Financial TimesFinancial Times

Why America’s big companies keep getting bigger

By Ruchir Sharma

10 Apr 2023 · 3 min read

Editor's Note

The irony of the Silicon Valley Bank saga is that the government rescue has benefited Big Tech the most, Ruchir Sharma points out in his FT column. That's not how capitalism is supposed to work.

The irony of the Silicon Valley Bank saga is now complete. The crisis started inside the American tech sector’s favourite bank, but the government rescue has benefited Big Tech the most. As calm returns to the market, fuelled by megacap tech stocks, investors are naturally relieved. They need to be aware, however, of where a system built on bailouts is heading.

Even two decades ago, capitalism was marked by boom-bust cycles that disrupted incumbents and created space for upstarts. While still a ubiquitous word, “disruption” is finally fading as churn in the market stalls. The big beneficiaries of post-crisis rescues are big, established companies — and this is not how capitalism is supposed to work.

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