Armen Sarkissian, Claire Provost, and Ali Allawi discuss the troubling influence of corporations on governments around the world.
Who truly rules the world? Governments or corporations?
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Defenders of the free market argue that competition drives down prices and benefits all. China is the poster child for this case with nearly a billion lifted out of poverty since 1990. But competition and free markets can also lead to dangerous monopolies, and higher prices. Entrepreneurial gurus like Peter Thiel advise ‘if you’re starting a company, aim for monopoly’. Critics argue that unconstrained capitalism allows companies to cement initial advantage by buying competitors, and using scale to dominate the market. They claim the world’s largest companies have gained success not by competition but by acting like feudal overlords.
Should we conclude that free market capitalism inexorably leads to monopoly if it is not constrained? Do we urgently need to break up or rest control from the corporate giants that dominate the markets? Or can we relax, confident that in time capitalism and market forces will replace the current overlords with new ones?
00:00 Introduction
00:23 Armen Sarkissian
04:45 Claire Provost
06:15 Ali Allawi
#capitalism #economics #politics
Armen Sarkissian is the former President of Armenia, a physicist, investor, businessman and computer scientist. He spearheaded Armenia’s response to the ‘Velvet Revolution’ and border skirmishes with Azerbaijan.
Claire Provost is an investigative journalist and co-founder and co-director of the non-profit Institute for Journalism and Social Change specialising in the backroom dealings of the largest corporations.
Ali Allawi served as Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Minister of Defence of Iraq. He has also worked as a Professor at the University of Oxford, and a visiting Fellow at Harvard.
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