Greatest threat to the U.S. Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction

Must read book about what is really damaging the United State's economy. Thanks to Reagan and Clinton, all anti-monopoly laws were removed or any remaining were not enforced.

Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction By Barry C. Lynn

Editorial Reviews

"Sometimes the evidence of economic disaster is right in front of your eyes, but you can't see how all the pieces fit together. Then a book comes along to explain things, and suddenly everything meshes. Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction is that kind of a book." (huffingtonpost.com, February 11, 2010)

Product Description

Regular Harper's and Financial Times contributor Barry C. Lynn paints a genuinely alarming picture: most of our public debates about globalization, competitiveness, creative destruction, and risky finance are nothing more than a cover for the widespread consolidation of power in nearly every imaginable sector of the American economy.

Cornered strips the camouflage from the secret world of twenty-first-century monopolies"neofeudalist empires whose sheer size, vast resources, and immense political power enable them to control virtually every major industry in America in an increasingly authoritarian manner. He reveals how these massive juggernauts, which would have been illegal just thirty years ago, came into being, how they have destroyed or devoured their competition, and how they collude with one another to maintain their power and create the illusion of open, competitive markets.

The Obama administration has promised more aggressive enforcement on antitrust issues, but Lynn argues that they are missing the forest for the trees. For decades, the federal government has encouraged companies to buy one another up, outsource all their production, and make their profits by leveraging their market share. It will take more than a lawsuit or two to overthrow America's corporatist oligarchy and restore a model of capitalism that protects our rights as property holders and citizens.

Includes stories of real people and real industries that show how monopolies threaten independent businesses, squelch innovation, degrade the quality and safety of products, destabilize vital industrial and financial systems, and destroy the fabric of democracy

Avoids the partisan cant that has poisoned virtually every important American debate in recent years

Demonstrates how the drive for always lower prices, makes your job disappear, puts your small business out of business, and turns dreams of entrepreneurial success into impossible fantasies

Lynn is one of the vital new voices of his generation, and his work has been compared already to John Kenneth Galbraith and Peter Drucker. The Washington Post called Lynn's last book"on globalization""Tom Friedman for grownups." Cornered is essential reading for anyone who cares about America and its future.

Barry Lynn's biography:

In his first book - End of the Line (2005) - Barry wrote a pathbreaking study of industrial systems made "Too Big to Fail" and of the dangers of overly extreme interdependence among nations. The Washington Post called End of the Line "Tom Friedman for grown-ups" and Ha Joon Chang compared that work to the writings of John Kenneth Galbraith. In Cornered, Barry takes an explosive look at how financiers use their powers in ways that destroy jobs, crush independent businesses, hobble innovation, degrade safety, harm our environment, and, most dangerous of all, threaten the political foundations of our democratic republic. Barry is director of the Markets, Enterprise, and Resiliency Project, and a senior fellow, at the New America Foundation. He has presented his work to high officials in Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Taiwan, and the European Commission, as well as the White House and U.S. Treasury.