Renegade.inc - Rentier Britain: all the rent goes to the 1%

Professor Guy Standing was invited to speak to a group of leading Silicon Valley executives and they listened taking lots of notes. At the end of the speech a famous multi-billionaire got up and said he agreed with him.

Guy Standing explains how the patent system is being abused creating rents for the One Percent and stifling competition.

He also explains how privatisation has failed the public.

There are three fundamental issues that lie at the heart of our current economic malaise: the first is unearned income and wealth from land rent, second the creation of money by privately owned banks, and the third is rent-seeking that is used to juice profits out of intellectual property through copyright and patents.

But the political class, supported by lobbying, continues to avoid addressing these issues. So monopolies grow larger and larger, and as they do, more and more people are excluded from the economy.

To really address the root causes, why don’t we start by calling out the rentier economy as a structural issue that no progressive society can actually afford?

Host Ross Ashcroft is joined by the economist, author and co-founder of Basic Income Earth Network Prof. Guy Standing to discuss rentier capitalism and reclaiming the commons.commons.