe the obvious truth that climate change is primarily being caused by human activity.

For bonus points, folks still on the fence about climate catastrophe should check out this Second Thought video explaining why Exxon is probably the reason you sound like a dangerous idiot. Alternately, you could just look out your window. Although some of the material included here is also incorporated into the first video we looked at, our presenter's focus on what a world in climate crisis will look like, sets up our next video about climate-induced water imperialism.

The Water Wars Are Coming

While it's true that some combination of statistics, scientific testimony, and the growing absurdity of climate science denial has convinced mainstream media outlets like The Guardian to report extensively on the biological and economic effects of climate crisis, there remains very little public discussion of the political ramifications involved here. While it hardly takes a genius to realize climate catastrophe is already affecting elections globally, there remain far more sinister knock on effects that rarely break into the mainstream discourse. As I've already discussed in an earlier article for example, one of the driving motivators behind the rise of fascism in the Pig Empire is increasing resource scarcity; a problem obviously exacerbated by climate catastrophe.

In our final video, we find Chapman delving into one of these rarely-discussed, sinister knock on effects of bringing the whole planet to a boil; specifically water imperialism. Simply put, rising temperatures and demand are stressing the global supply of usable water. As our presenter notes; given that less than one percent of the water on earth is consumable fresh water, and the vast majority of that comes from a mere five river systems globally, access to that water is quite literally a matter of life or death. Indeed, this competitive struggle for water is already a reality in some of the areas most affected by climate change, such as Africa and the Middle East. 

Of course, these conflicts are currently localized outside of the imperial core, and numerous mainstream observers remain skeptical that water imperialism is a serious threat. When even U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is openly admitting future wars will be fought over water instead of oil however, you can bet your bottom dollar that Uncle Sam believes it's real. Furthermore, as history has demonstrated quite thoroughly, when nations find it necessary to control and monopolize a vital strategic resource, Pig Empire governments have no qualms about unleashing their powerful war machines to do so. In light of the intricate relationships between capitalism, imperialism, fascism and climate catastrophe, the water wars do indeed seem inevitable.

That is of course unless we all unite together to smash capitalism and end climate catastrophe, before that happens. No sweat, right?

 

Additional Resources

Second Thought Youtube Channel

JT Chapman Twitter

Why Capitalism is Killing Us (Our Changing Climate)

We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN

As Climate Change Worsens, A Cascade of Tipping Points Looms

The ‘1%’ are the main drivers of climate change

The problem with billionaires fighting climate change? The billionaires

Five reasons ‘green growth’ won’t save the planet

The New Climate Normal: Capitalism is Killing the Planet

Here’s Why Capitalism Can’t Fix Climate Change

Ending climate change requires the end of capitalism

Socialism is the only realistic solution to climate change

What If Preventing Collapse Isn’t Profitable?

Greenwashing Capitalism Won’t Heal the Planet

Capitalism Killed Our Climate Momentum, Not “Human Nature”

They pollute, you pay: why profit doesn’t equal progress

The climate crisis solutions we need are already here

The Case for Climate Reparations

Neoliberalism has conned us into fighting climate change as individuals

To Counter Climate Change, We Need to Stop Burning Things

What a Burning World Tells Us About Climate Change

"Relentless" climate crisis intensified in 2020, says UN report

No Stopping Climate Change, But How Bad It Gets Is Still Up To Us

Everything Is F*cked, Major New Extinction Report Finds

Is climate change an “existential threat” — or just a catastrophic one?

Climate Paper So Depressing It's Sending People to Therapy

Global Warming is Happening and Humans are the Primary Cause

Climate change: Where we are in 7 charts & what you can do to help

What Does The Sixth Mass Extinction Mean For Humans?

The Climate Crisis Will Be Steroids for Fascism

Only a Green New Deal Can Douse the Fires of Eco-Fascism

Climate crisis: our children face wars over food & water EU deputy warns

Water wars: using climate data to predict conflict hotspots

Where will the 'water wars' of the future be fought?

Why Australia Is Ground Zero For Climate Catastrophe

How Exxon Deceived The World (But Not Their Investors)

How Cruise Ships Are Destroying The World

Capitalism, Climate Crisis & the Rise of Fascism in the Pig Empire

nina illingworth

Independent writer, critic and analyst with a left focus. Please help me fight corporate censorship by sharing my articles with your friends online!

You can find my work at ninaillingworth.com, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

Updates available on Instagram, Mastodon and Facebook. Podcast at “No Fugazi” on Soundcloud.

Inquiries and requests to speak to the manager @ASNinaWrites

Chat with fellow readers online at Anarcho Nina Writes on Discord!

“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”

Film Sessions: The Minimum Wage Debate Explained by Second Thought

 

Editor's note: Film Sessions is a weekly feature here on Media Madness in which I share, analyze and expand on a relevant video created by someone on the left wing of Youtube.

-----

As I promised readers last week, today we're going to take a look at a video from a new creator we haven't featured yet on Media Madness: JT Chapman, otherwise known in the world of lefty Youtube as "Second Thought." 

Although I really don't know that much about Chapman, I first encountered his work a couple weeks back when my friend from Discord, TechnOkami, suggested I check out his January 15th, 2021 video about the fascist riot on Capitol Hill and what I (and others) regard as Trump's failed coup attempt. While I didn't ultimately end up featuring that video because the Renegade Cut presentation I did feature was more in line with the discussions I was already having about Americanized fascism with my audience, there were a couple of portions of Chapman's video I wished I could share in isolation: 

• First up would be the part where our presenter names and shames elected Republican officials who either directly helped inspire the riots, or were actively on the ground participating in what quickly turned out to be a chud-backed "stupid coup" attempt. This is really just a simple rundown of elected fascists and fascist sympathizers that oddly enough, you won't find in any corporate media outlet in America, anytime soon.

• More importantly however, Chapman's Capitol Hill riot video also explicitly and directly explored the class character of the chud insurrectionists themselves and found, to the surprise of precisely zero Marxists on Earth, that they were not in fact working class, but rather business owners, affluent leisure class muppets and at very best, fine examples of the Volkish American petite-bourgeoisie - which is after all, the class right wing "populist" leaders really mean when they refer to "the people" on the hustings. 

Ultimately it was this latter, class-focused angle that really attracted me to Chapman's work, and I didn't have to wait long for him to release another video that also revolved around class analysis; specifically this one - "The Minimum Wage Debate Explained." 

In terms of general bells and whistles, Chapman's work actually has quite a lot to offer here and most of it is on display in this excellent and informative fourteen minute video. Although the "voiceover + video clips" style of Youtube essay has faded from fashion online, I'm old enough to genuinely prefer it to the modern "guy talking in front of a CGI logo" format that is more popular today. Chapman himself is clear, as well as articulate and his essays appear to be well organized and presented at pace based on the few I've watched; which is something I always appreciate as a viewer.

To open the video, our presenter notes that because the discussion surrounding the minimum wage is somewhat constantly in the American news these days, he's going to focus on some of the rarely if ever discussed underlying issues surrounding the raise the minimum wage debate itself. This then transitions into a very rough, four minute history of American labor conditions and the legally mandated minimum wage. The important takeaways here in my mind are that contrary to popular libertarian mythology, capitalists were making a pile of money from child labor and would not have ended it on their own (more on why this matters in a moment,) and that even by the standards of Depression-Era American labor, modern minimum wage workers are vastly underpaid. Accounting for merely inflation, the real minimum wage in the U.S. should be around thirteen bucks an hour and if you factor in productivity, which essentially represents your ability to meet your employer's increased demands, it should be roughly twenty-four dollars an hour. Although Chapman doesn't mention this until later, it is crucial to understand here that there is literally no place in America, where the federal minimum wage of seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour, represents an actual living wage. 

The next few minutes of the video go through a sort of point by point refutation of common business class, or bourgeoisie arguments against raising the minimum wage in America. Although I would strongly encourage you to actually watch the video, we'll take a brief look at each of them below:

• The argument that minimum wage is for students and retirees, and thus was never meant to be a living wage. Setting aside the fact that this is just straight up not true, Chapman presents a fairly decent moral argument that it is objectively wrong to pay even students and retirees literal poverty wages. What I really would have liked to see here however, is some acknowledgement that relying on students living with their parents, and elderly pensioners to make up their minimum wage workforce, is essentially allowing corporate America to have someone else subsidize their workforce. This would then include a discussion about how this subsidized workforce generates a tremendous amount of downward pressure on wages for labor throughout the entire working class as Second Thought later defines it; as was the case in our previous example regarding child labor, above. Finally, this would allow one to point out that the root problem here, the transformation of labor from something living, breathing people do, into a commodity that has to be traded at the lowest possible price, inextricably links all strata of labor class society; thus (as demonstrated by the very study of the 1966 Fair Labor Standards Act Chapman references multiple times in this video) an increase in the minimum wage is likely to result in increased wages for the entire labor class - an objectively good thing unless you're a member of the exploiter "owner" class.

• The argument that increasing the minimum wage will drastically raise the price of rental housing. This claim is at best highly speculative, and in all likelihood completely unrelated to the topic; as Chapman demonstrates by pointing out the 40% average rental price increase between 2010 and 2020, a period during which the minimum wage didn't rise at all.

• The argument that increasing the minimum wage will drastically raise the price of everyday goods and services; the most common example given is typically a McDonald's "Big Mac" sandwich. JT tears that one to shreds by pointing out McDonald's workers in Denmark make twenty-two dollars an hour (in addition to numerous benefits) and yet the price of a Big Mac in that country is a mere twenty-seven cents more than in America; leading our presenter to ask if twenty-seven cents is really that high a price to pay for human dignity and survival? 

• The argument that raising the minimum wage will result in widespread business closures and economic devastation. On this point, Chapman's rebuttal is quite intricate and really has to be divided into two parts; corporate profits and the cherished American small business. In regards to the former, JT points out that same study of the 1966 Fair Labor Standards Act which indicates that there were literally no business closures as a result of increasing the minimum wage at that time, while also asking viewers to consider the enormous profits American corporations and the rich people who own them have racked up during the global coronavirus crisis. In other words, raising the minimum wage isn't going to cause corporations to become unprofitable and go out of business, but it might keep Jeff Bezos from buying an extra yacht this year; how tragic. As for small business, Chapman points out that if you're unable to turn a profit while paying your workers literally about a third of what the adjusted minimum wage really should be, then your business is making money by exploiting people and thus by the logic of your own free market, you probably shouldn't be in business. He then notes that one method of reducing the (largely hypothetical) burden minimum wage increases create on small business, is to automatically tie the minimum wage to inflation and productivity metrics, producing gradual increases over time - like they do in noted socialist country, um, France. 

• Finally, Chapman notes the absurdity of the argument that raising the minimum wage is bad because it will cause unskilled workers to make more than other low-paid workers like say, teachers, in a country that has no problem spending a trillion or so dollars a year on its military. Ultimately JT concludes that literally all low-paid workers should receive better wages in America and again, given that whole reality that the minimum wage tracked to inflation and worker productivity objectively should be twenty-four dollars an hour - it's pretty hard to disagree with him. 

Now to be clear, all of that does in fact make for an interesting explainer video in its own right; I mean it's certainly a damn sight better than anything they do over at Vox for example. Furthermore, I have to give JT credit for finding a way to put together a video primarily about debunking think tank talking points, without falling into the trap of only reacting to their bullsh*t, and not assailing the "common sense" ideas that underpin this disingenuous, pro-capitalist propaganda. Still, what ultimately makes this video stand out is not our presenter's ability to de-spin a relatively straightforward issue, but the fact that he also articulates a rudimentary vision of American class struggle through the lens of the federal minimum wage. Touching on American hyper-competitiveness, exploitation, and social Darwinism, the piece goes well beyond the minimum wage debate and asks important questions about how we organize work in America, and why, or perhaps rather - for whom? The language is a little off, and one is forced to wonder if JT understands that literally all wage labor under capitalism is exploitation, but in the final analysis, this essay is firmly rooted in basic Marxist ideas about labor and wages, in a way you aren't going to find from more mainstream news outlets. 

All in all, I'd have to describe this video as excellent and Second Thought himself, as a lefty Youtube creator worth watching; I know I subscribed about halfway through the presentation. You can check it out by clicking the header, or watching the embedded video itself, below:

The Minimum Wage Debate Explained

Additional Resources

Second Thought Youtube Channel

JT Chapman Twitter

If Worker Pay Kept Pace With Productivity: $24/hr Minimum Wage

Full-time min wage workers can't afford 2-bedroom rental anywhere in US

$7.25 an hour is not a living wage

It Was Always Supposed To Be A Living Wage

 Study shows taxpayers are subsidizing “starvation wages” at McDonald's, Walmart

Raising the Minimum Wage Would Boost Recovery and Reduce Subsidization

Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 Would Lift Pay for 40 Million

Out of Reach (NLIHC Report)

The affordable housing crisis, explained

McDonald’s Workers in Denmark Pity Us

Minimum Wages and Racial Inequality

This is why raising the minimum wage can help cities to thrive

Minimum wage increases aren’t a job killer

Profits are soaring for large retailers but frontline workers barely earn more

The Rich Got Richer During COVID-19

The gig economy is being fueled by exploitation, not innovation

Research Shows Minimum Wage Increases Do Not Cause Job Loss

America’s Defense Budget Is Bigger Than You Think

Marx on exploitation: an ABC for an unequal world

A Functional Class Framework for Modern Western Leftists

nina illingworth

Independent writer, critic and analyst with a left focus. Please help me fight corporate censorship by sharing my articles with your friends online!

You can find my work at ninaillingworth.com, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

Updates available on Instagram, Mastodon and Facebook. Podcast at “No Fugazi” on Soundcloud.

Inquiries and requests to speak to the manager @ASNinaWrites

Chat with fellow readers online at Anarcho Nina Writes on Discord!

“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”