Vulture Capitalism
Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom
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4.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2025 Ellen Meiksins Wood Prize
In the vein of The Shock Doctrine and Evil Geniuses, this timely and “galvanizing” (Naomi Klein, New York Times bestselling author) manifesto illustrates how corporate and political power brokers have used capitalism to advance their own interests at the expense of the rest of us—and how we can take back our economy.
It’s easy to look at the state of the world around us and feel hopeless. We live in an era marked by war, climate crisis, political polarization, and acute inequality—and yet many of us feel powerless to do anything about these profound issues. We’ve been assured that unfettered capitalism is necessary to ensure our freedom and prosperity but why, in our age of unchecked corporate power, are most of us living paycheck to paycheck? When the economy falters, why do governments bail out corporations and shareholders but leave everyday people in the dust?
Now, acclaimed journalist and progressive star on the rise Grace Blakeley exposes the corrupt system that is failing all around us, pulling back the curtain on the free-market mythology we have been sold. She also clearly illustrates how, as corporate interests have taken hold, governments have historically been shifting away from competition and democracy towards monopoly and oligarchy.
Tracing over a century of neoliberal planning and backdoor bailouts, Blakeley takes us on a deeply reported tour of the corporate crimes, political maneuvering, and economic manipulation that elites have used to enshrine a global system of “vulture capitalism”—planned capitalist economies that benefit corporations and the uber-wealthy at the expense of the rest of us.
As “the sort of book that will help us make a better world” (Rob Delaney, New York Times bestselling author), Vulture Capitalism exposes the cracks already emerging within capitalism, lighting a path forward for how we can democratize our economy, not just our politics, to ensure true freedom for all.
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"There is a deep contradiction between the belief that we are free and the reality of living under capitalism," according to this fiery treatise. Blakeley (The Corona Crash), a staff writer at Tribune magazine, argues that contrary to free market doctrine, capitalist economies rely on planning by bankers, large companies, and states. The capitalist imperative of constant growth leads big businesses to become monopolies that wield their power to circumvent market dynamics, Blakeley contends, noting how Amazon artificially depresses workers' wages by dominating regional economies in which residents have few other employment options. Successful businesses can even rival state power, as when in the early 1900s the United Fruit Company, whose banana plantations were based in Guatemala, assumed control of the country's postal service and propped up the presidential candidacy of autocrat Jorge Ubico, who "handed over tracts of land to the UFC" once in power. Blakeley makes a persuasive case that "corporations are political institutions" unaccountable to the employees, customers, and community members most affected by their decisions, and she details fascinating experiments that show what alternatives might look like (in the 1980s, a small Andalusian village won collective control of local land and continue to make decisions as a group about how to use it and what to do with the profits it generates). Impassioned and provocative, this will challenge readers' understanding of the fundamental forces that govern economic markets.
Customer Reviews
A Modern Gem
Very well organized and supported thoughts! A must read for anyone who desires to articulate the true system of capitalism and how to move away from it.