Chokepoint Capitalism

Un livre de Rebecca Giblin et Cory Doctorow sur comment se créent des situations de monopole et de monopsone (quand il n’y a qu’un ou presque qu’un acheteur pour un service) dans le monde moderne, en se focalisant sur les produits culturels. J’ai trouvé le livre clair et convaincant, avec un dernier chapitre qui s’ouvre de manière générale sur la conquête de plus d’égalité social et qui était très inspirant.

Je mets 4 étoiles et pas 5 parce que j’aurais aimé un peu plus de conseils pratique et d’ouverture sur d’autres pays (c’est très US-centré, mais cela prévient dès le début que c’est la compétence des auteurs).

Plenty of good anecdotes on the way companies use their position as dominent buyers or sellers to manipulate markets, pocket unfair shares of wealth, and generally make life worse for everyone who isn't their execs and shareholders. The collective solutions proposed all seem like reasonable starting points, too—but while I agree with their point that systemic problems require systemic solutions, I don't feel like I left the book with a starting point of how to work towards that change.

Maybe just naming the problem and talking about it is a sound enough starting point. Chokepoint Capitalism is a useful term, evocative and intuitive to understand, but also expansive enough to capture a whole world of corporate corruption. If it bleeds its way into more general discourse, that can only be a good thing.

A great look at how big tech companies create monopolies. What I particularly liked was how it ends the book with some how by discussing how these monopolies can be undone.