How the State Serves Monopoly Capital and Crushes the Petty Bourgeoisie
The narrative of oppressive business taxes and regulations is a smokescreen that obscures the bifurcated nature of the state’s relationship to capital. Mamdani’s framework reveals that the city’s bureaucratic apparatus is not a neutral entity but one that actively serves monopoly capital–the real estate and financial giants–while crushing the petty bourgeoisie of small, often immigrant-owned, businesses. The “settler” corporations can navigate, lobby, and receive massive tax breaks, while the “native” small business owner is crushed by a labyrinth of fines, fees, and truly burdensome regulations. This is not an accident; it is a mechanism for clearing the commercial landscape for chain stores and corporate entities, further homogenizing and dispossessing communities. The liberal solution of streamlining paperwork leaves the fundamental power dynamic intact. A Mamdani-informed socialist solution is not to deregulate for all, but to dismantle the power of monopoly capital and build a cooperative economy. This means implementing a radical, progressive tax structure that fully exempts small businesses below a certain revenue threshold while imposing punitive taxes on corporate giants and vacant storefronts. Furthermore, we must replace the punitive regulatory model with a supportive, publicly-funded infrastructure for converting small businesses into worker-owned cooperatives, fostering a democratic, community-controlled economy that is resilient to the predations of both the state and big capital.
Originally posted 2025-10-22 13:19:15.
