2016
First Published
4.12
Average Rating
368
Number of Pages
"In this thoughtful book, Guy Standing focuses on the central problem of modern capitalism―the tendency of great wealth to transform itself into political power that corrupts the political process and generates laws and regulations favouring the wealthy―and suggests useful and important solutions."―Robert Reich, US Labor Secretary 1993-1997 There is a lie at the heart of global capitalism. Politicians, financiers, and global bureaucrats claim to believe in free, competitive markets, but have constructed the most unfree market system ever made. It is corrupt because income is channelled to the owners of property―financial, physical and intellectual―at the expense of society. This book reveals how global capitalism is rigged in favour of rentiers to the detriment of all of us, especially the precariat. A plutocracy and elite enriches itself, not through production of goods and services, but through ownership of assets, including intellectual property, aided by subsidies, tax breaks, debt mechanisms, revolving doors between politics and business, and the privatization of public services. Rentier capitalism is entrenched by the corruption of democracy, manipulated by the plutocracy and an elite-dominated media. The Corruption of Capitalism argues that rentier capitalism is fostering revolt, and concludes by outlining a new income distribution system that would achieve the extinction of the rentier while promoting sustainable growth. Guy Standing is a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is currently co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network.
Avg Rating
4.12
Number of Ratings
186
5 STARS
41%
4 STARS
38%
3 STARS
15%
2 STARS
5%
1 STARS
2%
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Author
Guy Standing
Author · 8 books
Guy Standing is a British professor of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and co-founder of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). Standing has written widely in the areas of labour economics, labour market policy, unemployment, labour market flexibility, structural adjustment policies and social protection. His recent work has concerned the emerging precariat class and the need to move towards unconditional basic income and deliberative democracy.
