Le dieci leggi del potere: Requiem per il sogno americano

by Noam Chomsky

Per la prima volta, Noam Chomsky, dedica un libro alla natura e alle conseguenze tragiche della diseguaglianza, svelando i dogmi fondamentali del neoliberalismo e gettando così uno sguardo se possibile ancora più lucido e profondo sul funzionamento del potere a livello globale. Quali sono le leggi che governano la concentrazione della ricchezza e del potere negli Stati Uniti e in generale in tutto il mondo infestato dal turbocapitalismo? Ridurre la democrazia, scaricare i costi sui poveri e sulla classe media, distruggere la solidarietà fra le persone, manipolare le elezioni, usare la paura e il potere dello Stato per tenere a bada la «plebaglia»... Dieci principi – trattati in altrettanti illuminanti capitoli – che, se non sapremo reagire, porteranno alla catastrofe ambientale e alla guerra globale nucleare.
Questo libro dà seguito, ampliandone i contenuti con la collaborazione dei tre registi, al grande successo del documentario Requiem for the American Dream (2015). Il risultato è una mappa concettuale di vitale importanza per comprendere il funzionamento del mondo di oggi, e un monito fortissimo all’azione collettiva e, se necessario, alla rivolta: solo una rete di movimenti dal basso può contrastare lo strapotere economico delle élite. 

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Economics, History, Philosophy, Audiobook, Sociology

177 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 28, 2017

About the author

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and an institute professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Among the most cited living authors, Chomsky has written more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics. In addition to his work in linguistics, since the 1960s Chomsky has been an influential voice on the American left as a consistent critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, and corporate influence on political institutions and the media.
Born to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants (his father was William Chomsky) in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania. During his postgraduate work in the Harvard Society of Fellows, Chomsky developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he earned his doctorate in 1955. That year he began teaching at MIT, and in 1957 emerged as a significant figure in linguistics with his landmark work Syntactic Structures, which played a major role in remodeling the study of language. From 1958 to 1959 Chomsky was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. He created or co-created the universal grammar theory, the generative grammar theory, the Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of linguistic behaviorism, and was particularly critical of the work of B.F. Skinner.
An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which he saw as an act of American imperialism, in 1967 Chomsky rose to national attention for his anti-war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals". Becoming associated with the New Left, he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard M. Nixon's list of political opponents. While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades, he also became involved in the linguistics wars. In collaboration with Edward S. Herman, Chomsky later articulated the propaganda model of media criticism in Manufacturing Consent, and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. His defense of unconditional freedom of speech, including that of Holocaust denial, generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the 1980s. Chomsky's commentary on the Cambodian genocide and the Bosnian genocide also generated controversy. Since retiring from active teaching at MIT, he has continued his vocal political activism, including opposing the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supporting the Occupy movement. An anti-Zionist, Chomsky considers Israel's treatment of Palestinians to be worse than South African–style apartheid, and criticizes U.S. support for Israel.
Chomsky is widely recognized as having helped to spark the cognitive revolution in the human sciences, contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind. Chomsky remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy, contemporary capitalism, U.S. involvement and Israel's role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and mass media. Chomsky and his ideas are highly influential in the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements. Since 2017, he has been Agnese Helms Haury Chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona.

Reviews

[Genevieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for anyone preferring to be an informed member of the electorate, a participant in democracy rather than a spectator of extravaganza and or an uninformed consumer making irrational choices (by design) that lead to a trapping by debt. A sober but necessary accounting of the way things are now and the uber wealthy powers that be ("masters of mankind") linked to key events and (deliberate) trends that made our current landscape a reality. This, along with important history to remind us of the validity of and high stakes for a much bigger expectation/demand by the public and of the organizing successes of the Labor movement + our very real power when we are (informed) mobilized and committed, makes for an accessible, effective primer to cultivating activism as a way of life (rather than a temporary reaction to a single candidate or President).

I appreciate particularly how this knowledge pierces sharply any remaining illusions sold to me (us) of what a "proper" life ought to include (mass commodities) by elucidating in detail the larger motivations, which include anesthetizing an otherwise powerful majority of We-the-People. We who, void of the spectacle + advertising vying through every medium every minute of the day for our energy and attention (so as to exhaust them) and our $$ (so as to trap us by debt), inherently know what truly matters: taking care of each other and our planet.
I personally see no greater reason for prioritizing and or recommitting to a life of participatory democracy, a truly meaningful life.

From the book, here is a quote + Audible clip from the chapter called Principle No. 9, Manufacturing Consent:
"One of the first major, modern studies of the nature of government was by David Hume, a great philosopher and political philosopher, as well. He wrote on what he called, 'The Foundations of the Theory of Government', and one thing he pointed out was that in every state no matter what type, whether it's futile, militaristic, whatever it was, power is in the hands of the governed. They can, if they get together, take power. As long as they can be made to feel that they don't have power, then the powerful can rule. But if they come to understand that they DO have power, then repressive and authoritarian governments alike will collapse."
Audible clip: http://a.co/caybSqK

"What matters is the countless small deeds of unknown people who lay the basis for the significant events that enter history. They're the ones who've done things in the past. They're the ones who'll have to do it in the future."
- Howard Zinn (longtime friend of Chomsky)

Here is an interview with Noam Chomsky by Ralph Nader featuring a shorter version of this book for those who may be interested:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/r...

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to think about this for a while.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to sussing out the state of our world and all the factors that contribute to where we've wound up, I'm not a slouch. I've read hundreds of books and have followed so much news and have discovered, again and again, that Noam Chomsky *Knows His Shit*.

Just from the standpoint that he has also been one of those intellectuals with a fantastic memory, unimpeachable logic, and a burning heart, I should mention that he should be read just because he cares.

The title of this book is pretty inflammatory, no? But my advice is this: read it for the information within. I've read a lot of books that back up each of these concise points in vast detail.

So why should anyone read THIS particular book, though?

Because it's diamond-sharp, doesn't waste a single second of time getting to the point, and it IS based on facts. It should come as no surprise that almost everyone is getting disenfranchised while the rich and powerful are getting more rich and powerful by the second. If you want to get that breakdown in a very short period of time, you would do much worse than to consider this a brilliant primer.

Get your foot in the door.

It's not like the world is getting better. Don't fall for PR or pyrrhic victories. The causes of our problems are still here. We need to understand the problems before we can cure them, and no amount of palliative care is worth the time.

[Amr Mohamed · Rating 5 out of 5]

يقول تشومسكي: أنا مسن كفاية لأتذكر فترة الكساد الكبير فى أمريكا وكان أغلب عائلتي عمال وعاطلين عن العمل الوضع كان سيئاً عن الأن ولكن كان يوجد أمل وتوقعات بأن الأمور سوف تتحسن ولا يوجد مثل هذا الأمل اليوم
التفاوت الطبقي اليوم وصل حداً لا سابق له فى تاريخ أمريكا ومصدر هذا التفاوت يأتي من تمركز الثروة فى يد أقل من واحد فى المئة من عدد السكان وهذا التفاوت وعدم المساواة خلق تبعيات سلبية جدا على المجتمع ككل وتأثير على الديمقراطية

كان فى الماضي الحلم الأمريكي تولد فقيرا ، تعمل جاهداً ، تصبح غنياً ، كان من الممكن ان العامل أن يحصل على وظيفة جيدة ، منزل وسيارة يوصل أولاده للمدرسة ...كل هذا قد انهار

المبادئ العشرة لتركيز المال والثروة
تركيز الثروة يؤدي الى تركيز السلطة وبصفة خاصة عندما ترتفع تكلفة الانتخابات ، مما يجبر الأحزاب السياسية والمرشحين بمد أيديهم للمؤسسات الكبري ورجال الثروة فتقوم السلطة التشريعية بالمقابل باعتماد تشريعات قانوينة تساعد فى تركيز الثروة في يد هؤلاء وذلك ما نعيشه ونشاهده تلك الحلقة المفرغة



المبدأ الأول : تقليص دور الديمقراطية
كتب أدم سميث فى كتابه ثروة الأمم عام 1776 أن العماد الهندسي الذي تقوم عليه السياسة هم الناس الذين يمتكلون المجتمع وهم فى ذلك الوقت التجّار والمصنعين وهم حريصون لعمل أى شئ للحفاظ على أن تكون مصالحهم فى المقام الأول حتى لو كان ذلك الاهتمام ظالماً وضد مصالح السكان ، ولكن على ايامنا ليسوا التجار والمصنعين بل هم المؤسسات المالية والشركات المتعددة الجنسيات ، وهؤلاء من سماهم ادم سميث أسياد البشر

وتلك كانت بداية التأسيس فى أمريكا فالدستور تم صياغته لمنع الديمقراطية فجيمس ماديسون المشّرع الأول كان من أكثر الناس المؤمنين بالديمقراطية ومع ذلك شعر أن نظام الولايات المتحدة يجب ان يصمم لتكون السلطة بيد الأثرياء لأنهم هم أكثر الرجال مسئولية ولذلك تم وضع اغلب السلطة بيد أعضاء مجلس الشيوخ والذي لم يكن يتم انتخابهم فى ذلك الوقت ، كان يتم اختيارهم من الأثرياء

وإذا قراءت نقاشات صياغة الدستور فكان اهتمام ماديسون الأول أنه يجب حماية الأقلية المترفة من الأغلبية وقال افتراض أنه اذا تم السماح لكل شخص لينتخب بحرية فسيجتمع أغلبية الفقراء لسلب أموال الأغنياء
أرسطو قال ذلك فى كتابه المشهور السياسة ولكن كان عنده حل مختلف بدل من تقليل دور الديمقراطية قال ارسطو الحل بتقليل الفوارق الطبقية

المبدأ الثاني : تشكيل الايدلوجيا
كرد فعل على حركة الستينات والمظاهرات المعارضة للحرب والمطالبة بالمساواة فى كل الحقوق فمنذ بداية السبعينات كانت هناك هجوم من قطاع الأعمال على كل جهود المطالبة بالمساواة
فثلا فى مذكرة باول الشهيرة التي تم ارسالها للغرفة التجارية يحذرهم فيها أنهم يفقدون السيطرة على المجتمع وأنه يتحتم عمل شئ لايقاف ذلك ويكتب ذلك الكلام فى صيغة الدفاع بأنه يوجد قوي خارجية تواجه الاقتصاد الأمريكي


ولكن اذا نظرت تجد ان الهدف هو النداء للشركات من أجل السيطرة على الموارد ولشن هجوم مضاد لكسر هذه الموجة الديمقراطية
القلق كان من العامة الذين قد بدأوا التنظيم والدخول فى مجال السياسة وهذا يفرض ضغوط كثيرة على الدولة لذلك يجب تشكيل الوعي للعودة لكا كانوا عليه سابقا والابتعاد عن السياسة وكان من رأيهم ان السبب فى ذلك فشل المدارس والجامعات والكنائس فى تلقين الشباب

المبدأ الثالث : إعادة تصميم النظام الاقتصادي
كانت الجهود لتعظيم دور المؤسسات المالية مثل البنوك وشركات التأمين والاستثمار ، ففى نهاية عام 2007 قبل الأزمة العالمية كانت تلك المؤسسات يملكون 40% من أرباح الشركات


كان سابقاً الاقتصاد الأمريكي يعتمد بشكل كبير على الإنتاج فكانت الولايات أكبر مركز للإنتاج وكان دور المؤسسات المالية قليلا وقتها ، فالمؤسسات المالية ليس لها دور مهم للاقتصاد ..مثلا فى السبيعينات كانت جنرال اليكتريك كانت تجني أرباح أكثر عن طريق التلاعب بالأموال أكثر من جنيها عن طريق الإنتاج
ومن هنا تأتي الاشكالية التى تسمي بـ Finalize the econmy
والنتيجة الحتمية لهذه السياسة هي نقل الإنتاج خارج البلاد وابقاء العمال فى حالة تنافس ودائما يكونوا العمال غير مؤمنين وايضا أدي الى تقليل الدخل للعمال

المبدأ الرابع : نقل العبء
كان فى الخمسينات والستينات الضرائب على الاثرياء عالية جدا والضرائب على الأرباح والشركات كان أعلي ، تمت اعادة النظام الضرائبي لتقل الضرائب على الأثرياء ونقل جزء كبير منها على بقية السكان فالأن التحول لابقاء الضرائب على الدخل والاستهلاك والتى يدفعها الجميع وليس فقط على الأرباح التى يدفعها الأغنياء
وطبعا هناك حجة لذلك فالحجة هى زيادة الاستثمار والوظائف ولا يوجد دليل على صحة هذا الكلام
الشركات الأرميكية نقلت عبء اعانة المجتمع لبقية السكان

المبدأ الخامس : الهجوم على التكافل الاجتماعي
من وجهة نظر السادة يجب أن تفكر بنفسك وليس بالأخرين فلا تهتم بأي شخص ، تطلب الأمر جهدا كبيرا لخروج تلك المبادئ والعواطف الانسانية من عقول الناس
لذلك يجب الهجوم علي التأمين الاجتماعي والمدارس العامة وقطع التمويل عنها فأنها الطريقة المتبع لخصخصة أى نظام

المبدأ السادس : إدراة الأجهزة التنظيمية
اذا اطلعت على تاريخ التنظيمات مثل تنظيم السكة الحديد او التنظيمات المالية وما الى ذلك ستجد انه من الشائع ان من لقن مبادئهم نفس التكتلات الاقتصادية التى تدعم تلك التنظيمات لأنهم يعلمون أنه عاجلا أو أجلا سيتمكنون من قيادة الجهات التنظيمية
بهذا يستطيع النشاط المراد تنظيمه إدارة الجهات التنظيمية المشرفة عليه لذلك نصل الى ان جماعات الضغط المالي (اللوبي) هو من يتحكم بالتنظيمات المالية ومنذ السبعينات رجال المال والأعمال انشئوا جماعات الضغط لمحاولة السيطرة على تشريع القوانين

فمثلا كان هناك ايام نكسون تشريعات لحماية المستهلك و60 تشريع لسلامة وصحة العامل بعدها بدأت اللوبي او جماعات الضغط السياسي للتخلص من تلك القيود التنظيمية وايضا نجد ذلك فى أزمة عام 2008 فالحكومة تطالب دافعي الضرائب إنقاذ المؤسسات المالية التى تسببت أصلا فى الأزمة المالية


فالموؤسسات التى تسبب بكارثة اقتصادية يتم أخ�� رأيهم ولكن بالنسبة للفقراء تقول الحكومة يجب ان ندع السوق هو المتحكم ولا ننقذ هؤلاء الفقراء فنجد قوانين للأغنياء وعكسها للفقراء

المبدأ السابع هندسة الانتخابات
كما قلنا ان تركيز الثروة يؤدي الى تركيز السلطة السياسية خصوصا عند ارتفاع تكلفة الانتخابات
ففى قضية سيتزنز يوناتيد عام 2009 أقرت المحكمة العليا قرار مهم جدا ولكن لها تاريخ فالتعديل الرابع عشر يحتوي على مادة نصها لا يمكن حرمان اي شخص من حقوقه بدون عملية قانونية مناسبة وكان الهدف منها حماية الأفراد وخصوصا العبيد المحرر ولكنها لم تستخدم لذلك الهدف ولكن استخدمت لحماية مؤسسات رجال الأعمال

منذ السبعينات اعتبر المال نوع من انواع حرية التعبير فتم اعتبار تلك المؤسسات كأنها فرد ولذلك كان قرار المحكمة ان المؤسسات والشركات من حقها ان تصرف أموالها بأي شكل بدون رقابة مثل المؤسسات الصحفية التى تنشر رأيها بحرية
ومع أنه طبقا للتعديل لا يمكن حرمان أي أجنبي لا يحمل وثائق من حقوقه لو كان شخصاً فنجد الأجانب الذين يعيشون هنا بدون أوراق ثبوتيه يشيدون منازلنا والطرق وينظفون حدائقنا فهم ليسوا أشخاصا لهم حقوق ولكن شركة جنرال موترز هي شخص بل وفائق القوة والقدرة

المبدأ الثامن : سيطر على الرعاع
القوة العمالية هم الجهة التى رغم نقائصها كانت فى صدارة الجهود لتحسين المجتمع وجدارا مانعا فى وجه طغيان الشركات لذلك كان سبب الهجوم على النقابات هو دور تلك النقابات فى نشر الديمقراطية وجدار عازل لحماية العامل والحقوق الشعبية وذلك ما يتعارض مع من يملكون زمام أمور المجتمع ومصالح السلطة والمال لذلك حارب قانون حرية انشاء النقابات وإلغي الوعي عند العمال



المبدأ التاسع : صنع الرضا
يجب تغيير معتقدات العامة وتوجهاتهم وخلق احتياجات استهلاكية وجعل تلك الاحتياجات هي جوهر حياتهم مثل استهلاك الموضة واي استهلاك أخر حتي نلهيهم عنّا وعن احتياجاتهم الحقيقة فيجب وضع العامة فى أماكنهم حتي يقدر المسئولين على اتخاذ القرار بدون ازعاج منهم ويكونوا فى نفس الوقت راضين ..ايضا الاستهلاك التسويقي يساعد فى الغاء الوعي فنذهب للتسوق بدلا مثلا من الذهاب للمكتبة

المبدأ العاشر : تهميش السكان
عالم السياسة مارتن غيلنر فى دراسته قال ان سبعين بالمئة من السكان ليس لديهم أى تأثير على السياسة ويدرك السكان ذلك مما يؤدى شعب غاضب ومحبط ويكره المؤسسات ، هناك تعبئة شعبية ونشاط عام ولكن فى اتجاهات مدمرة جدا للذات وتاخذ شكلا من الغضب غير المركز تهاجم بعضها وتصوب على الأهداف الضعيفة ويؤدي ذلك الى تأكل العلاقات الاجتماعية ولكن هذا هو الهدف
الهدف هو جعل الناس يكرهون ويخشون بعضهم ويهتموا بأنفسهم ولا يعيرون اهتمام للأخرين


ملحوظة : انا شاهدت فيديو لتشومسكي بمحتوي الكتاب.. ومترجم فالشكر لمن ترجم هذا الفيديو القيم
لينك للفيديو

[Maria Espadinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

O Funeral do Sonho


Os Alicerces do Sonho:

“«somos extremamente pobres, mas trabalharemos arduamente e encontraremos uma saída», o que, até certo ponto, foi verdade.”

Os Coveiros do Sonho:

“os principais arquitetos da política são os proprietários da sociedade — são as instituições financeiras e as empresas multinacionais — as pessoas que Adam Smith designou por «senhores da humanidade», e que se regem pela «vil máxima»: «Tudo para nós, nada para os demais.» E o seu papel resume-se ao desígnio de conseguir a implementação de políticas que os beneficiem e prejudiquem todos os outros.”

O Sonho Americano está morto ☠️💀 ☠️ e Noam Chomsky dedicou-lhe este Requiem...

[Mal Warwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

For decades, economic scholars have commented on the dangers inherent in the growing concentration of wealth in Western society. Though misleadingly referred to as “income inequality” in the new media, this critically important topic actively entered public debate in 2011 with Occupy Wall Street. Nobel Prize-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman and others added to the debate in the years that followed. Then, Senator Bernie Sanders flogged the issue at every opportunity in his presidential race in 2016, giving the issue further prominence. If there’s anyone alive and alert in America today who isn’t aware that the concentration of wealth is a growing problem for our society, I’d be surprised.

Few contemporary American observers have a clearer-headed understanding of the issue and its causes than Noam Chomsky. Chomsky, born in 1928, is widely regarded as the father of modern linguistics and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He’s also well known—some might say notorious—as an activist and social commentator. He has written dozens of books on the technical aspects of his academic work, and even more on politics. But his latest, Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power, is not a book he wrote.

Instead, the book was distilled from a 2015 film of the same name, a documentary patched together using interviews filmed over four years with Chomsky. Unlike the books he has written, most of which are slow going and many (the texts on linguistics, impenetrable), Requiem consists entirely of transcriptions from the spoken word. The style is conversational and uses only a bare minimum of jargon. It’s a quick read, and an enlightening one.

As Chomsky notes, “Power has become so concentrated that not only are the banks ‘too big to fail,’ but as one economist put it, they are also ‘too big to jail.'” Given our experience over the past decade, it would be difficult to argue with that. And anyone who closely follows events in American society today would say the same about this observation by Chomsky: “the rich and powerful, they don’t want a capitalist system. They want to be able to run to the ‘nanny state’ as soon as they’re in trouble, and get bailed out by the taxpayer.” If the American people fully understood how much tax money is funneled to corporations as subsidies, and how much the tax code has been distorted to favor them and their shareholders, they would storm Washington DC by the millions.

In Requiem, Chomsky presents ten “principles” that together explain how the massive concentration of wealth in America today has come about. (His analysis applies to other wealthy countries as well, but it fits the U.S. best.) His argument is best summed up as what he calls a vicious circle: “Concentration of wealth yields concentration of power, particularly so as the cost of elections skyrockets, which forces the political parties even more deeply into the pockets of major corporations.”

The 10 principles underlying this reality, as Chomsky sees them, are:

Reduce Democracy
Shape Ideology
Redesign the Economy
Shift the Burden
Attack Solidarity
Run the Regulators
Engineer Elections
Keep the Rabble in Line
Manufacture Consent
Marginalize the Population

I’ve never seen a more comprehensive or economical explanation of how wealth has come to be so concentrated in so few hands in the U.S. today. Most of these principles are self-evident at a glance. Only two may require explanation. Chomsky uses the word “solidarity” as a synonym for empathy, caring for others, or “concern for your fellow man,” to cite another archaic expression. His Principle #8, “Keep the Rabble in Line,” refers to the coordinated 45-year effort by Big Business and Right-Wing ideologues to destroy the labor movement.

The editors of Requiem—Peter Hutchison, Kelly Nyks, and Jared P. Scott—have interspersed short passages from other sources among the 10 Principles. The sources range over the centuries: from Aristotle and James Madison to Harry Truman and Martin Luther King Jr. These short excerpts from classic documents, speeches, press reports, and social commentaries add depth to the book’s presentation and enhance understanding of Chomsky’s message.

Chomsky’s views have often been regarded as extreme. Certainly, he is vilified by commentators and scholars on the Right. But if you read Requiem for the American Dream, I think you’ll find his reading of history is accurate, his logic is sound, and his view of America today is—sadly—right on target.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE DEMISE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

“Social mobility . . . is lower here [in the U.S.] than it is in Europe, but the dream persists fostered by propaganda you hear in every political speech. “Vote for me, we’ll get the dream back.” They all reiterate it in similar words. You even hear it from people who are destroying the dream . . . but the dream has to be sustained, otherwise how are you going to get people in the richest, most powerful country in world history, with extraordinary advantages, to face the reality that they see around them?” -Noam Chomsky, 2017

It doesn’t take a PhD in political science to see the similarity between “We’ll get the dream back!” and “Make America great again!” Propaganda doesn’t have to be inconspicuous to be exceedingly effective.

How The Enormously Wealthy Stay That Way in Ten Easy Steps:

STEP ONE: Start by limiting democracy. As James Madison and John Adams so famously put it, the “Minority of the Opulent” must be protected from the “Tyranny of the Majority.” *In their defense, they had rich white property owners and not trillion dollar multinational corporations in mind—plus, they also assumed a level of benevolence and social responsibility that has long since vanished from our political landscape.

STEP TWO: You’ve got to shape ideology. This was set forth in the famous Powell Memorandum (1971) by soon-to-be Associate Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell. He wrote, “Business must learn the lesson long ago learned by labor and other self-interest groups. This is the lesson that political power is necessary; that such power must be assiduously cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination—without embarrassment and without reluctance . . .”

STEP THREE: You can fast track your plunge into plutocracy by redesigning the economy. This is testified to by the shift of the American economy from long term production (à la 1950s USA) to short term profits (à la 1970s USA).

STEP FOUR: Find a way to shift the burden. The tax percentage on the wealthiest Americans in 2024 is a fraction of what was in the 1950s and 1960s. Who do you suppose has taken up the slack? Obviously not this guy…

“I have legally used the tax laws to my benefit and to the benefit of my company, my investors . . . I mean, honestly, I have brilliantly - I have brilliantly used those laws.” -Donald Trump, 2016, when asked why his return showed that he paid no taxes.

STEP FIVE: Attack solidarity. Solidarity means, essentially, caring about others. Social Security, for example, is representative of solidarity; I pay my social security taxes now so that the widowed grandmother across town can pay her rent and grocery bills. This is good for us as individuals but horrible for corporations who depend on us being dependent on them. *And oh by the way, every time I hear a politician refer to social security as an “entitlement” I want to gouge out his eyes with a dull spoon.

STEP SIX: Regulate the regulators. This one should be self explanatory. If you want regulations that benefit the wealthy, you want the wealthy to have control over what is permissible and what isn’t. For example, banks and bank lobbyists write the laws that govern financial markets and institutions. It’s a proven recipe for disaster and yet, there it is.

STEP SEVEN: Engineer elections. There is no better example than Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that struck down restrictions on campaign expenditures from corporate treasuries. Concentrated wealth is concentrated power.

STEP EIGHT: The wealthy must keep the rest of us in line. To do so organized labor must be demolished. In many sectors this has already been accomplished. Thanks to years of relentless propaganda, anti-union sentiment in 2024 America runs pretty high.

STEP NINE: Manufacture consent. Power is in the hands of the governed (us) and if we, as a nation, ever realize this all repressive and authoritarian institutions will collapse. This is why corporations spend billions every year in public relations (PR) campaigns. Why else would that type of investment be necessary?

STEP TEN: Marginalize the masses. Pretty straightforward, “… [government] policy is uncorrelated with public attitudes and closely correlated with corporate interests.” Roughly seventy percent of the American population has absolutely no influence on policy. In order for the rich to get what they want the rest of the citizens, a large majority, have to be rendered irrelevant. The tool of choice for that is what Chomsky calls “unfocused hate.” They create a straw man and blame that straw man for whatever ails you. Sometimes it’s communists, sometimes it’s undocumented aliens, sometimes it’s liberals, sometimes it’s black people, sometimes it’s brown people, sometimes it’s gay people, sometimes it’s all of the above. You get people to vote against their best interest by convincing them that the straw people are out there destroying their way of life. You stoke the fires of hate and then you herd the pissed-off to the polls. Trump is probably the most obvious example of this tactic—every time he fat shames a woman, or stereotypes an immigrant, or mocks a handicapped person, his approval rating goes up. Why? Because every plank in his platform is built on hate.
__________________________________

My biggest problem with Chomsky is that I take way too many notes. I highlight so much of his books that piecing together anything brief and spoilerless is a goddamn impossibility. So even though I over-simplified his concepts and edited out entire paragraphs, this behemoth of a “review” still turned out to be way longer than I intended. I apologize.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chomsky's bleak outlook on the state of the United States is that it is completely controlled by the very few and the very wealthy, because concentrations of money yield concentrations of power. In Requiem for the American Dream, he outlines the 10 principles that he believes allow these wealthy entities, who subscribe to "the vile maxim": (all for ourselves and nothing for anyone else) to control the US. I found it generally pretty conspiratorial and lacking any real goal – okay, things are bad... so what should we do? No, really. Like, practically?

Principle 1: Reduce Democracy
- Protect the wealth of the aristocrats from the "tyranny of the majority".
- It costs so much to run for office that it must be funded by wealthy businesses. Our representatives are beholden to the businesses, not to the people.
- The current education system limits critical thinking and college tuitions have been rising ever since colleges became places for social activism. People are saddled with debt and beholden to the debtors.

Principle 2: Shape Ideology
- Tell people if they disagree they are anti-American. These sorts of sentiments have tended to develop in totalitarian societies like the USSR.

Principle 3: Redesign the Economy
- Outsource to make more money at the expense of the domestic worker.
- Shift from production to financial services. Then, when you've taken too many risks and collapsed, rely on the government to bail you out.

Principle 4: Shift the Burden
- I'm unclear on what this principle actually comes down to. But it is related to how the American Dream is dying, but the wealthy want everyone else to think it's alive so they'll still have hope that they can join it instead of fighting the system.

Principle 5: Attack Solidarity
- Stop providing social goods, promote personal responsibility and defund public supports so that they'll become so bad that people will demand private options.
- He says that there are data to prove that the vast majority of Americans want national health insurance. Where these data came from I missed.

Principle 6: Run the Regulators
- Lobbying has made corporations even more powerful because they have more influence over politicians.
- Have one set of rules for the rich and another for the poor. Provide subsidies and bailouts for companies, but not support for poor individuals.

Principle 7: Engineer Elections
- Use the fourteenth amendment to give personhood to corporations so that they may freely donate as much money as they want to political campaigns.

Principle 8: Keep the Rabble in Line
- Crush unions whenever possible since they can stand up to big business power.

Principle 9: Manufacture Consent
- Use PR to tell people what they should want and keep them focused on trivial success.
- Promote irrational decision-making with unfounded advertising campaigns.

Principle 10: Marginalize the Population
- The People only get what they want when it is in line with what those in power want.
- Martin Gillis compares public policy and public attitudes based on polling data. Policy correlates with business interests, not public attitudes (based on 107 policies). The rich have a higher correlation.
- Anarchism and democracy are different ways of solving the same problem – too much power in the hands of too few.

[Talieh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I strongly recommend this book to all those Steve Jobs or Elon Musk readers and lovers who are literally mesmerized by the facade of American success.

Noam Chomsky is the sole independent thinker that I have encountered in my intellectual life. Independence of thought is not achieved easily and you have to be one of the best living intellectuals and scientists of the world (i.e. Noam Chomsky) to have it.


Reading this book I found out that the worst dystopian nightmares of humankind (as are depicted in books like 1984, brave new world, etc.) are not nearly as bad as the reality we live in. The book is explicitly about the USA, but the readers shouldn't be restricted to Americans only, since it clarifies the system governing over the whole world and those industrial and developing countries that, explicitly or implicitly, hold the USA as a role-model.

I've been struck by every single page of the book and I'm going to re-read it many times in the future, as I watch the humankind running down the path of the sixth great extinction....

[Asa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Distills the key ideas of his broader critiques of neoliberalism and the concentration of power in the hands of a few. In this book, Chomsky makes a compelling argument about the erosion of genuine democracy and the ways in which the elite maintain control over political and economic systems. Below is a breakdown of the main themes and how they are expressed in the text:

Democracy and Elections:
Chomsky challenges the very notion of democracy when elections are essentially rigged by the unlimited flow of money into politics. He underscores that the political system, especially in the U.S., serves the interests of the elite rather than those of the majority. As he notes, the victory of Barack Obama in 2008, often hailed as a triumph of the people, was more a victory of marketing and media manipulation. The core issue is that real political change is stymied by the deep pockets of the 1%.

Ideology and Consensus:
Chomsky critiques the media's role in perpetuating the status quo, noting that it’s controlled by the same corporate elites who benefit from this system. Education, too, serves to reproduce class structures, trapping those without means in cycles of debt and low-paying jobs. The reality, as Chomsky presents it, is that most people are effectively coerced into serving the interests of the wealthy, even if they’re unaware of it.

Economics, Regulatory Agencies, and Fiscal Loads:
Chomsky’s critique of neoliberal economics is pointed: this is not capitalism, but a form of crony capitalism that benefits the rich at the expense of the public. Regulatory agencies and governments, he argues, are deeply complicit in maintaining the dominance of big banks and corporations. The rich are too powerful to face legal consequences, while the middle and lower classes bear the burden of this exploitation.

Solidarity, Marginalization, and Unions:
The atomization of society and the decline of solidarity are central to Chomsky’s analysis. As unions lose power and environmental destruction escalates, people are left with little recourse to challenge the system. Chomsky urges protest and debate, but he acknowledges the limitations of these efforts in a system so skewed in favor of the elite.

This book serves as a succinct introduction to Chomsky’s broader body of work, distilling complex concepts into an easily digestible format. However, it should be noted that while it is accessible, it does not offer the depth found in Chomsky’s larger works like Manufacturing Consent and Understanding Power. Requiem for the American Dream is essential reading for anyone new to Chomsky's thought or those seeking a primer on the ills of modern capitalism and its deep entanglement with state power.

[Wick Welker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise treatise of the root problems with American democracy.

Chomsky provides a quick yet profound look into the fundamental problems of our declining democracy. In the style of Chomsky, I'll be brief:

Politicians, policy-making and legislating are controlled by a plutocracy of corporate elites whose only aim is to maintain the conditions that maximize profit.

This plutocratic system is, ironically, exceedingly anti-capitalistic in that it relies on state welfare (public funds) to prop up the failing financially systems that originated with obsession over profit. Friedmanism or neoliberalism is a philosophy that has been weaponized to be used only against the poor and does not apply to corporate elites.

Culture wars perpetuated by partisanship are an illusion of both political parties whose interests are, again, only corporate and have nothing to do with democracy. Power does truly reside within the masses but cannot be harnessed if there is an onslaught of distraction and outrage from culture wars.

Voting is not enough. If you're "voting your conscience" and that conscience informs you to vote in only your interest and that of people like you, you are not a moral agent.

Activism is the only force that can enact change in the power structures.

[Ian Beardsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was somewhat of a departure from other Chomsky books that I've read, perhaps as it was meant as a readers' guide for the documentary movie of the same name. Gone are the long-winded arguments supplemented by copious footnotes from a plethora of journalistic sources.

And this is not necessarily a bad thing, as this newer, slicker format may introduce a whole new generation of progressively-minded readers to this paragon of late 20th century American dissidents.

For readers who know the work of Chomsky relatively well, there is nothing really new here, but as I mention above, the book is a great introduction for younger readers who may be unfamiliar with Chomsky's arguments:
* America is not a democracy in the true sense of the word, rather it is essentially an oligarchy focused on maintaining the wealth and privilege of the small proportion of the high-priests of big-business corporatocracy.
* There is a "manufacturing of consent" in which the general population buys into the idea that large corporations, big business, and the leaders thereof know what's best for all of us. This is largely done by marginalizing or distracting the population so that they cannot easily form groups to participate directly in democracy.

The book is designed to discuss Chomsky's major tenets in about 10 principles, and each tenet is also covered with some specific examples and excerpts of legal rulings, news reports, hisrorical writings and whitepapers from business that try to illustrate the ideas. I felt some of these were not always completely accurate representations of the ideas, but it was a nice change from Chomsky's deep and involved footnotes of the past.

I imagine with Chomsky's advanced age that this could very well be his last major book. If so, this is a fine legacy of all the work he has done reminding us how much better the world's resources could work to the advantage of all and not just the top 1%. I hope a new generation of readers (and writers) will be inspired by this voice for social and economic justice.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short book and it gets pretty quickly to the problems that we are facing today. You can read the book, listen to the Audible book or you can even watch the documentary movie. I would recommend the documentary if you could only do one but the audible book is pretty good too. If you haven’t paid very close attention to the history of United States and what the founding fathers actually intended for this country to be, you may find this book surprising. If you have fallen for the all men are created equal version of history, you will be severely disappointed. Material in this book not only goes back to the founding of the nation but all the way up to the election of Mr. Trump.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I happened to read this book while the 2017 GOP tax bill was being crafted and voted on. I couldn't fathom what lawmakers were thinking by creating a bill whose benefits were so clearly skewed to the richest people in the country and which was so unpopular with the general public. After reading this book, I completely understand it. Although this book was written prior to the tax plan being crafted, it shows that just about anyone could have predicted it by simply understanding the 10 principles outlined in the book. It was disturbingly prophetic.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very timely. Very interesting. It's the companion book to the documentary by the same name. I liked that he went back 50 years to put what is happening today in our government and society in prospective and giving us the history of what has led up to today. He gives examples as well as excerpts of his source materials. This is written so it can be understood by everyone. I learned a lot. There is a lot to think about in these pages.

[Gabrielė Bužinskaitė · Rating 3 out of 5]

The wealth inequality in the USA has grown monstrously. Every time I see a chart that visualises the proportions (instead of just looking at the numbers, which I hardly grasp), I feel deep unease.

Despite the loud noise of equality, equity, or whatever buzzword, American society is becoming increasingly unequal every year. Unequal in resources, opportunities, and, ultimately, safety—as many (in some self-reports, most) Americans live paycheck to paycheck, they are one health (or other financially-burdening) crisis away from, essentially, homelessness.

In this book, although a little dated, Chomsky explains the macro causes that enabled wealth inequality to bloat since the 1980s. While many of us are used to criticising Americans on a micro level for their excessive spending, buying huge trucks carried by debt, which is valid more often than not, Chomsky identifies ten economic/political principles that were and are implemented to enable outlandish wealth disparities we see today.

Some of these principles include privatising public services, allowing consequence-free political donations, and influencing media outlets. Principles that can be applied in any country, if the voters allow it (or, typically, if they are too busy fighting each other on trivial matters to notice the policy changes).

Overall, it’s a book worth reading. It gives you a good fundamental and historical grasp of how wealth inequality grew (and continues to grow) in the US. However, to me, it felt a bit too beginner-friendly, as I’ve read at least two books on neoliberalism and the changes brought by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher already. If that's the case for you, you won’t hear much new.

P.S.

Judge the work not the writer, sure, but as the BBC recently reported, Chomsky was one of Epstein's famous clients. Surely such a man couldn't have genuinely been against unequal and exploitative power dynamics. God knows how he abused his own power, but as per the press, horrifyingly.

[Tanja Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s incredible that I’ve missed Noam Chomsky’s political writings. My main association is linguistics, he was a major reference point when I was studying psychology. This book is actually based on a documentary of the same name, that I have also missed. I’ve scheduled a reminder to watch it next weekend.

The American dream is dead. It only remains as a tantalizing fantasy: even if you’re born poor, if you work hard you can become rich. The reality is that you will be working three jobs just to get by, as the entire system is rigged against you.

The point of politics is to voice the opinion of the lobbyist, and they are working for corporations, not the public good. Since running an election is so expensive, there is no way of getting around this. Big Bucks only want government for the military - and to bail them out. The people in the United States are not to have well working schools, health or social security - but billions of dollars are regularly doled out to mismanaged financial institutions, banks and corporations. One set of rules for the rich, another for the poor.

The free trade - globalization- was never free. It’s an ingenious system that forces the working class to compete against each other in different countries. Only in certain jobs, for now, but just look at air hostesses if you want example. That’s gone from glamorous and well paid to a low wage job. The pilots are also heading the same way.

In the United States, the top tenth of a percent has become massively rich and thus equally powerful and influential. In the meantime the waves of the average person has been stagnant for 30 years.

You can have more democracy and more income equality, or less democracy and more inequality. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see what the United States have chosen, or rather, what the elite has decided. Europe is heading in the same direction.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to stay up all night because you’re angry and/or depressed about the state of the world? Read this book! Because everything is so, so corrupt and you have no power to stop it.

quote about the Republican Party:
“The Republicans have moved so far toward a dedication to the wealthy and the corporate sector that they can-not hope to get votes on their actual programs, and have turned to mobilizing sectors of the population that have always been there, but not as an organized coalitional political force: evangelicals, nativists, racists, and the victims of the forms of globalization designed to set working people around the world in competition with one another while protecting the privileged.”

Having recently spent a bit of time in Canada and Sweden, this quote is disturbingly accurate:
“Take a trip to Europe, Japan, or even China, and then come back to the United States. One of the things that immediately strikes you is the country’s falling apart, you often feel like you’re returning to a third world country. Infrastructure has collapsed, health care is a total wreck, the educational system is being torn to shreds, nothing works, and with incredible resources. To get people to sit passively and look at that reality takes very effective propaganda.”

[David Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

This lays out some very thought provoking and timely ideas that seek to understand how we have arrived at this state in our society. Only 3 stars, as while it is a well laid out book, it is really only a transcription of the talking segments from the film and I would have appreciated a more in depth exploration on the topics discussed.

[Sharof Hamroh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a gem.

I will definitely reread it in the future.

[Heather Neistein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noam Chomsky breaks it down simply: the US is no longer a Democracy. We are under corporate rule. We the people have been conditioned to believe in free markets while corporations that should be allowed to fail are bailed out by the government (we American taxpayers) as witnessed by the bank bailouts during the Great Recession.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal exposition of the state of America and the world

This is Chomsky with his most trenchant, wise, and despairingly concise prognosis for human existence.

Our only hope is to unite behind a fundamentally transformed and democratic socio-political-economic structure—or non-structure, perhaps.

[Randall Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

U.S. Planners saw two choices: you could reduce inequality, or you could reduce democracy. James Madison wanted to reduce Democracy while Aristotle wanted to increase Democracy. Madison’s way worked great, as long as “you didn’t pay attention to the victims. The United States was a settler-colonial society, the most brutal form of imperialism.” That conquest of Texas and half of Mexico was in order to increase production, “monopolize cotton” and “bring Britain to their knees.” Madison Quote: “They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.” MLK Quote: “The movement must address itself to the questions of restructuring the whole of American Society.” The plutonomy sees the world as Rich/Non-Rich. For Noam, the final backlash against the Plutonomy will only happen when the vast majority of America understands it can no longer participate in the American Dream. Public Schools and Social Security are under attack because they teach solidarity, sympathy and caring with others. “You have to drive that out of people’s heads.” Nixon was the last Liberal President, because with him you get CPSC, OSHA, EPA and so for Noam, Nixon “was the last New Deal president”. When Conservatives say to you they want to shrink the government, ask them “Is that why the government actually grew during the Reagan years?” Elections should take ten minutes of our time and then we get back to our daily activism. Control Labor and you control the idea of people’s rights. We are “rushing” towards environmental disaster, and Republican Party has become the “most dangerous organization in world history.” Activism thrives with face-to-face contact as shown in Egypt, and “activists are the people who have created the rights that we enjoy.” All in all, a great easy to read Chomsky primer about concerns for Americans.

[Harry Allagree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noam Chomsky lays out the current status of the United States, and there are obvious hints in the very title of this book as to where he's going with it: REQUIEM for the American Dream. 10 principles of CONCENTRATION OF WEALTH & POWER. It would simply be hard, if not impossible, to do any kind of justice to what Chomsky says in a short book review...this book must be read, digested & seriously thought about.

A Chomsky quote (p. 143) summarizes a general sense of what he feels: "The tendencies that we've been describing within American society, unless reversed, will create an extremely ugly society. A society that's based on Adam Smith's vile maxim, "All for ourselves, nothing for anyone else," the New Spirit of the Age, "gain wealth, forgetting all but self," a society in which normal human instincts and emotions of sympathy, solidarity, mutual support, in which they're driven out. That's a society so ugly I don't even know who'd want to live in it...If a society is based on control by private wealth, it will reflect those values--values of greed and desire to maximize personal gain at the expense of others...A global society based on that principle is headed for massive destruction..."

This book's format is superb in every aspect, visually extremely easy to read. Chomsky's style is more like a conversation, exceedingly clear, backed up by historical fact, many snippets of which are quoted within the chapters. He is blunt, honest, not given to exaggeration, hopeful...IF all of us are willing to learn how we can interact & learn from one another in order to correct society's serious defects & flaws, as Chomsky says, "by operating outside of the framework that is commonly accepted. I think we're going to have to find new ways of political action..."

[Mohammed Malaky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noam Chomsky is one of the best intellectual in our age and you can notice that in his book when he writing about the controversial issues that can give the best benefits of the readers to understand the global current circumstances



In this masterpieces, Noam talking about the Us policy, multinational corporation and the 1 Percents who control our society and Adam Smith named them the "Master of humankind"

Naomi in all his books represent the idea of
voice of reason, Naomi is an Idea and ideas can't die :)

[Donald · Rating 1 out of 5]

Chomsky has a tremendous reputation, so I know I'm asking for trouble in giving the book one star. While I agree with much of what was covered in this book, it was a tremendous disappointment in that it was more of an unsubstantiated repetition of progressive thought than any real original thought. Given Chomsky's intellectual reputation, I was expecting a LOT more. Saying something is true because the NYT reported on it doesn't cut it at this level. And if you are going to drop a bomb like "the most dangerous organization to humanity EVER is the Republican Party", you better be ready to articulate how that is even plausible. I'm sorry, but this sounds like a mediocre book report (summarizing the thoughts of others) from a scared old man. Hard pass.

[Nuruddin Azri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sedar tidak sedar, buku ini merupakan buku ke-15 oleh Noam Chomsky yang pernah kutelaah. Chomsky merupakan seorang sarjana berbangsa Yahudi yang membesar di Amerika Syarikat. Beliau cukup lantang mengkritik dasar-dasar Amerika Syarikat, ketidakadilan sosial, kesenjangan ekonomi, penindasan terhadap rakyat Palestin, sikap prejudis dan indoktrinisasi dalam media serta kepincangan dalam sistem pendidikan.

Kupasan beliau dalam dunia intelektual merentas aspek bahasa, politik, sosioekonomi, aktivisme, pendidikan dan juga falsafah.

Buku ini pada asalnya merupakan olahan daripada sebuah dokumentari yang menyentuh mengenai 10 Prinsip Pengautan Kekayaan dan Kekuasaan di Amerika Syarikat. Dua daripada prinsip tersebut telah pun mempunyai bukunya yang tersendiri iaitu - Keeping the Rabble in Line (koleksi temubual) dan Manufacturing Consent (penulisan mampan bersama Edward Herman).

10 Prinsip Pengautan Kekayaan dan Kekuasaan yang digariskan ialah:

i. Kurangkan demokrasi
ii. Bentuk ideologi
iii. Lakar semula ekonomi
iv. Alihkan beban
v. Serang solidariti
vi. Bentuk pengawal
vii. Bentuk pilihanraya
viii. Longgokkan proletarian dalam satu barisan
ix. Cipta kebenaran rakyat
x. Marginalisasikan populasi

Terdapat dua perkara menarik yang wajar dikongsi dalam buku ini iaitu:

i. Salah satu cara kerajaan melakar semula ekonomi ialah dengan menjadikan kelas pekerja berada pada zon “insecure”. Dengan ini, kelas tersebut tidak akan menuntut banyak “demand” - gaji yang baik, kondisi kerja yang baik, manfaat-manfaat lain kerana mereka telah menganggap ianya merupakan “ekonomi yang sihat”.

ii. Antara matlamat industri pengiklanan adalah untuk memerangkap rakyat kepada jerat konsumerisme - gadis-gadis akan ke pusat beli-belah pada hari Sabtu berbanding ke perpustakaan, kanak-kanak mengimpikan gajet lalu menghabiskan masa pada perkara yang mereka tidak perlu.

Buku ini akan menjadi lebih enak dibaca jika penyunting cukup hanya menyenaraikan bahan bacaan pada setiap hujung bab tanpa mencuplik petikan perenggan daripada setiap rujukan yang dibuat kerana cuplikan perenggan itu, pada akhirnya mengganggu tumpuan untuk aliran idea utama daripada mengalir.

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very broad overview of several disparate yet interwoven topics surrounding the increasing concentration of wealth and power in the current financial system, which Chomsky describes as a capitalistic oligarchy. Each chapter focuses on one principle used by those who control this system to keep the rest of society subdued and submissive. The outline shows these submissions reach into all aspects of society making it overall much less equitable for the majority. He lays out brief historical timelines and overviews to quickly describe his views for each “principle” which are always succinct if not always explained well or in any real depth. As stated, the book is only an overview or starting point for those interested in how our financial system has morphed into what it is today. As each chapter topic can, and has been expanded elsewhere into full length books of their own, the most useful part for those wanting to dive deeper is the Notes of Primary Sources section. Overall, this is a very quick read that can serve as an introduction to the ground level of several rabbit holes, all worthy of falling into.

[Eugenia Zhang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first time reading a book based on politics - usually I get this information from news articles or social media, so it was refreshing to get a new form of analysis. Probably why it got 4 stars instead of 3, which I kind of want to give it simply because I wasn’t totally WOW-ed.

I read the book already agreeing with most of the claims, so I can’t say much about how persuasive the arguments are - however, what I can say is that the beginning and ending were very interesting, with compelling literary evidence and takes I never heard of. The middle was more drab - it was like 4 chapters about the power of unionizing.

Overall, it was fine. Docking a star because I got bored in the middle and I feel like he could have condensed some of the information that was redundant.

[Eden Prosper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was dragging my feet on reading this one because I knew it would only discourage and unsettle me; however, I felt the time was right to dive into it considering the current political climate and the effects on my working conditions, as I am doubtlessly in the belly of the beast. I feel powerless and one of the few ways to counter that feeling and maintain any semblance of control is through education, as foreboding as that knowledge may be.

Requiem for the American Dream explores the systematic erosion of democratic values in the United States, focusing on how wealth and power have been concentrated in the hands of a few, undermining the original ideals of equality and opportunity. Through a series of interviews, Chomsky reflects on the history of economic and political policies that have favored the elite, leading to a growing divide between the rich and the rest of society. The work critiques the impact of corporate influence, the manipulation of public opinion, and the decline of social mobility, ultimately lamenting the loss of the American Dream. Chomsky emphasizes that this erosion of democracy is not accidental but the result of deliberate actions by those in power.

The book employs a structured, conversational and accessible format, centered on ten principles, supported by interviews and historical analysis. The writing offers a critical look at the concentration of power, while encouraging active reflection and engagement from its audience. Each chapter ends with a brief excerpt from the source referenced which gives strong credence to Chomsky’s insights.

While the book is undeniably important Chomsky's unyielding critique of neoliberalism and corporate power left me feeling a bit overwhelmed by the depth of the systemic issues he addresses. Though the book presents a clear analysis of the problems, it can be argued that it provides limited exploration of potential solutions or the positive aspects of American democracy that could serve as counterforces to the trends Chomsky criticizes. Leaving me feeling kind of how I started: Powerless.