The Collapse of Small Business: An American Dystopia
Back in 2005, comedian George Carlin gave a ruthlessly cynical take on big business in America. To an audience of mostly regular workers, he said:
You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They got you by the balls.
He added that politicians exist to give you the illusion of choice while the wealthy capitalists pull the strings. It’s a pithy expression perhaps, but the sentiment resonated with many Americans for a reason.
Understanding the State of Play
Since the wind-down of the Cold War, capitalism has been heralded by the Western political class as the golden ideology. Human well-being is fostered through innovation and market forces, our leaders have told us each year at Davos.
As the government softened its regulatory hand, corporations gradually came to exert more control over the food we eat, the land we live on, and the information we hear.
The globalized high-tech world only reinforced economies of scale. Whereas self-sustaining communities of small businesses were once the norm, today a majority of households are Amazon Prime subscribers.
