Yes, my policy will close down your business.

Even though ‘-maxxing’ is thoroughly uncool to use, I want to take a moment to consider why maxxing had such cultural weight and folded so naturally into the vernacular of even those who don’t smash the bones in their face with a hammer. It of course comes from looks-maxxing, a process of extreme physical transformation, and abuse, to maximize perceived physical attractiveness by any means possible, disregarding any consequences to; their own well-being, the potential side effect of any drug used, or the extreme diets followed. In contrast to the ‘wellness-world’--a term reserved for those who are so fastidious in their avoidance of ‘unnatural substances’; looksmaxxing actively harms the body in order to increase what the ‘looks-maxxer’ deems as physically attractive. The logic of the looks-maxxer follows that any negative effects from this process are offset by the immense physical and especially social gains that are earned. At its most extreme, the looks-maxxing influencer Clavicular advocated for taking out student loans and misusing the funds for plastic surgery as well as insinuating that he would be able to evade legal trouble using his good looks, or ‘mogging’(1). Although surely the spectacle of the streamer’s behavior attracted initial attention, there is a deeper economic and cultural reason for its memetic spread. ‘-maxxing’ was so easily applied to other spheres of life, with  relaxation being transformed into comfy-maxxing, an extreme pursuit of comfort(2).  I would argue that this is because maxxing reflects a neoliberal tendency towards utility maximization above all, regardless of ethical or moral side effects. When Margaret Thatcher declared that ‘there’s no such thing as society’, she gave license to private entities to toss aside regulations that protected us from our own worst impulses and do whatever it would take to enclose every sphere of life into private property. Since the late 70’s, economic performance has been put forth as the ultimate goal of our government, and side effects be damned, we have doggedly pursued this goal. These drastic measures have reverberated into our behavior as citizens. Productivity is elevated to the highest goal of human achievement, and young upstarts push themselves past the breaking point in order to keep up. We are expected to design our lifestyles around earning money, and are scolded for even the most mild of indulgences, like buying a salad for lunch(3). All of this takes place while we train machines to further deskill and devalue the work we do. Out of this, a few individuals and corporations (who are legally individuals as well) have ascended to levels of wealth previously unseen in human history. However, just like the looks-maxxer, a thin veneer of beauty hides rot and decay that must be treated as quickly as possible. 

If you have even a cursory education in economics, you understand that businesses offer products to consumers who vote with their wallet, choosing the product that satisfies their needs at the lowest possible cost. Companies that innovate to provide a better, cheaper product are then rewarded by the market and rise to the top. For example, although there were certainly automobiles before Ford, their innovations resulted in a product so much better than the horse and buggy that it essentially made no economic sense to keep riding your horse. We all ditched the horses and now we drive cars(4). Since the industrial revolution, there have been lots of innovations that have made our lives better or more convenient. However, one gets the feeling looking around now that something is amiss that simple economics won't help us to understand.

Elon Musk is a man who maybe best exemplifies the maxxing economy. On June 12th Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched into the market in the largest IPO in history, This made Musk the world's first Trillionaire(5). One small problem: the company isn’t even close to profitable(6). As SpaceX expands its mission to provide internet, manning space missions and building AI data centers on the moon, they are hemorrhaging more money year over year. Due to Musk’s erratic behavior, there is no distinct plan to turn the ship around(7,8). And did I mention that Musk was able to merge SpaceX with xAI (maker of the infamous Grok chatbot) to form the most valuable private company ever in the run up to this years’ IPO?(9) I’m not an expert but this sounds kinda like bullshit to me. Good luck trying to investigate him though, he operates in complete opacity and makes massive business decisions on a whim. Musk’s companies overall offer shitty or unneeded products that underperform while gaming the stock market and taking advantage of the regulatory vacuum created by Trump. Musk’s sole goal in life, even though he claims it to be colonizing Mars, is to make the number go up. He wants to hoard more and more wealth in hopes that someone, anyone, will like him. Unfortunately for him, no one likes him. While he was in charge of the short-lived Epstein files distraction DOGE, the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ he tried to apply the maxxing mindset to government spending. Him and his band of Zyn-sucking lost boys went on an absolute rampage, cutting medical trials, foreign aid, and anything they thought was too gay to be a part of Trump’s America. The result? Government spending went up(10). Although you may consider Musk a rogue actor, now that his SpaceX is one of the most valuable companies ever and he the richest man, his fellow bourgeois competitors have no choice but to follow in his lead. The extreme deregulatory environment that they exist in means that they are bound to the rules of business solely by the morals and ethical compass that these people all lack. Musk now sets the bar for other companies to reach, which puts other “ethical” capitalists, like Claude’s Dario Amodei, in a tough position: offer a more ethical product and lose, or amp up the bullshit and compete. 

We, as victims, participants, and perpetrators, are also forced to compete among each other for the crumbs offered to us. Productivity is the goal, and we are expected to warp our lives to create shareholder value. Sleep, diet, exercise, medication, food, fashion, media, childbirth and care, jerking off and basically every other facet of human life that is to be enjoyed has been streamlined so that we can get back to work. And even with the massive growth in productivity, it just isn't enough for the bourgeoisie(11). Politically, extreme scarcity has exacerbated the country's fascistic tendencies as we are told to blame migrants and trannies(12) for global supply chain issues. For as much as they need our productivity now, our longevity as their pesky underlings  is not of their concern, as they plan to replace us with AI as soon as they’re able. They don’t need customers, they don’t need employees, they just need more meat to feed into the grinder. 

If the economy makes no sense to you, you’re not alone. Although capitalists would like to believe that the invisible hand of the market will guide us–we’re really just getting fucked. To put it simply, the rules have been suspended and a small group of people have stolen all of our wealth, especially post-2008(13). That’s why, in the wake of Zohran’s election, we need to ignore liberal voices who warn us of the loss of business and flight of billionaires. I disregard those who say that a minimum wage hike will raise prices, because the wage is still low and prices are sky high. I disregard the fearmongering around mass unemployment at a time when most individuals have bullshit jobs that they hate. We need an extreme response to an extreme problem. We need someone who can say: ‘Yes, my policy will close down your business.”