Saving Capitalism: Book Review

Robert Reich, author of Saving Capitalism For the Many, Not the Few, argues that our current democracy is controlled by a group of the very wealthy few. These elites set/control the rules in which a "free market" operates. In his book, he argues that there are five "building blocks" of a free market: property, monopoly, contracts, bankruptcy, and enforcement. Each of these requires human governance and can be used to either promote a fair and civil society OR can be manipulated to benefit a select few. To add, he explains how these powerful wealthy people manipulate the game. These people control the patent laws of pharmaceutical companies, the big budgets of lobbyists and of corporations, as well as, the abuse of bankruptcy laws. These examples are used as evidence that the entire system is controlled by an elite few, as Reich claims.

The most eye-catching ideal held by Mr. Reich was phrased (on page 110 of his book): “So are CEOs worth their pay in any sense other than the senseless tautology equating the compensation packages they receive with their worth? Any objective assessment would conclude they are not.”

Here, the author is challenging us to analyze critically if CEOs are worth the pay that they receive from their respective corporation. Mr. Reich argues that C-Suite professionals do not put in the same amount of work to attain the “American Dream” as the typical blue-collar American worker does in order to fulfill their goal. What's your perspective on this? Do you argue against Mr. Reich's hasty generalization that CEO's aren't worth what they're paid?

A claim that I support of Reichs is his argument that those not in the top 10% (elites) need to ban together to work towards changing the rules of the game in the 90% society's favor. To add, people in these lower socioeconomic classes (of the 90%) need to look past one another's' personal biases. We also need to get past each other's personal hatred for one another (in the cases of differing political sides) in order to benefit our end goal of a true democracy. On page 182 Robert Reich restates his argument on this issue by stating: “If the smaller players understood this dynamic, presumably they would seek to gain greater influence by allying themselves. This alliance, or set of alliances, would form the new countervailing power.” Therefore, if people realized that we need to work together and once we decide to actually do so through reregulating the rules of the game, our power could potentially outplay the sum of all the larger powers in that top 10%!

On page 17-18, Reich states: “Few ideas have more profoundly poisoned the minds of more people than the notion of a “free market” existing somewhere in the universe, into which government “intrudes.” In this view, whatever inequality or insecurity the market generates is assumed to be the natural and inevitable consequence of impersonal “market forces.”” In this statement, Mr. Reich claims that free markets truly aren’t free. Meaning, regardless of your income as a citizen, that depicts how much you are worth in our society. This view gives the example that if you get paid a minimum wage rate, then that’s what you are worth, and vice versa for the most wealthy elites of our country. Therefore, the outcome of market forces makes our financial position “inevitable”.

You may be asking yourself right about now HOW we can take back our control to reclaim a true democracy and save our economy. And WHY we haven't yet done that... After reading this book I was having this thought pattern, as well. As citizens in that 90%, as mentioned earlier, we have been blinded by the elite in their efforts to control the rules of the game by coming up with clever ways to maximize their profits, and therefore, gain economic and political power. They control the “free market” while shaping it to their favor as much as possible. They are taking advantage of us and we are paying the price.

Robert Reich provides his solution to the problems of the top 10% yielding this power and influence through his Documentary Saving Capitalism. He addresses at 58:30 that “The way we get our economy back is really the way we get our democracy back. And that is, getting together and creating institutions that countervail the power of the biggest corporations, biggest banks, and wealthiest people. Citizenship is more than just voting, jury duty, and paying taxes. Citizenship really is participating and engaging and making a ruckus - it’s necessary and is all of our responsibilities. Not just for ourselves but also for our children, grandchildren, that we make this thing work.” To add, once we decide to take back our power and create social change then that will be the time where we, as Americans take action.

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Here's my take on the book: I agree with the author’s point that the free market is NOT free and is just a front held by the most successful, leading, wealthy individuals of our nation because they attain the political and economic power due to being able to create and control the rules of the game by hiding behind their lawyers and legislators in regards to the market mechanism. However, we, as a society, need to take action in calling out the wealthy leaders of our nations corporations and lobbyists to equate our rights to be the same as the elites in an effort to be more of a part of the system (game) by changing the rules (for example, having more financial freedom in terms of bankruptcy, ownership of intellectual property and inventions, etc.). It is unfair for those with political and economic power to be the only ones in control of the political game that we call our democracy (and what they call, a “free market”)!

In conclusion, the main idea of this book was to initiate evaluations about the leading, wealthy few of our society and their, in turn, economic and political power over us. Robert explained that these elite are harnessing their power in favor of themselves and are using the free market as a cover for those who do not want the market mechanism fully exposed. This message is intended as an informational piece to all of us that aren’t classified as the “wealthy” to take a stance and reregulate the rules of the game.