Manufacturing Discontent: The Trap of Individualism in Corporate Society

Description

If you're an average citizen without ownership alignment with a corporation, you're playing at a serious disadvantage. You're playing poker, and the rules heavily favor the corporations. The odds are stacked against you. This book was written before the BP Gulf Oil Spill, and the Federal bailout of the banks. The banks are still in existence. Why aren't they bankrupt? Many of the workers who were laid off are bankrupt? But the owners and shareholders weren't held accountable for all the risk they took. Citbank had a debt/equity ration of 30-1! No bank will give you a loan with that kind of leverage. And what happened? You, the taxpayer, had to pay them through the federal reserve. BP's equipment caused the worst oil spill in history. Millions of people from LA are economically devastated. Will BP be held accountable for the problems they caused? No. Compare that to a citizen. If a citizen is driving on a rainy street, loses control of the car, and hits a traffic light, the city will send them a bill to fix the traffic light. Will BP have to pay for the FULL cost of the cleanup? on June 4th, 2010, 30+ days into this oil disaster, the owners of BP still distributed cash to all stock owners. This book describes what's going on accurately. - I also just watched Michael Moore's Capitalism. That movie can't compare to this book. That movie is half truths and one sided opinions. This book gives a much truer picture of the problems in our capitalistic economy. In my opinion, the problem isn't capitalism. The problem is the laws of the US that favor the owners of corporations over the individual citizens. This book is based on that very premise.