The System by Robert B. Reich

The System by Robert B. Reich

Author:Robert B. Reich [Reich, Robert B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2020-03-24T00:00:00+00:00


CHAPTER 9

The Power Shift

A SECOND SYSTEMIC CHANGE followed from the first. The move from stakeholder to shareholder capitalism altered the balance of power between corporations and workers. Shareholder capitalism demanded higher profits and higher share prices, and the easiest way to obtain them was to increase the bargaining power of corporations and reduce the bargaining power of workers. This required that antitrust laws be neutered so corporations could become large enough to raise prices and influential enough to obtain legal and regulatory changes to further boost their profits. It also required that unions be busted and the nation’s labor laws be defanged. This would reduce workers’ bargaining power to capture a share of the profits, leaving more for shareholders. As a result, big corporations have grown larger over the last forty years and labor unions weaker. Wages have stagnated and profits have increased. It has been a direct transfer: A steadily larger portion of corporate revenues have been siphoned off into profits and a shrinking portion to wages. A growing share of the total economy, likewise, has gone into profits and a smaller share to wages. The stock market has soared; workers have slumped.



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