The Authority of the Lady of the House
After all, capital was driven by profit, accumulation, and expansion. Expanding at low cost while earning high returns and even a fine reputation...
Was there anything more thrilling than pulling off a sophisticated move like that and reaping enormous rewards?
What capitalist wouldn't want a piece of that action?
Capital operated at different levels.
At the bottom were those who squeezed their employees through pointless exertion, gloated over gains they only imagined they had made, and eventually ran themselves into bankruptcy. They hardly warranted discussion.
Using capital to swallow up and plunder others by force, taking every last bit of profit to keep expanding, was hardly difficult either. All it took was money.
The triangular trade, shipping slaves, picking cotton—capital had spent centuries swallowing up and plundering the fruits of labor and the means of production. Those were old tricks.
Blasting a mosquito with a cannon at point-blank range took no skill.
What did take skill was what Fujino did: quietly taking control of the means of production while the frog sat in water that was slowly coming to a boil.
If outright plunder yielded a hundred percent profit, Fujino's approach yielded at least that much.
Granted, exploiting someone's misfortune this way came with strict conditions. The owner of the means of production had to be in crisis, and the capitalist had to appear as a benevolent savior.
But that was exactly when it was time to show off!
The other party had to fall into crisis, right?
Then why not rig the game yourself, lure them in, and ruin them?
Don't worry about where the crisis came from!
The question was whether I helped you. Shouldn't you be grateful to me?
Turning what belonged to you into mine with a smile,