{"id":2506,"date":"2020-05-19T09:01:37","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T23:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/?p=2506"},"modified":"2020-05-19T09:01:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T23:01:37","slug":"the-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/the-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Deals that Made the World, Jacques Peretti, UK, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/images.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"143\" height=\"215\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2507\" \/>\u201cA country run as a business does not have to concern itself with the tropes of post-war liberal inclusiveness (tolerance, open borders, a welfare state, even taxation) only with its shareholders: the voters\u201d P.294<\/p>\n<p>Although interesting, this is definitely not a light read, and most of the time it is downright depressing. Peretti puts forward the argument that it is not governments and politicians running the world but a small group of very powerful businesses and businessmen. With chapters covering topics as diverse as cash, food, news and globalisation, Peretti tracks the way business is in the process of grabbing all power (and all finances) for itself. <\/p>\n<p>Much of the content of <em>The Deals that Made the World<\/em> is not surprising \u2013 on some level we have known or have guessed the case to be as Peretti describes \u2013 but the fact that it is all gathered together, in the one place, makes it more imperative and, if possible, more real.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2508\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2508\" style=\"width: 290px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/index.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"290\" height=\"174\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2508\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2508\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo of Jacques Peretti from The Guardian<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, I feel that the \u2018takeover\u2019 is a now done deal. We might  demonstrate and protest, but it is a bit like ants trying to stop a highway being built. We would need a tremendous financial upheaval (the coronavirus?) to break up all the deals that have been put in place. Only then \u2013 and with a strong commitment to building a society based on equality, not money \u2013 would we have the slightest chance of righting the many wrongs that are now firmly in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cA country run as a business does not have to concern itself with the tropes of post-war liberal inclusiveness (tolerance, open borders, a welfare state, even taxation) only with its shareholders: the voters\u201d P.294 Although interesting, this is definitely not a light read, and most of the time it is downright depressing. Peretti puts forward &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"readmore-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/the-deals\/\">+<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diane.eklund.abolins.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}