Is the state, then, the executive committee of the capitalist class? The answer that does justice to the dialectical, i.e., inherently contradictory nature of capitalism as a social formation is that it is, but only to the extent that it is not. If government was entirely captured by capitalist interests it would be unable to protect them from destroying themselves [...] But while capitalism does depend on being saved from itself by a politics that is at least in part responsive to social counter-movements, capitalists cannot act on such dependence, if only because they are always irresistibly tempted to gamble on making a last killing before the casino will go bankrupt. [...]