Power, Inc.: The Epic Rivalry Between Big Business and Government- —and the Reckoning That Lies Ahead
“What is the appropriate balance between the market and the state in providing both opportunities and protections for its citizens?. . . For an idea of why the major economies have yet to converge around an answer, a brilliant, ambitious new book provides penetrating insights...Rothkopf's basic premise is that nation states, most of them at least, cannot make sovereign decisions about the financial, economic and global policies their citizens require without contending with the enormous market power of large global businesses whose corporate profit and autonomy far outstrips most national GDPs. . .Rothkopf's message is especially relevant for the United States, where the market fundamentalism of the 1990s fed a deregulation frenzy of explosive consequences for the decay of today's middle class, and of the country's infrastructure and human capital. . . Decades before the Occupy Wall Street movement, the slogan 'Capitalism with a Human Face' captured the aspirations of the socially-minded. Last weekend's IMF and World Bank meetings showed the many faces of Rothkopf's competing capitalisms, democratic countries nearly all of them. Yet none seemed very happy. Is the gloom permanent? The 800 years of history covered in this courageous, learned, and timely book suggests that we still have a choice.”—Julia Sweig,Council on Foreign Relations “In his new book,Power, Inc., David Rothkopf sounds an alarm.  He argues that thousands of private actors who he calls "super citizens" now hold greater power than most countries in the world.  He notes, for instance, that corporations have grown to the point where roughly the richest two thousand are more influential than 70-80 percent of the world's nations. Walmart, for example, has revenues higher than the GDP of all but 25 nations.  He correctly notes that these gargantuan players now prevent us from dealing with the pressing issues of our day such as global warming, growing economic inequality and embracing cleaner forms of energy. He examines watershed years of yore, such as 1288, when the world's first stock certificate was issued to Sweden's Stora, the world's oldest corporation, now a huge multinational.  The point he is making is that the struggle between private and corporate power is hardly a new phenomenon. . . The story comes to life when he hones in on events which took place in the United States starting at the end of the 19th century.  He recounts the time when JP Morgan literally rescued the United States government from bankruptcy in 1896.  He also tells the sorry story of how corporations gained legal protections and rights in the Supreme Court starting in 1886 and ending most recently with the infamous Citizens United case in 2010. In Rothkopf's view, the world has shifted from a 'battle between capitalism and Communism to something even more complex: a battle between differing forms of capitalism in which the distinction between each is in the relative role of each is in the relative role and responsibilities of public and private sectors.' The extremes of both Soviet communism and free-market financial excesses have been discredited.  American capitalism initially triumphed but has since receded: and competition between different capitalisms will continue.” —Roy Ulrich,The Huffington Post “In his new book,Power, Inc.: The Epic Rivalry Between Big Business and Government--and the Reckoning that Lies Ahead(Viking), David Rothkopf explains how the United States, once viewed as the model for a mixed-market economy, is increasingly held captive by the avarice of private interests.  Power, Inc. is an undeniably ambitious book--attempting to put the current U.S. situation into a global and historical context. . . The takeaway is profound: that relations between the state and competing interests (be it church or private enterprise) have always been strained, yet the state--and its power to enforce the fundamental social contract it has with its citizens--has never been weaker. Rothkopf is a realist at heart. He recognizes that some form of capitalism is the only way forward--be it a more activist capitalism (being pushed by the emerging powers of India and Brazil), the welfare-state capitalism of northern Europe, or what he calls the "entrepreneurial small-market" capitalism of countries like Singapore and Israel.  But for the first time in more than a century, Rothkopf argues, it will not be the Americans leading the way.”—Matt O'Grady,Canadian Business “In his new book, Power, Inc., David Rothkopf offers a provocative analysis of the push-pull between big business and big government. He says the rift has gone far past simplistic political rhetoric to a larger battle: pitting American capitalism against other forms of capitalism that have emerged on the world’s stage in the past decade or so."  —Maureen Mackey,The Fiscal Times “Rothkopf’s book is astonishingly ambitious. It traces the relationship between state and market—a relationship that, he says, has succeeded the relationship between church and state as the dominant conflict in societies—from the thirteenth century to the present. During the past thirty years, he says, we’ve adopted the view that politics and markets were actually allied: freedom in one realm meant freedom in the other. The result of this idea, along with the increasing influence of business within both political parties, was a series of policies that deregulated national currencies and banking systems and enabled the globalized economy of the Superclass. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of people still live in specific places and depend on local and national governments for social benefits, beginning with items as basic as stable currencies. Globalization, in its present form, strengthens a cadre of very large businesses that Rothkopf calls 'supercitizens,' and diminishes government, which is becoming, in his nice phrase, 'too small to succeed.'… he makes it clear that he thinks that political decisions created the present situation and that only different political decisions will alleviate it.”—Nicholas Lemann,The New Yorker “The problem for the right in Britain and its big brother in the US is that, after 30 years of the conservative revolution, it is now wedded to the premodern view that risks in a market economy and society should be run as individualistically as possible… But, as a growing number of us are arguing – David Rothkopf, editor ofForeign Policy and author of the recently published Power, Inc is but the latest to sign up – the propositions ignore reality…This is a worldwide debate, as Rothkopf outlines, a bid to define what 21st-century capitalism could be.” —Will Hutton,The Guardian “A sharp rebuke of free markets run amok and a loud call for rebalancing public needs and corporate interests.”—Greg Hanscom,Grist “An enlightening account.” —Mary Whaley,Booklist Review “Rothkopf…uses a wide-angle lens to examine the relation between public and private power…[He] delivers a lively, accessible treatment of a multifaceted, complex subject.” —Kirkus Starred Review“This should be read by serious students of politics, economics, or business and will be of interest to anyone invested in our country's economic history and, especially, future.”—Bonnie A. Tollefson,Library Journal“The story of Kare the Goat…serves as a kind of creation myth for David Rothkopf’s sprawling new book,Power, Inc.  Stora Kopparberg, the business established in 1288 to mine for copper in the hills above Falun (Sweden), still exists making it the “oldest continuously operating corporation in the world.”  Rothkopf argues that the evolution of Stora from a scrappy, goat-founded outfit to a $20 billion multinational business is emblematic of a tectonic shift in international relations, in which global corporations today wield greater power than all but a handful of nation-states.  Rothkopf is an energetic story-teller...the story of Stora is fascinating…The most eye-popping sections of Power, Inc., detail how decolonization, globalization and financial deregulation have subverted the prerogatives states have traditionally reserved for themselves.”—Romesh Ratnesar,Bloomberg Businessweek“As David Rothkopf points out in his incisive and timely new book, Power Inc, the pendulum has swung sharply from public to corporate in the last generation. That has changed the character of the US economy. 'In the past there was a tight connection between economic growth leading to jobs creation, which in turn led to broad wealth creation,' Mr Rothkopf says. 'Those links no longer seem to work.'” —Edward Luce,Financial Times“David Rothkopf…has a smart new book out, entitledPower, Inc., about the epic rivalry between big business and government that captures, in many ways, what the 2012 election should be about … the future of 'capitalism' and whether it will be shaped in America or somewhere else. Rothkopf argues that while for much of the 20th century the great struggle on the world stage was between capitalism and communism, which capitalism won, the great struggle in the 21st century will be about whichversionof capitalism will win, which one will prove the most effective at generating growth and become the most emulated. Rothkopf’s view, which I share, is that the thing others have most admired and tried to emulate about American capitalism is precisely what we’ve bee...