First published 2025
Ruchir Sharma examines how a century of government growth has twisted capitalism into something unrecognizable. He argues that expanding state intervention created "socialized risk" across all economic levels. The poor receive welfare, the middle class gets entitlements, and the wealthy enjoy bailouts. This system emerged as governments grew in spending, regulation, and market rescues. The Reagan and Thatcher reforms failed to shrink the state. Instead, governments simply switched from taxation to borrowing as their primary funding mechanism. Over four decades, central banks and governments flooded markets with money, destroying capitalism's ability to allocate resources effectively. The economy became addicted to debt financing. Recent inflation failed to break this dependency. Modern capitalism's problems, from monopolies to extreme wealth concentration, stem from this borrow-and-bailout culture. Both conservatives and liberals now support bigger government for different reasons, from climate action to competing with China. Biden's policies will make America the developed world's largest deficit spender. Voters blame capitalism for economic problems, but the real culprit is government distortion of free markets. Productivity and growth have declined as the economic pie shrinks, fueling public anger. Sharma offers seven specific reforms to restore balance between state support and market freedom.
Genres: business, politics, economics, non-fiction
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: informed-consent
Period: 20th-Century, 21st-Century
384 pages · Paperback · Penguin