A refutation of the fantasies marketed as the "American Dream." The gulf between reality and a "free market" where entrepeneurs can compete on a level playing field is growing daily.
There is endless talk about the free market and its virtues. Entrepreneurs compete on level playing fields and the public benefits. The chasm between such fantasies and reality is acute and growing wider. Mega-mergers and monopolies are limiting competition. Fewer than 10 corporations control most of the global media. The existing free market depends heavily on taxpayer subsidies and bailouts. Corporate welfare far exceeds that which goes to the poor.
Economic policy is based on the dictum: take from the needy, and give to the greedy. The captains of industry of today make the robber barons of the 19th century look like underachievers. The gap between CEO and worker salaries has never been sharper. One union leader put it this way: "Workers are getting the absolute crap kicked out of them."
This lecture focuses on these and other issues and Chomsky's compelling argument to change the power structure of America. His analysis is clear, concise, and thought provoking, and his advice is simultaneously pragmatic and radical.
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