Home and Away | World Cup expansion is no more than a money-grabbing affront to the senses
Fifa president Gianni Infantino says it’s all about development but rest assured it is capitalism at its worst
Capitalism is concerned with just one thing: profit. Nothing new here, of course. If it so happens that in its pursuit of this net gain, capitalism delivers something you need and adds a little customer care and satisfaction along the way, then all well and good.
But not for a moment should we think that the system under which most of the planet now exists seeks anything other than taking your money from you, be it when buying survival essentials such as food, shelter and health, or the little luxuries in life like a Prada man-bag or a Lear jet.
Let us be in no doubt that capitalism will always gain the upper hand in its clear-cut take-it or leave-it, non-negotiable deal.
This brutality we wearily accept. Capitalism is ugly, unfair and has no room for sentiment. Yet since the end of feudalism, it has dominated and remains unchallenged as humankind’s pre-eminent economic doctrine because all the other offers are even worse.
But bare-faced lying is one indiscretion we will never except from our corporate masters. So when Fifa members announced this week the expansion of the World Cup to 40-plus teams, it wasn’t the revelation the competition would become so diluted with endless dull games decided by a penalty shootout that rankled.
