MORE OR LESS?

The Challenge

Corporations in both the US and UK have grown vast - often into cartels and monopolies - complex and difficult to restrain. They now reach into nearly every area of life, command enormous financial power, and increasingly use technology to track and shape consumer behaviour. As companies grow, small elites often bend them to their own advantage. Without strong accountability, business serves itself first and the public last. We must relieve ourselves of the fatal conveniences they offer.

Inflation, Shrinkflation

Modern corporations quietly give us less while charging more. Shrinkflation is now routine, with smaller quantities sold at higher prices, sometimes cut by half per unit. Products are designed to break or become outdated quickly, with the average smartphone lasting barely two and a half years before replacement. This cycle of planned obsolescence keeps profits high but forces constant spending. The environmental toll is severe, with endless waste and resources consumed to maintain artificial demand. The result is a marketplace that takes more and delivers less.

Data Harvesting

Modern companies harvest data as eagerly as they sell products. Data collection is as important today as their other services as they use it for themselves or sell it to the highest bidder among third parties.

Constant updates, forced sign-ins, endless passwords and repeated demands to enter emails are not about security but about extracting more personal information. Every click, location and purchase is tracked, often bundled into vast profiles sold on to advertisers or used internally with little or no accountability. Consent is buried in unread terms, leaving people effectively powerless. The result is a system where citizens hand over their privacy simply to use basic services, becoming the product rather than the customer.

Corporate Capture of the State

Modern corporations do not simply compete in the market – they are deeply entwined with government. Through constant lobbying, vast sums are spent shaping policy to protect profits. Politicians look the other way on clearly harmful products – from addictive junk food and damaging pharmaceuticals to destructive environmental practices – even as they regulate the smallest details of ordinary people’s lives.

Tax breaks, subsidies and offshore loopholes allow major firms to avoid paying their share while small businesses and workers carry the burden. Regulators meant to restrain abuse are often staffed by insiders who later take lucrative posts in the very industries they once oversaw. The result is an alignment where state and corporate power shield each other, leaving the public to pay the price.

Algorithmic Manipulation and Addiction

Modern corporations shape behaviour not by choice but by design. Online shops and marketplaces use hidden algorithms to nudge people towards higher-priced or less suitable options, with search results skewed by paid placement rather than genuine relevance. The same methods are used to keep us hooked – from sugar, salt and fat in food to the constant dopamine hits engineered into our phones and social media feeds. What looks like convenience is often a trap, where systems are deliberately built to feed compulsion at the cost of mental and physical health. The outcome is a culture of quiet dependency where people spend more, feel worse, and yet return for more of the same.

The Solution

In order to make corporations accountable and bring back the notion that the customer is always in the right, the tools are already in our hands. The reach of social media to unite and coordinate, our collective purchase power to reward or punish companies, and community action through the courts and political channels when needed (using PACs). By combining these, citizens can push back against unaccountable corporations, cut through elite capture, and reassert that business must serve customers first, and not themselves first.

Fighting Back Against Shrinkflation and Waste

The answer begins with Less is More – refusing to buy endless replacements and valuing durability over novelty. Through purchase power, people can support companies that build long-lasting products and reject those that thrive on planned obsolescence. Buycotts – coordinated boycotts and targeted spending – send a clear signal that quality and honesty matter more than flashy marketing. Where firms mislead, legal action can force transparency ((buycotts"), while political pressure can demand stronger standards on product lifespan and environmental impact. Legal action, if needed, is also a key tool. Step by step, citizens can push the market back toward serving people rather than exploiting them.

Fighting Back Against Data Harvesting

The first defence is Less is More – limiting the number of apps, accounts and devices that demand endless sign-ins and updates. Through purchase power, people can favour companies that respect privacy and avoid those that treat users as raw material. Buycotts can target firms that abuse data collection, while supporting alternatives that offer genuine choice and transparency. Legal action is a key tool, challenging misuse and forcing compliance with rights already on paper but too often ignored. At the same time, political pressure can push for simpler consent rules, stronger penalties, and restrictions on the resale of personal information. By combining restraint with resistance, citizens can reclaim their status as customers, not products.

Breaking Corporate Capture

The only counterweight to this alignment is organised People Power and purchase power. It is possible to counter the political influence corporations have, buy using boycotts / "buycotts". By using purchase power, citizens can weaken firms that rely on political protection while supporting those that operate fairly. Buycotts punish the worst offenders by restricting the money which flows to them, cutting demand where it hurts most. Legal action can also be used to challenge conflicts of interest, from harmful products to unfair tax avoidance, forcing accountability through the courts. At the same time, sustained political pressure is vital – demanding rules that close offshore loopholes, curb lobbying excesses, and bar the revolving door between regulator and industry. Step by step, the public can prise apart the grip of corporate capture, ensuring both business and government serve society, not themselves.

Resisting Algorithmic Control

The way forward is to think Less is More – breaking cycles of compulsion by cutting back on unnecessary consumption and constant screen time. With purchase power, people can reward companies that offer genuine choice and healthier options, while rejecting those that rely on manipulation and addiction. Buycotts can expose platforms and products that profit from engineered dependence, steering demand toward alternatives built on transparency and wellbeing. Where hidden algorithms and deceptive design cause harm, legal action can challenge their use, and political pressure can demand open standards and limits on addictive practices. By refusing to be nudged and by coordinating resistance, citizens can reclaim both their wallets and their minds from systems designed to control them. Do not let stuff own you.