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The Problem of Twelve

When a Few Financial Institutions Control Everything

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The Problem of Twelve

By: John Coates
Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins
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$8.99/month after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offer ends on 29 July 2026 at 11:59 AEST.

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The forces behind an economic crisis in the making

A “problem of twelve” arises when a small number of institutions acquire the means to exert outsized influence over the politics and economy of a nation. The Big Three index funds of Vanguard, State Street, and BlackRock control more than twenty percent of the votes of S&P 500 companies—a concentration of power that’s unprecedented in America.

Then there’s the rise of private equity funds such as the Big Four of Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR, which has amassed $2.7 trillion of assets, and are eroding the legitimacy and accountability of American capitalism, not by controlling public companies, but by taking them over entirely, and removing them from the government’s regulation.

What can be done to check this level of power? Harvard law professor John Coates argues that only politics can fight the problem of twelve.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF that contains charts and illustrations from the book.
Corporate & Public Finance Economics Investing & Trading Organisational Behaviour Workplace & Organisational Behaviour Taxation Capitalism Banking Business Government Socialism Economic Inequality
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