Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

by Robert B. Reich

Economic dominance feeds political power, and political power further enlarges economic dominance. To an ever-growing extent, large corporations and the wealthy influence the political institutions whose decisions organize the market, and they benefit most from those decisions. This enhances their wealth and thereby their capacity to exert more influence over such decisions in the future. What I have described is not the same as corruption. Few if any public officials in the United States solicit or receive direct bribes. The seduction is more subtle. It is simply easier for officials to choose a path that’s been carefully laid out for them by lobbyists, paid experts, and smart and experienced lawyers than to strike out on their own through territory often regarded by the establishment as menacing. The lures of campaign contributions and well-paying jobs after government service only make the preferred path more enticing. Widening inequality of wealth and income, then, is not due solely to globalization and technological changes that reward the very well educated and well connected while punishing those without these advantages. Nor is it due mainly to successful lobbying by corporate and wealthy elites for lower taxes, wider loopholes, and more generous government subsidies. As I have noted, government taxes and subsidies constitute a small part of the overall picture. Rather, widening inequality has become baked into the building blocks of the “free market” itself. Even ...