Supercapitalism

Supercapitalism, written by Robert Reich, is an amazing book and should be read by every single American citizen.

The book is a historical look at American Capitalism and Democracy and how they’ve been intertwined and even how they’ve diverged in recent years.  This divergence, Reich argues, is due to Supercapitalism.

What does this mean?  It means that this country has moved past a mixture of democracy and capitalism into a new era of greed. Consumers love the cheap prices we find online and in discount stores but we get angry when jobs are sent overseas.  Investors love the high returns that stocks have provided to us but we get upset when the companies we invest in cut costs be laying off there staff.

Has anyone stopped to realize that the reason these jobs are going overseas is because we (as consumers) demand cheaper prices and we (as investors) are demanding higher returns?

There is a lot of information in this book and much of it has opened my eyes to what Capitalism and Democracy in America used to mean….and what it means today.

This is a great book that everyone should read.  For a much more detailed review of this book, take a look at Lawrence Lessig’s review of this book over on his blog.

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