The Anti-Capitalist Economics of Post-AI Conservatives

Forbes Editors called this "too political" for businesses, so I'm posting it here.

When considering the local and global fact that inclusion is profitable for business, will we lose half of Americans? For decades, the GOP has championed a brand of laissez-faire capitalism—low taxes, deregulation, and interventionist global trade as the keys to prosperity. But a growing cohort of conservative thinkers is challenging that orthodoxy, urging a pivot toward a populist, pro‑worker isolation, racial community cohesion, and family stability.

At the vanguard of this shift is Oren Cass, the founder and chief economist of the think tank American Compass. Cass argues that the free‑market establishment has prioritized corporate gains and consumer utility at the expense of workers, communities, and long-term societal cohesion. He contends that GDP-centric (gross domestic product) policymaking ignores whether people flourish as producers: holding stable jobs, raising families, and participating in civic life. This is a concept he terms the "working hypothesis."

Cass’s blueprint includes:

• Tariffs and industrial policy: A strategic approach to protect domestic manufacturing, not for protectionism’s sake, but to rebuild industrial capacity and national security.

• Labor empowerment: Encouraging sector-wide bargaining and worker representation on corporate boards to counterbalance financialization.

• Family‑supporting policies: From child tax credits to vocational training, the aim is to reinforce the social institutions that free-market conservatives have long overlooked.

This new brand of conservatism is in my opinion, democratic socialism, but rebranded by race. Cass stresses its difference from left‑wing populism by emphasizing cultural cohesion, national identity, and localism.

In an age of seeming material abundance, the conservative object has moved away from the desperate sentiment of the industrial and agriculture ages. The old metaphor of the “American Pie,” where the goal is always a bigger slice, no longer resonates.

Now, the concern about the pie is whether the people eating around the table are recognizable. This signals a shift from affluence-driven politics to affiliation-driven politics—tribal cohesion, shared values, and social stability are the new battlegrounds. Self-segregation has been a seemingly innate occurrence, even in some of the world’s greatest cities and tribes, but that is different than deliberate exclusion.

Bannon's Crusade Against the AI Tech Oligarchy

An action based parallel to Oren Cass is the White Nationalist activist Steve Bannon who in his NY Times interview with Ross Douthat has launched a full-throated attack on Big Tech, calling them “immoral” “transhumanists” and “oligarchs”. Then he praised Joe Biden’s appointee, Lina Khan, and her Federal Trade Commission’s push against tech monopolies, signaling support for structural reforms. Bannon sees President Trump as a means to:

• Populist Nationalism vs. Tech Globalism: Bannon argues that Silicon Valley operates on a globalist, extraction-driven logic—clashing fundamentally with populist priorities.

• Antitrust as Ideological Warfare: He positions antitrust actions not just as economic regulation but as a broader cultural and political battle against elite overreach .

• Tactical Use of Tech Money: While critical of tech money, Bannon is willing to accept it temporarily—he acknowledges Musk’s financial influence, though he remains wary of its implications for American workers and cultural coherence.

This is a significant shift form the 1980’s Reagan coalition of:  1) Social Conservatives 2) Libertarian Laissez-faire Market Advocates 3) Interventionist Foreign Policy Hawk. We used to call this coalition the Neo Cons.

A Quiet Anti-Capitalism

This new conservative mood is more than a pivot, it is increasingly anti-capitalist in sentiment. It sees large corporations as corrosive to traditional values, exploitative of labor, and too cozy with progressive social causes. To many populist conservatives, the corporate pursuit of efficiency and growth appears untethered from loyalty to their community. Instead of seeing business as a force for prosperity, they see it as a threat to cultural sovereignty.

The language of “economic nationalism” is often cloaked in traditionalist rhetoric, but conservatives are questioning whether capitalism; unbound and globalized, is compatible with their vision of the good life.

This poses a stark dilemma for businesses committed to growth, innovation, and consumption.

What Businesses Must Do If They Want to Distribute the Pie

If corporate leaders want to preserve a pro-growth, pro-production economy, they must confront this cultural backlash head-on. Here’s how:

1. Rebrand the Working Class as the Stakeholder Class: Businesses must lead communications that tell people about their tangible value, and how their personal and collective data is the input that produces productive labor.

2. Reclaim Local Legitimacy: Businesses must re-establish themselves as local stakeholders, not just global actors. That means investing in communities where they operate, through workforce development  infrastructure and civic partnerships, not just philanthropic tokenism.

3. Redefine Productivity in Human Terms: Companies should stop treating labor as a cost to be minimized and instead emphasize their role in offering dignified, stable, and upwardly mobile work. If workers feel like replaceable inputs, anti-corporate populism will keep rising.

4. Make Abundance Ethical Again: Businesses need a new story for consumption, one that connects material goods to social well-being, sustainability, and cultural meaning. That may mean shifting from endless novelty to long-lasting value and narrative branding around “productive” lifestyles.

5. Be Transparent About AI and Automation: In the era of artificial intelligence, corporate secrecy around job displacement and value extraction only breeds distrust. Clear, responsible automation strategies and retraining commitments are essential.

6. Advocate for Economic Democracy, Not Just Market Freedom: Rather than resisting all regulation or labor reforms, businesses can support new models of stakeholder governance, employee ownership, or regional industrial strategy that align capital distribution activity that has collective benefit.

In a world of algorithmic decision-making and instant gratification, many on the right are asking the same question that the left has for generations: what is all this wealth for, and who does it really serve?

As they’ve shown a sense of entitlement and expectation that can end violently, businesses may finally have enough incentive to better distribute the ingredients to the pie in order to subdue a food fight. Because in today’s political economy, it’s not just about how much pie you can make. It’s about whether people trust the bakery.