Chapter 11

After the Horsemen

In a democratic society the existence of large centers of private
power is dangerous to the continuing vitality of a free people.

—Louis Brandeis

THE FOUR MANIFEST GOD, love, sex, and consumption and add value to
billions of people’s lives each day. However, these firms are not
concerned with the condition of our souls, will not take care of us in
our old age, nor hold our hand. They are organizations that have
aggregated enormous power. Power corrupts, especially in a society
infected with what the pope calls the “idolatry of money.” These
companies avoid taxes, invade privacy, and destroy jobs to increase
profits because... they can. The concern is not only that firms do this,
but that the Four have become so good at it.
It took Facebook less than a decade to reach 1 billion customers.
Now it’s a global communications utility, with a nose to becoming the
world’s biggest advertising company. It’s a company with 17,000

employees valued at $448 billion.^1 ,^2 The riches flow to the lucky few.
Disney, a hugely successful media company by traditional standards,
commands less than half that market capitalization ($181 billion), but

employs 185,000 people.^3 ,^4