Robert Reich’s latest cohort of publications is perhaps the most popular of his work and it highlights the prevailing inequality in the global sphere. Robert Reich is a famous professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Reich is also popular for serving in the governments of Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Later, between 1993 and 1997, Robert Reich was appointed the U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton’s tenure. In his latest inclusion, Reich puts in insights from his academic and political backgrounds on the prevailing dynamics in a not-so-free market, highlighting the play of politics and economic control by few members of the society. His latest works come in as a continuation of his previous works that discuss the advents of inequality, disenchantment, and over-concentration of resources and power in the hands of the wealthy, which exposes the middle and low-income societies.
The title of the book, Saving Capitalism, emerges as a critique of the prevailing free-market structure that dominates in modern day capitalism. Reich alludes that the concentration of decision-making power in the hands of a few at the expense of many has caused the concentration of power and resources among the rich class, exposing the weaker and poorer groups to more adverse conditions. In his speech, Reich posits that the system is rigged to favor the concentrated minority against the compact majority. He feels that a lasting solution to the prevailing injustice is introducing an activist government that imposes higher taxes on the wealthy and then utilizes the proceeds in activities and projects that will address the needs of the poor majority.
The speaker’s desire to push his narrative comes at the expense of rigorous analysis in his works, which makes his latest production more of a socio-political novel than an account of politics or macroeconomics. First, he describes the free market situation to reveal how free it is not. He argues that the market is influenced by the powerful few that establish and control the rules of operation in a free market system. Reich introduces the audience to the main components of a free market including property, monopoly, contracts, bankruptcy, and enforcement. Reich continues to explain that all these components are influenced by human decisions and administration to foster social development. He is also wary that these free market components may be manipulated to address the interests of the few endowed with resources and power. Reich further discusses the consequences of an infiltrated system. He argues that the free market meritocracy is indeed a myth in which those at the top of the system continue to make advances while the middle and low-income earners stagnate, and in many cases, deteriorate. He proceeds to argue for a restoration of power back to the people. He proposes several strategies that that can help restore power among the majority in the society such as increasing the minimum wage, changing contract laws, and amending laws to favor unions. He further advocates for employees’ actions against unjust employers.
Robert Reich’s latest work puts in a compelling critique of the challenges facing the current day capitalism. Anyone with a basic understanding of economics would be quick to observe that Saving Capitalism is undoubtedly skewed. The author presents the dilemma facing western capitalism leading to a financial crisis and disenfranchisement of millions. Reich’s works expose the injustices that prevail within the free market and affects the general economy. He also points out the over the top form of class warfare that pits the elite versus the rest. He presents class as statutory and unitary groups that experience minimal change or movement between them, whereby the rich and powerful remain rich and powerful while the rest suffer the consequences of their activities.