I looked forward to reading this book based on previous readings of Guy Standing's work, based on his status as both a labor organizer and a theorist of the precariat's role in the economy. I wasn't disappointed.

At the outset, Standing explains what he means by "rentier capitalism."

They assert a belief in 'free markets' and want us to believe that economic policies are extending them. That is untrue. Today we have the most unfree market system ever created….

How can politicians look into TV cameras and say we have a free market system when patents guarantee monopoly incomes for twenty years, preventing anyone from competing? How can they claim there are free markets when copyright rules give a guaranteed income for seventy years after a person's death? How can they claim free markets exist when one person or company is given a subsidy and not others, or when they sell off the commons that belong to all of us, at a discount, to a favoured individual or company, or when Uber, TaskRabbit and their ilk act as unregulated labour brokers, profiting from the labour of others?