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Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few
Scritto da Robert B. Reich
Narrato da Robert B. Reich
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In Saving Capitalism, Robert Reich reveals the entrenched cycles of power and influence that have damaged American capitalism, perpetuating a new oligarchy in which the 1 percent get ever richer and the rest - middle and working class alike - lose ever more economic agency, making for the greatest income inequality and wealth disparity since World War II. In brilliantly provocative detail, he shows how our misguided veneration of the "free market" has led us here and offers an empowering call to civic action as well as specific ideas for reform.
A former White House advisor, talk show fixture, lecturer, and essayist and the star of acclaimed documentary Inequality for All, Robert Reich is a beloved ambassador of progressive economics and a voice of reason in a media climate of fear mongering and finger pointing.
Azioni libro
Inizia ad ascoltareInformazioni sul libro
Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few
Scritto da Robert B. Reich
Narrato da Robert B. Reich
Descrizione
In Saving Capitalism, Robert Reich reveals the entrenched cycles of power and influence that have damaged American capitalism, perpetuating a new oligarchy in which the 1 percent get ever richer and the rest - middle and working class alike - lose ever more economic agency, making for the greatest income inequality and wealth disparity since World War II. In brilliantly provocative detail, he shows how our misguided veneration of the "free market" has led us here and offers an empowering call to civic action as well as specific ideas for reform.
A former White House advisor, talk show fixture, lecturer, and essayist and the star of acclaimed documentary Inequality for All, Robert Reich is a beloved ambassador of progressive economics and a voice of reason in a media climate of fear mongering and finger pointing.
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Recensioni
This is an important and thorough look at the economic aspect of what is wrong in America today- and since many of our other ills spring from the economics, it speaks to areas not explicitly addressed as well.If you are at all interested in how we got into this mess- and some similar historical situations- read this.In brief: it is not the "free market" vs the "government"; the market would not even exist without the legal enforcement of the government. The problem is that as wealth is accumulated by an ever-shrinking number of people, they are thus able to disproportionately affect the laws that cover the market... and so can rig it so that they keep siphoning off more and more.Now, this is not sustainable in the long run- but they don't care, and the rest of us have little ability to affect these matters.Reich tries to offer some hope...but I don't really see it, at least not until things collapse in a devastating way, which is inevitable unless things change.
There is an old adage, 'With great power comes great responsibility', and Reich argues that large corporations, banks, and Wall Street have neglected this duty in exchange for short-term personal gain. Two key points he comes back to throughout this book are that the dollar value of one's assets is not a measure of their worth, and that there is no such thing as a 'free' market. Beyond that, he shows how our political system has been rigged to favor the wealthy, and he highlights some of the key policy decisions over the last forty years that have helped create the excessive wealth and political influence enjoyed by ultra-rich in America today. He convincingly argues why this situation is unsustainable and provides rational suggestions for public policy changes that can help correct it. What more could you want? I highly recommend this one and hope politicians, pundits, and investment bankers carefully consider what he says. Who knows? They may begin to act responsibly.
If you're one of the 1%, don't read this book. For those of you in the other 99%, it's a must read. The middle class is going away and all we have to do to ensure it's demise.. is nothing. Corporations, CEO's, Wall Street, the big banks, they'll only be too happy to continue to have all the advantages of an economic, political and judicial system that has tipped so far in their favor that "overall, CEO pay climbed 937 percent between 1978 and 2013, while the pay of the typical worker rose just 10.2 percent." Not only that, but "between 2000 and 2013, the real average hourly wages of young college graduates declined." Read that last sentence again - we're not talking about giving hand-outs to bums here. This is about fixing a system that has become so corrupt that America is in real danger of falling into oligarchy. Witness the Koch brothers and their $1 billion war chest that is funding their preferred candidates in the present election cycle.Fortunately there is still time to take back what has been lost. The current corrupt system of crony capitalism isn't the way things have to stay. Mr Reich lays out in part three of his book how and why things can change. Reversal of Citizens United, resurrection of Glass-Steagall, rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are all essential to getting this country back on track, where profits are reflected in wage and benefit increases and not just in CEO salaries and share prices. Reich advocates a return to Stakeholder Capitalism "that takes into account the interests of workers, the community, and the environment, as well as shareholders," as opposed to Shareholder Capitalism which only benefits the investment bankers and venture capitalists and features "flat or declining wages, growing economic insecurity, outsourced jobs, abandoned communities, soaring CEO pay, a myopic focus on quarterly earnings, and a financial sector akin to a casino." Something's gotta change, and reading Saving Capitalism is a good place to start. Then you can start following Robert Reich on Facebook and start paying attention to your local candidates and their stances, and just where their campaign contributions are coming from. It's not about Republican or Democrat anymore, it's about taking back our country.