It’s time for another deep dive into the concepts and meaning behind some of our favourite punk songs! So far at Punk Rock Philosophy, we’ve analysed songs by classic punk bands like The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Bad Religion and Lunachicks but for this instalment, we’re setting our sights on a track that is a bit more up to date. Here, we’re going to look at ‘Late Stage Capital’ by New Jersey punk band The Ratchets.
Many political punk classics are timeless, with themes that are stubbornly relevant some 20, 30 or 40 years after they are originally written. But there are some aspects to modern life that are specific to the time and place we’re in now, and with the world increasingly unstable, a new generation of punk bands have their work cut out trying to help us make sense of it all.
The Ratchets brand of punky reggae is articulately topical with songs like ‘News on High’, ‘Swagger With Kindness’ and ‘World Trade Lungs’, all giving a scathing take on the ravages of capitalism and a message of solidarity and kindness to those caught in its trap. But it is their 2024 ska-infused track ‘Late Stage Capital’ that contains within its lyrics a who’s-who and a what’s-what of many of the modern ills that ail us. So with a maelstrom of turmoil, angst and doom swirling around us, it seems the references contained within this track are a good starting point for understanding how things got to this current point. Almost every line in ‘Late Stage Capital’ is reference to yet another contributory factor to the slew of catastrophes currently facing the world.
So without further ado, pop the track on and let’s explore some of the events or ideas that The Ratchets are singing about…
“It Must Be Late Stage, Late Stage, Late Stage Capital”
Let’s start with the concept referenced in the title: ‘Late stage capital’ or ‘Late stage capitalism’. Although sometimes attributed to Karl Marx (as lots of quotes about capitalism often are), the first use of the term late stage capitalism is actually traced back to the early 20th century when used by German social scientist and writer Werner Sombart. Since then several economists or socialists have had their own interpretation of the term including Ernest Mandel who was writing in the 1970s. But it isn’t wrong to connect the concept to Marx who wrote about how systems evolve and change and a belief in the cyclical nature of such systems- i.e. that the history of the world and of society is a series of transitions from one stage to another.
Karl Marx saw capitalism as an inherently unstable system, one defined by a ‘boom and bust’ pattern and due to its constant need to pursue profit, it is also prone to crisis. And transposing this onto modern life and what we see now- the unhinged and exponentially growing wealth gap, the cost of living crisis which is pushing more people further into/towards poverty, global conflicts, wages stagnating, public service collapsing,…..this is seen by many as the furthest capitalism can push people and therefore a break or a collapse of the system is unavoidable. It’s the idea that ‘decadence precedes revolution’.
So are we in the late stages of capitalism? It is hard to argue against the idea when considering the state of things and the future prospects for all of us as workers and human beings. The average CEO pay is now 296 times that of their average worker. In the 1960s and 70s, this figure was 20-30 times. As AI and automation threatens to take over more and more job roles and devalue the skills and labour of the workforce, the modern working class are fighting against irrelevance as well as exploitation. Our safety, health, wellbeing and dignity have never been this precarious. So yeah…maybe something will have to give.
“And now the oceans rising up along the interstate”
The Ratchets include a few references to the environmental impact of the current capitalist system and this reference to the rising sea level is not hyperbole- all data backs up the fact that the rise of sea levels is part of a global emergency.
According to Climate.Gov, in 2023 the global average sea level set a new record high of 101.4mm above 1993 levels. The rate of the rise is accelerating- it has more than doubled from 0.06 inches (1.4 millimeters) per year throughout most of the twentieth century to 0.14 inches (3.6 millimeters) per year from 2006–2015. Research published in February 2022 shows that sea level rise is accelerating and projected to rise by a foot by 2050.
This is important because higher sea levels mean more frequent flooding as storm surges push further and further inland. Disruptive and expensive, nuisance flooding is estimated to be from 300 percent to 900 percent more frequent within U.S. coastal communities than it was just 50 years ago.
The seas are feeling the brunt of climate change- as well as rising sea levels, their temperature is increasing, to the point where a new record was set in 2021. About half of the sea-level rise over the past 25 years is attributable to warmer oceans simply occupying more space. In turn, glaciers melt at a rate that creates an imbalance between runoff and ocean evaporation, causing sea levels to rise. The parts of the world that have historically thought they were impervious to the impact of this will increasingly see that no one will be safe from the effects of a warming planet.
“From the waste lakes of Mongolia where fish won’t swim”
A niche reference to a lake of Mongolia is nestled in the lyrics and could easily be passed over but it’s a useful tool to further explore the lengths we have to go to in order to sustain and develop our levels of profit under capitalism.
In Baotou, Inner Mongolia, a man-made lake acts as a dump for chemical waste from nearby refineries, churning out toxic black sludge into the water. Baotou is home to the factories and mines that supply elements needed to satisfy our thirst for tech. Rare earth minerals are needed for our smartphones and other technology and it’s estimated that the Bayan Obo mines just north of Baotou contain 70% of the world’s reserves. Apparently created by damming a river and flooding what was once farm land, the lake is a ‘tailings pond’: a dumping ground for waste by-products with a constant smell of sulphur in the air.
“When Fannie Mae’s been sleeping with the deficit”
A reference to Fannie Mae is a throwback to the 2008 financial crisis which may seem like ancient history as we step decisively into a new one but this catastrophic global economic event is still having an impact today, not just economically but psychologically.
Fannie Mae is the nickname of the Federal National Mortgage Association in the US. In 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis rendered Fannie Mae illiquid and they had to be taken over by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). They are considered to be a contributory factor to the resulting ‘great depression’ of 2008 which led to a loss of more than 8.7 million jobs (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) which doubled the unemployment rate. Further, U.S. households lost roughly $19 trillion in net worth as the stock market plunged, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In 2008, 3.1 million Americans filed for foreclosure, which was one in every 54 homes- a staggering statistic with a real human toll behind the numbers, a deadly toll in fact. According to a 2014 study by the British Journal of Psychiatry At least 10,000 suicides occurring in the United States, Canada and the European Union over the period 2007-10 are attributable to the Great Recession. For every headline we read about stock crashes and money being taken out of the economy, real people’s lives are collateral damage in the ruthless pursuit of growth and profit.
“Cause the debt to income ratio don’t match your drapes”
Your debt-to-income ratio (DTI) is the total of your monthly debt payments divided by your gross monthly income. DTI is one of many factors lenders consider to determine your eligibility for a loan or a credit card.
In the dystopian world we are in, terms like DTI are part of our everyday lexicon, as we have to consider how we manage our relationship to financial liquidity. The threat of drowning in debt means the preoccupation of keeping our heads above water keeps us distracted and exhausted.
“Of every microbe thawing out under the permafrost / Let’s get recession proof / Way down in bunker rock”
There’s another issue with glaciers and permafrost (ground that is permanently frozen) thawing that goes beyond releasing methane into the atmosphere or rising sea levels. As part of the ESA–NASA Arctic Methane and Permafrost Challenge, new research has revealed that rapidly thawing permafrost in the Arctic has the potential to release antibiotic-resistant bacteria, undiscovered viruses and even radioactive waste from Cold War nuclear reactors and submarines. Oh Joy!
It is no wonder that some people are taking matters into their own hands and preparing for a potential societal collapse. The Doomsday clock is currently set at 89 seconds to midnight, so the preppers industry is growing and by 2030 it is due to reach $2.46bn. A recent New Yorker piece reported that 20 million Americans are actively preparing for “cataclysm”. That’s almost double the figure from 2017, a rise largely due (according to Reuters) to growing interest from left-leaning families, nervous about AI taking over, or natural disasters.
“Should we just go to bed babe?”
It may paint a bleak picture but bringing all of the above concepts together- environmental collapse, economic coercion, debt, exploitation and inequality- highlights that one crisis facing humanity cannot be extricated from the next. All parts of the system both cause and support oppression and injustice and if tracks like this (that also happen to be very catchy) can bring some of these instances to the front of people’s minds then all power to The Ratchets!
You can stream ‘Late Stage Capital‘ HERE and check out more of The Ratchets HERE . You can also check out the Pirate Press Records page HERE.
