The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power

In synopsis of Marx, capitalism--whereupon he provides multifarious, multitudinous, and incontrovertible evidence--negates ourselves (qua, humanity). Succinctly: "Capitalism Kills." Ergo, it's our responsibility--qua, humans--to "negate the negation" (i.e., supercede capitalism previous to its terminating ourselves).

This brief volume calls capitalism to account on multiple fronts; while capitalism is a death warrant , Prof. Chomsky--in seasoned, left-veteran fashion--whineth not. The anti-capitalist facts (however ugly) are presented in clear, straightforward style. An early chapter concludes: "It can be done."

A la Marx--or any thinking person, for that matter--Chomsky is a true advocate of democracy. Capitalism, axiomatically, has perverted the essence of democracy--yet democracy remains. Hence, it is incumbent upon we, the people of this planet, to eradicate the metastasised capitalist cancer.

In summary, Chomsky's latest--brief and readable--admirably illustrates the wanton and execrable odiousness of this unwarrantable, stultifying "poor man's paradigm" of lethal pathogenicity that goes by "capitalism."

Noam Chomsky's analysis of the causes of the destruction of The American Dream is thorough and well grounded by his research. He puts words and understanding to the incomplete thoughts that roam through our brains looking for expression and understanding.

I don't believe that The American Dream ever existed in the real world. The power brokers in America have used the mythology of the Dream and the purity of our motives to confuse us and keep us arguing amongst ourselves while they pursue their minority ambitions at the expense of majority's well being. How many have suffered and died at their hands.

Its Chomsky at his best I got yesterday and hadn t time to read just the wo first chapters but thet are a class in US sociology besides being master classes each of them. If they weren't Chomsky's I would use them in my classes

Its Chomsky at his best I got yesterday and hadn t time to read just the wo first chapters but thet are a class in US sociology besides being master classes each of them. If they weren't Chomsky's I would use them in my classes

Book is excellent. Audible audio recording is terrible- the reader frequently substitutes words that change the meaning (was for is, etc.). In fact there is such a substitution in the very first sentence of the forward note (subjectively for objectively). Clearly, no review was done of the Audible recording.

The best response to the horrors of America’s neo-liberal dystopia is to leave the USA, which I did fifty years ago. You can read my story in my book What Rough Beast by Robert Dole, published by Austin Macauley in London in 2017.

This is a spot on review of our current political/cultural shift. Chomsky still earns the title of leading intellectual of our time. Clear and concise and easy to read but maybe hard to hear... classic Chomsky.

This book contains the stuff of nightmares. Literally, it kept me awake before bed, because it's so awful to be shown how you (and by "you" I mean the 99.5%) have been boondoggled, taken advantage of, and left to suffer by the wealthy and powerful (to a varying degree, of course; I recognize that I have still a great deal more privilege than many).

The book is short and incredibly easy to read. In fact, his writing is almost annoyingly conversational, complete with the kind of syntax you should only get away with in a speech. That said, he prints his primary sources right in there on the green pages after each chapter; no need to scour a bibliography. If you read only the white pages (ahem), you can probably finish it faster than you could watch the movie.

Republican leaders do not fare well in his analysis, but don't be afraid to read this if you're a conservative today. Unless you're making 7 figures, he doesn't blame you for how we got here. "Today's [mainstream] Democrats are pretty much what used to be called moderate Repulicans..." "...[T]he spectrum has shifted so far to the right that what the population wants, and what was once mainstream, now looks radical and extremist."

Anyone who's not super-wealthy, whether right or left, will feel both understood and ashamed. (The ultra-wealthy who perpetrate these schemes, mostly knowingly, I don't think can feel shame, or they couldn't do what they do.) Most of the scathing criticism is for the rich who are bankrolling the politicians -- the equivalent of Jesus calling out the Pharisees.

I kept waiting for the big chapter 11: What Do We Do About This. But there isn't one. The only answers are bits of advice and tidbits of regret, sprinkled throughout, that amount to this: GET WOKE. Organize. Be active. In other words... RESIST. But not just "resist Trump"; that's falling for the divisions they want you to believe in. Resist the ultra-wealthy people who want to hold power at your expense.

Could it be that the election of Trump needed to happen -- something so dramatic and extreme needed to happen -- so that the people would band together and take back some of their rights? But how do we do that when the rich have so effectively pitted us against one another, while they sit back and profit from our suffering? The answer is that we have to all "get woke" together, we must have our eyes opened to how the financial system intentionally makes us dependent and insecure. Then we must focus on solidarity (our similarities) rather than our differences.

Chomsky begins by remembering his parent's life back in the Great Depression. His father, a recent immigrant, was able to begin with work in a Baltimore sweatshop and eventually earn a PhD. That illustration of the American Dream isn't true anymore - social mobility is now lower here than in Europe. For most of the population, real incomes have almost stagnated for over 30 years.

Concentration of wealth has brought concentration of power, skyrocketing costs of election, and political parties/candidates becoming more deeply indebted to major corporations and individual contributors. Fiscal and tax policy, deregulation, rules of corporate governance then follow - further increasing the concentration of wealth and power, and the vicious cycle/vile maxim described by Adam Smith continues. ("All for ourselves and nothing for anyone else.")

Principle #1: Reduce Democracy. Throughout American history there's been an ongoing clash between pressure for more freedom and democracy from below, and efforts at elite control and domination from above. Designers of the Constitution (eg. James Madison, credited as 'the Father of the Constitution') felt that power should rest in the hands of the wealthy, a more responsible set of men who also have the public interest at heart. Thus, most power was placed in the Senate - picked in those days by legislatures and given long terms. The executive, our president, was more of an administrator in those days, with some responsibility for foreign policy and other matters.

Madison also said that the major concern of any decent society had to be to 'protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.' Otherwise, the poor would take away the property of the rich and break up agricultural estates. By the 1790s, the successes of some stock-flippers caused him to regret some of those provisions. Jefferson took the opposite view - contending the population should be the repository of decision-making.

The debate goes back to Aristotle's 'Politics' that concluded that democracy is the best political system, but also saw the same flaws Madison identified. In both Aristotle's and Jefferson's times, it was limited to men, and also excluded slaves. Madison's solution was to reduce democracy, Aristotle's was to reduce inequality via a welfare state.

In the early days of the U.S. Americans got richer by decimating the indigenous population and massive slavery of another segment. Today it's become more by exploiting labor.

Chomsky also asserts that conflicting views on how the new society should be organized helped foment the American Revolution. By 1770 British justices (eg. Lord Mansfield) were declaring slavery to be an obscenity that couldn't be tolerated --> a major motivation for those states' supporting the revolution - Virginia being the most powerful.

Principle #2: Shape Ideology. The '1971 Powell Memorandum' (sent to the Chamber of Commerce) said that the capitalist class was the most persecuted class in America. Raving leftists (Nader, the media, the churches, the universities) were taking over - economic power must beat back this developing 'excess of democracy.' The Trilateral Commission (1975) argued that the media are out of control - government controls may be needed. Then there was renewed commitment to the idea of equality on the part of intellectuals, emergence of 'public interest' lobbying groups, increased concern for the rights of and opportunities for minorities and women, environmental issues, rising levels of self-consciousness on the part of blacks, Indians, Chicanos, students, women, white ethnic groups.

Principle #3: Redesign the Economy. Back in the 1950s and for many years prior, the U.S. economy was largely based on production. There was very little currency speculation - the IMF supported government controls on the export of capital. Since the 1970s, there's been a concerted effort on the part of the owners of society to increase the role of financial institutions, banks, investment firms - by 2007 they had 40% of corporate profits, far exceeding anything in the past. (10% in 1980) Meanwhile, profits on industrial production were declining.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, heads of major U.S. corporations were likely to be engineers. That has changed - they're more likely to have come out of business schools, there's less loyalty to the firm and more to oneself, and short-term perspectives often dominate. There's also been a conscious decision to hollow out U.S. production capacity - substantially weakening the relative strength of American workers vs. capital/management.

Principle #4: Shift the Burden. In the 1960s and '60s, the lowest fifth of the population was improving about as much as the upper fifth. Taxes on the wealthy were far higher, as were corporate taxes as well. Now the shift is toward reducing taxes for those quite wealthy. There isn't any evidence that this has increased investment and jobs - that requires increased demand.

Principle #5: Attack Solidarity. From the point of the masters, you're only supposed to care about yourself, not about other people. Social Security is based on the principal of solidarity - caring for others. The public education system, K to higher education, is under attack. Most funding for the state colleges now comes from tuition, not from the state. Thus, students from non-wealthy families leave college with big debts. We have the only healthcare system in the advanced world that is based overwhelmingly on unregulated private health care - the result is that it is extremely inefficient and very costly. Chomsky also believes the U.S. is the only country in which the government is not permitted to negotiate drug prices. (The V.A. is an exception.)

Principle #6: Run the Regulators. The history of regulation is that, sooner or later, it becomes dominated by the entities regulated. (In addition, there's also their 'self-regulation' via extensive lobbying ($2.6 billion, more than the cost of operating the House and Senate). Also bailouts - Continental Illinois - 1984, the S&L Crisis, the Lockheed + Harley-Davidson + Chrysler loans, and the Great Recession - 2008. Sometimes those appointed to clean up the mess were those who created it - eg. Robert Rubin/Goldman Sachs.

Principle #7: Engineer Elections. Emphasizes the Supreme Court 2009 decision that allows corporations unlimited ability to donate to favored candidates.

Principle #8: Keep the Rabble in Line. Attack unions and organized labor because they are democratizing forces. This is effectively accomplished now through off-shoring, sending more jobs to Mexico, and massive illegal immigration.

Principle #9: Manufacture Consent. Massive PR expenditures today support any candidate and most any position, doing its best to make it sound beneficial to all. Cigarettes, anti-car safety and fuel-economy requirements, ignoring Global Warming, blocking research on the public health effects of widespread guns among the population, unfettered pricing by healthcare providers - even though America's healthcare is the most expensive in the world (but only middling in outcomes).

Principle #10: Marginalize the Population.

I’ve read almost every book Chomsky has written and this was one of his best. Usually his style with political books is similar to his style with books on science and philosophy: very detailed, rigorous arguments with extensive examples and references. The rigor is still here in this book but I think he deliberately tried to make this more accessible and he succeeded. I expected the book to be depressing because let’s face it our current situation is in many ways terrible. But I found this book to be inspired rather than depressing. He lays out what is wrong with our current system in language that is clear and understandable yet in language that would be virtually impossible to express in our main stream media. I borrowed this book from the library but I’m going to purchase it and purchase copies to give to friends. Read this book! And then act on it! As Chomsky says cynicism is one of our greatest obstacles and the cynicism is consciously generated by those who are willing and able to destroy the planet in the name of maximizing their greed.

Easily one of the best and most important political books published recently. It's written in a very straightforward style and includes excerpts from various sources that are equally readable. (This is not the case with all of Chomsky's books; this one is the most readable of them all.) Like Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-first Century, Chomsky is arguing that our current political system benefits the rich and hurts the poor over the long run. Chomsky doesn't make his case at the granular level, he paints with a broad brush and doesn't get bogged down with the details. However, unlike so many political books Chomsky does not talk down to his audience. A ninth-grader might (and certainly should) read this but at the same time people Chomsky's age will find much to chew on. Chomsky wisely avoids engaging the highly-charged political rhetoric of, say, the recent presidential campaign. Sure, he's a lefty but he's appealing to everyone with a bit of common sense here . . . we _all_ agree that the American Dream was a good thing and we _all_ agree that there's less of it now so what went wrong and how can we fix it. No doubt this book will be denounced by Fox News and Co. but that's probably more a sign of the uneasy relationship movement conservatives have with the American Dream than an indication that Chomsky is wrong.

I love how this book is filed under "radical political thought". the store's little way of saying "these ideas are wacky, don't take them very seriously." It's a testament to the success of corporate propaganda over the years that if you go up to an average American on the street--ask them what is economic liberalism, they will have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Despite the fact that radical neoliberalism is why they have no health insurance and can't buy a home, have to weather insane financial crises and have no job security. Wake the f#%k up America!!!

Great book. Definitely is on point. Prose writing that gets you to the depth of what is going on. I find myself reading this book over and over. Can't get enough of it. It's not propaganda or slanted on political points. It's fact based.

Nothing new. Those whose already worship at the altar of class warfare reinforced their view & got their own egos stroked. Those that hold an opposing view wouldn't touch this topic or Chomsky with a 10 ft pole.

Just finished reading it a fairly short read and to the point. I would recommend any one to read this as a great civics lesson. Behind the real reasons they get elected! Hint it;s not the general population that get them there. It's big money and crooked deals!

Mr. Chomsky my father would like to invite you to dinner in the small town where he was born outside of Rome, Italy at our family estate. He is a big fan and loved your new book! He is currently retired and spends his summers in Italy where he was born.

The best response to the horrors of America’s neo-liberal dystopia is to leave the USA, which I did fifty years ago. You can read my story in my book What Rough Beast by Robert Dole, published by Austin Macauley in London in 2017.

First of all, I would like to thank the publisher for excellent quality book. The pleasure to hold it, turn the pages, the pleasure to look at illustrations. The font is very good and comfortable for reading. Thanks

I bought this book to prepare for a later screening of the movie. The book is partly transcribed from the movie, but it also contains notes and quotes and a bibliography. I read a few of the excerpted articles in full, starting with the 1970 memo by Lewis Powell. In every case, the book's context for the quoted excerpt is faithful to the full article. This mark of good scholarship increases the power of the book's messages, and makes me think this book (and the movie) are worth my time, unlike the plethora of blowhards out there. As in the 1950's and 1920's and before, democracy has reached a low ebb, and our country is not working for most of us, and populists are scoring by turning us against each other. This book is among the essential primers for action. I hope it reaches classrooms.

Noam Chomsky’s Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth and Power, based on a “seminar” film of the same title, provides additional material not included in the film and is for the most part a compelling and provocative read.

Unlike his corporate detractors and their purchased government patsies, who hedge with language just as they hedge with money, Chomsky does not mince words. An example of his sure, direct aim: “By the 1980s, say, General Electric would make more profit playing games with money than it could by producing in the United States. You have to remember that General Electric is substantially a financial institution today. It makes half its profits just by moving money around in complicated ways. It’s very unclear that they’re doing anything that’s of value to the economy. So what happened was a sharp increase in the role of finance in the economy, and a corresponding decline in domestic production. That’s one phenomenon, what’s called “financialization” of the economy. Going along with that is the offshoring of production.” An additional disturbing factor, of course, is General Electric’s having managed to avoid contributing any federal taxes whatsoever.

Chomsky at one point posits that America doesn’t have an authentically capitalistic system and that major corporations and financial institutions don’t want true capitalism, which, by the book, would have required the automobile industry, savings and loans associations, and other financial institutions that got into trouble to just go ahead and fail and then fold. No, they want government and taxpayers to bail them out of failure every time. Throw the finger to big government, and then come begging to it when you’ve screwed up.

I recall a right-wing friend complaining about people who she felt turn American political life into what she called “an us-and-them affair.” Chomsky, Howard Zinn and others have made it pretty clear that this has been an us-and-them country from the very beginning and that it has only gotten worse with time and will get even worse without drastic change.

Each of the book’s 10 chapters concludes with quotations from other texts, from ancient times to the present, and the book is richer because of them. The highlight, which comes at the nd of the final chapter and is too long to quote here, is from John Dewey.

The final paragraph of Chomsky’s own text pays tribute to his friend and kindred spirit the late Howard Zinn, whose A People’s History of the United States is a book I highly recommend as an indispensable correction to the mythological U. S. history most of us grew up with.

Occasionally Chomsky needs fact-checking, as when he maintains that, after the 1960s and early 1970s, new construction on U.S. college and university campuses has avoided any buildings that would provide large areas where students might congregate and engage in activities. Is this true; and even if it is true, isn’t it rather futile?