Wealth Supremacy How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises

by Kelly, Marjorie; Villanueva, Edgar

• ISBN13: 9781523004775
• ISBN10: 1523004770
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2023-09-12
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Summary

A powerful analysis of how the bias towards wealth that is woven into the very fabric of American capitalism is damaging people, the economy, and the planet, and what the foundations of a new economy could be.

This bold manifesto exposes seven myths underlying wealth supremacy, the bias that institutionalizes infinite extraction of wealth by and for the wealthy, and is the hidden force behind economic injustice, the climate crisis, and so many other problems of our day:

• The Myth of Maximizing: No amount of wealth is ever enough.
• The Myth of Fiduciary Duty: Corporate managers’ most sacred duty is to expand capital.
• The Myth of Corporate Governance: Corporate membership must be reserved for capital alone.
• The Myth of the Income Statement: Income to capital must always be increased, while income to labor must always be decreased.
• The Myth of Materiality: Profit—material gain—alone is real, while social and environmental damages are not.
• The Myth of Takings: The first duty of government must be the protection of private property.
• The Myth of the Free Market: There should be no limits on the field of action of corporations and capital.

Kelly argues instead for the democratization of ownership: public ownership of vital services, worker-owned businesses, and more. And she sketches the outlines of a non-extractive capitalism that would be subordinate to the public interest. This is an ambitious reimagining of the very foundations of our economy and society.

Author Biography

Marjorie Kelly is Distinguished Senior Fellow at The Democracy Collaborative, a national R&D lab for a democratic economy. She was named by Fast Company as one of “15 people at the forefront of reinventing our economic system.” Her classic book, The Divine Right of Capital, is credited by Jay Coen Gilbert, B Lab co-founder, as having “inspired the B Corp movement.”  Her subsequent books, Owning Our Future and The Making of a Democratic Economy, won awards and acclaim. Formerly, Marjorie was a fellow at Tellus Institute, where she cofounded Corporation 20/20, after co-founding and editing Business Ethics magazine.