The Myth of Capitalism

Chapter SixToll Roads and Robber Barons

I would rather earn 1% off a hundred people's efforts than 100% of my own efforts.

—John D. Rockefeller

Imagine a world where a giant corporation watched your daily habits and knew all your likes, dislikes, who you spoke to, what you bought, whether you paid your bills on time, and what you talked about with friends? What if this company assigned you a higher score and a higher score could get you a better house, a better car, and even a better life.

It all sounds like a Black Mirror episode from Netflix. In a recent episode, a fictional social media platform allowed users to rank one another like people review hotels on TripAdvisor or restaurants on Yelp. The score determined your trustworthiness and your value as a human. The better your ranking, the higher your social class. A low score could cut you off from jobs, goods, and friends.

This dark vision is already a reality in China. On June 14, 2014, the State Council of China published a document called “Planning Outline for the Construction of a Social Credit System.” The title itself sounded boring, but it proposed a revolutionary new tool to monitor and control the population. Everyone in China would have one score that would determine their trustworthiness.¹ Private tech giants are helping the government monitor and rate its 1.3 billion citizens. These credit scores are being used for almost any purpose and track everything users do online, who their friends are and what they ...