Russell A. Whitehouse — The Myth Of Capitalism – Book Review

A complement of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century.

The principal point is that competition is the driver of capitalism as companies strive in the marketplace to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in anticipating and meeting demand. When competition decreases, the engine fails to function as an evolutionary force. This is hardly a new idea. See "What Is Monopoly Capital?" by  John Bellamy Foster and "Monopoly Capitalism" by Paul M. Sweezy. But the authors of The Myth of Capitalism document what is happening with it recently.

This also affects labor and the labor market:

...T&H write, “When workers have fewer employers to choose from in their line of work, their bargaining power disappears. Corporate giants can squeeze their suppliers, but the main thing companies buy is labor, and they have been squeezing workers.” Thus, wages have struggled to keep up with inflation for decades. Benefits are cut, while stock buybacks soar. Unhappy workers in all but 3 states can be shackled to soul-sucking jobs via non-compete clauses. Furthermore, “56% of private sector non-unionized workers are forced into mandatory arbitration and of those, 23% were also denied any access to class-action lawsuits. This means that nearly a quarter of working Americans in the private sector don’t have the basic right to sue their employer.”...

Eurasia Review
The Myth Of Capitalism – Book Review

Russell A. Whitehouse