Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power

Economist Adam Smith defined this concept, which can be summarized as the selfish principle of wanting “all for ourselves and nothing for anyone else” (xiv). It highlights how elites—or the “Masters of Society” (145)—act purely out of selfish greed at the expense of the public.

Chomsky defines this as the process by which profit is increasingly generated through financial institutions such as investment banks and financial markets rather than through the manufacture of goods. Financialization helps concentrate power to the elite and—combined with offshoring—devaluates the average worker.

This refers to the corporate practice of moving manufacturing to other countries, where labor cost is cheaper (and regulations are often less stringent), to maximize profit. Chomsky argues that this practice often exploits overseas workers and forces them to work in unsafe environments. In addition, offshoring results in a loss of power for domestic workers, whose demands for better salaries and working conditions corporations can easily be ignore due to a ready supply of exploited international workers.