2. Increasingly reference to the "global economy" implies the system of global corporate mercantilism where financial flows, terms of trade, and the like are determined by a consensus dominated by super-powers such as the USA. This new economic hegemony is not subject to popular democratic control, despite the global increase in "democracy". It is a system in which profits are privatized and risks are socialized.
3. The global web of economic power created by national and international industry cartels guarantee home market protection, hunting ground agreements, price fixing, market division and technological accords. These arrangements distort prices of most goods that are traded. Such invisible structures make a virtual mockery of arguments in support of free competition.