I lay out the following hypothesis: that government is the primary cause of the capital concentration that Marx blamed on capitalism. I aim to test this by studying the facts of the present day and of history, so this hypothesis may turn out to be wrong or in need of modification, according to the evidence presented. I also make the following corollary claims:
The hypothesis holds for the United States government of the present day and all similar mixed-market representative democracies.
The hypothesis also holds for governments of all types, past and present.
It is not private property, but the violation of private property, that causes the highest capital concentration.
The regimes implementing Marx’s Communist Manifesto increased the concentration of capital.
