The Real Predator’s Are America’s White-Collar Criminals, Not China

Economist Gary Becker found that everyone, even criminals, was influenced by economic forces such as rational decision-making incentives. Along with the amount of crime determined by the rationality and preferences of would-be criminals, he also found in Criminomics that the economic and social environment created by government oversight and public policies had a major impact. This not only included punishments for different crimes, expenditures spent on police, and opportunities for employment schooling and training programs, but just how harsh laws were when punishing white-collar crimes like money laundering, embezzlement, insider trading, tax-avoidance, and illegal cartels.

Keeping this in mind, some economists think Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s comments at the Detroit Economic Club accusing China of “predatory economics 101” were out of order. So too were his and President Donald Trump’s charges that China was the main perpetrator of America’s economic woes, and it “practiced an unprecedented level of larceny.”(1) Given that the parent of today’s rising poverty and inequality are predatory crimes and theft committed through and on behalf of U.S. corporations, they also wondered where was the outrage? And why were penalties becoming more lenient even as white-collar crimes become more shocking and lethal.

Corporate Predation And Homicide 101
Consider the deaths and accidents that result from events in the workplace. In addition to outnumbering deaths resulting from legally defined murder, they still rank third after heart disease and cancer. One-third of all on-the-job injuries are moreover due to illegal working conditions, with another quarter due to legal but unsafe conditions. Since corporate officials can sometimes purchase the outcome of a dispute or lawsuit, it’s the reason why some economists and sociologists warn that the amount of white-collar crime determined by the rationality preferences is likely to increase-something that always happens during times of rising income inequality.

What’s more, did Nikki Haley, Ambassador to the UN, just display criminal predation as she lashed out at the UN’s report condemning entrenched poverty in America? Calling it “misleading and politically motivated,” she wrote: “It is patently ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America.” But if recent trends are correct, she too is trying to hide a shameful crime. Indeed, 40 million Americans live in poverty while the top 0.1 percent holds as much of the country’s wealth as the bottom 90 percent. And then there’s the average household net worth of whites listed at $110,000, as compared to African Americans at only $5000. Something is terribly wrong, starting with laws and tax codes.

Corporatized Government Cartels
Another example of Predatory Economics 101 was the Trump Administration’s $716 billion dollar gift to the Pentagon so it can continue its wars and endless empire. Not only do millions of Americans lack adequate food and housing, but if it had simply remained the same as 2017, Congress and the president could’ve funded public college for every student in the U.S. and have $12 billion left over.(2) Gary Becker would consequently liken the Pentagon and its armed-to-the-teeth industries to a cartel, either bribing their way towards power or holding a gun to the head of legislators. These kinds of trade-offs to fund war will also brutalize America more than the occasional occurrence of crime.

Insider trading, or insider deals between the revolving door of corporations and the government, is another form of white-collar crime. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is now suspected of ethical violations over a deal with one of the world’s largest oil companies, Halliburton.(3) In addition to Secretary Zinke family’s involvement with a multimillion-dollar project to turn Montana’s wilderness into an oil reserve, he’s also being advised by Halliburton officials on how to change fossil fuel production rules on public lands. If such corporate-government sponsored crime doesn’t constitute as a war against a given society, it certainly does as a war against the environment and wildlife.

Behind Every Fortune Is A Crime
Knowing the risk of being caught doesn’t outweigh the punishment, other corporations opt for breaking a law or committing an illegality. To be sure, some corporate CEO’s understand that the occupational and organizational components of white-collar crimes cannot be easily separated. There are officials who will therefore secure and administer illegal political contributions benefiting the corporation, but then in turn embezzle some of the money for themselves. This recently happened with Apple and Chrysler and several union executives. Obviously, committing white-collar crime in America pays, or there’d be no crime. What’s more, crime may even be behind many of today’s fortunes.

The kind of larceny Secretary Pompeo and President Trump should be worried about is the very lives of children. It’s in fact behind much of the emotional, psychological, and chronic health problems that plague some Americans. The Flint Water Crisis is just one of many examples. Not only did improperly treated water leached lead from Flint’s pipes, but as it exposed a population of 100,000 to toxic metal it was covered up. The result were thousands of children with physical, mental, and learning disabilities and a spike in Legionnaires. Meanwhile, some of the president’s donors who built the detention centers just got a lot richer with his decision to take children from their immigrant parents.

Bottom-Up Carnival Of Crime
At the heart of Gary Becker’s theories and arguments is the idea that there’s a cost attached to something-even if it is a social or emotional cost as opposed to an explicit sum of money. Regarding the U.S.’s economic predation as compared to China’s, the disproportionate amount of criminality by far favors America’s corporations and white-collar criminals. It’s also a price that will be too high to maintain. The white-collar criminals-private or government-that butchers innocence to secure their wealth can only last so long. Even innocence has a limit. Unless there are tougher laws and public policies, America will witness a carnival of crime from below.

Only with this kind of carnival of crime from below, the hunter becomes the hunted.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.

(1) www.detroitnews.com. “Pompeo To Speak at Detroit Economic Club,” by Melissa Nann Burke. June 13, 2018.
(2) www.commondreams.org. “Millions Lack Food, House, and Healthcare, But 38 Democrats Just Joined GOP to Spend $716 Billion on Endless War and Empire,” by Jake Johnson. June 3, 2018.
(3) www.commondreams.org. “Outrageous and Unprecedented: Ethical Violation Alarm Bells Ove Zinke Foundation Deal With Halliburton Head,” by Jessica Corbett. June 10, 2018.