The Corporate World Has Its Own Inequality Problem
With 10% of the companies making 80% of the money, those in the middle get squeezed from both ends.
Liberals have a blind spot about inequality. They decry disparity between individuals—the fact, for example, that the 10 richest people in America have more money than the bottom 160 million. But they overlook inequality among companies, instead viewing Big Business as a troublesome monolith. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont occasionally tarred business with a broad brush, once saying the chiefs of large multinational companies “ain’t going to like me.”
The surprising truth is there’s as much inequality among large companies as there is among people. As with individuals, a handful of companies make the lion’s share of profits, while struggling companies do so poorly they actually destroy value for their shareholders and debtholders. In the middle is a stressed-out majority: unable to keep up with the best, while pressured by the desperate tactics of the worst.