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Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality
The issue of inequality has irrefutably returned to the fore, riding on the anger against Wall Street following the 2008 financial crisis and the accumulation of economic and political power in the hands of the super-rich. The Occupy movement has made the plight of the 99 percent an indelible part of the public consciousness, while inequality was a decisive factor in the outcome of the 2012 presidential elections. Yet in this most unequal of developed nations, every aspect of inequality remains hotly contested, its causes, its solutions, and its ramifications poorly understood.
Compiled by the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist David Cay Johnston, The 99% Reader gathers together the writings of leading scholars, activists, and journalists to provide an illuminating, multifaceted look at inequality in America. Combining surprising statistical evidence with penetrating new analysis, the contributors explore the devastating implications that income inequality has on areas as diverse as education, justice, healthcare, social mobility, and political representation. This is an essential resource for anyone who cares about the future of America and a compelling argument that inequality can only be ignored at the nation’s peril.
Compiled by the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist David Cay Johnston, The 99% Reader gathers together the writings of leading scholars, activists, and journalists to provide an illuminating, multifaceted look at inequality in America. Combining surprising statistical evidence with penetrating new analysis, the contributors explore the devastating implications that income inequality has on areas as diverse as education, justice, healthcare, social mobility, and political representation. This is an essential resource for anyone who cares about the future of America and a compelling argument that inequality can only be ignored at the nation’s peril.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2013
86 people are currently reading
673 people want to read
About the author
David Cay Johnston
19 books217 followersDavid Cay Boyle Johnston (born December 24, 1948) is an American investigative journalist and author, a specialist in economics and tax issues, and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting.
From 2009 to 2016 he was a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer who taught the tax, property, and regulatory law of the ancient world at Syracuse University College of Law and the Whitman School of Management. From July 2011 until September 2012 he was a columnist for Reuters, writing, and producing video commentaries, on worldwide issues of tax, accounting, economics, public finance and business. Johnston is the board president of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He has also written for Al Jazeera English and America in recent years.
From 2009 to 2016 he was a Distinguished Visiting Lecturer who taught the tax, property, and regulatory law of the ancient world at Syracuse University College of Law and the Whitman School of Management. From July 2011 until September 2012 he was a columnist for Reuters, writing, and producing video commentaries, on worldwide issues of tax, accounting, economics, public finance and business. Johnston is the board president of Investigative Reporters and Editors. He has also written for Al Jazeera English and America in recent years.
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January 6, 2016
Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality edited by David Cay Johnston
“Divided” is a very solid collection of essays regarding the growing inequality in our society. The essays come from a wide range of influential sources that include the likes of President Obama, economists, lawyers, journalists, educators and politicians. Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Cay Johnston put together this fine collection that ranges from the rare ordinary to some real standouts. This stimulating 352-page book includes a total of thirty-nine essays broken out by the following seven main topics: 1. Overview, 2. Income Inequality, 3. Education, 4. Health Care Inequality, 5. Debt and Poverty, 6. Policy, and 7. Family.
Positives:
1. A well-written, accessible book.
2. A good collection of essays that cover many aspects of the growing inequality in our society. Can be read in any order.
3. The book is well structured. The essays are broken out by inequality occurring by theme.
4. The book succeeds in covering the most important point sought out by Johnston, “The single most important point of Divided is: keep in mind who benefits and who does not. It’s our choice. We decide.”
5. President Obama kicks of this solid collection of essays with a great speech he delivered on December 6, 2011, at Osawatomie High School in Osawatomie, Kansas.
6. The following positives will highlight the best essays of the book. Elizabeth Warren’s makes the compelling case for creating a Financial Product Safety Commission (FPSC) on the model of the Consumer Product Safety Commission to protect consumers from abusive banking practices. Her idea became law as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Professor Warren helped set up in 2010–2011.
7. Joseph E. Stiglitz states four reasons inequality is holding our recovery back. “The most immediate is that our middle class is too weak to support the consumer spending that has historically driven our economic growth.”
8. Kim Bobo provides a 5-star essay on how unions protect the interests of workers. “Unions not only raise wages, benefits, and working conditions. They stop wage theft. Unions are one of the most effective wage-theft deterrents around.”
9. Interesting essay by Christopher Jencks that explains why many jobs pay so poorly. “The logic of a market economy is that we should all be paid the smallest amount that will ensure that our work gets done, and that is what low-wage workers generally receive.”
10. Beth Shulman explains the reason behind the ever expanding service-producing sector. “In 1947, service-sector industries accounted for only half of all hours of employment. A half century later, approximately 80 percent of the 134 million nonfarm jobs are in the service-producing industries: retail trade, transportation, telecommunications, utilities, wholesale trade, finance, insurance and real estate, federal, state, and local government, and services.”
11. Two leading advocates for a fairer economy, Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel, explain how great fortunes were assisted by taxpayer’s investments. “Thoughtful Americans are advancing a variety of proposals that would narrow the wealth gap, ranging from expanding worker ownership to creating universal asset-building accounts.”
12. Paul Krugman debunks the myth that education alone is responsible for our inequality. “What we’re seeing isn’t the rise of a fairly broad class of knowledge workers. Instead, we’re seeing the rise of a narrow oligarchy: income and wealth are becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of small, privileged elite. The proof is right in the data we economists get paid to analyze and understand.”
13. Sean F. Reardon exposes what’s really behind children’s success in school. “Family income is now a better predictor of children’s success in school than race.”
14. Mary E. O’Brien provides an analysis of unequal quality of care. “Quality of health care has little meaning if millions are unable to access care in the first place.” “What we need is a system that scrupulously guards our medical privacy and confidentiality while affording health care professionals immediate access to a patient’s medical history.”
15. Authors Olveen Carrasquillo and Jaime Torres show how racism pervades the provision of health care in America with severe consequences. “Disparities in health are due to a variety of factors—including environment, housing, poverty, education, and racism—that go far beyond just having insurance.”
16. Leo W. Gerard explains the benefits of universal health care. “A national single-payer system would relieve corporations of the burden of health-insurance administration, stabilize costs, and give corporations, the global level playing field they want.”
17. My favorite essay goes to Inequality Kills by Stephen Bezruchka. “The forty-seven infant deaths occur every day because of the way society in the United States is structured, resulting in our health status being that of a middle-income country, not a rich country.”
18. Robert Kutter explains why inequality is as much a political problem as an economic one. “A prosperous economy demands investment in children, in health, in education, in job training, in public systems, in the commons generally.”
19. Two scholars Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson, show how Social Security does more to reduce income inequality and prevent poverty among the old in the United States than any other program, public or private, while providing crucial protection for orphans and the disabled. “The reality is that Social Security is not a government handout. It is a benefit that is earned and paid for through hard work.”
20. Ernest Drucker closes out the best of the rest with his excellent essay titled, A Different Kind of Epidemic. “A subtle but significant factor in inequality is America’s use of long prison sentences for nonviolent crimes, which has hit black Americans especially hard. A prominent epidemiologist explains this as a new kind of public health problem.”
Negatives:
1. Some essays did not live up to the quality established overall. Adam Smith’s (yes that Adam Smith) essay or excerpt on necessaries was underwhelming.
2. Barbara Ehrenreich’s satirical essay on the other end of the pay scale falls flat.
3. Herrera was misspelled throughout one of the best essays of the book, Wage Theft by Kim Bobo.
4. Unless you look closely you would think that this book was written by David Cay Johnston. The book cover does not make clear it’s a book of essays, the term edited implies that but I would venture to say many will miss that.
5. Lack of supplementary materials. I would have added a chapter of interesting tidbits that highlight the main theme of the book. Perhaps a table that showcases what CEOs of top companies make versus the average employee.
In summary, this was an interesting and accessible book of essays covering the hot topic of income inequality. These are generally high-quality essays that cover a wide-range of topics within inequality. A worthwhile read, I recommend it!
Further recommendations: “Perfectly Legal”, “The Fine Print” and “Free Lunch” by the same author, “Divide” by Matt Taibbi, “Runaway Inequality” and “Looting America” by Les Leopold, “Saving Capitalism” and “Beyond Outrage” by Robert B. Reich, “Protecting Capitalism Case by Case” by Eliot Spitzer, “The Great Divide” and “The Price of Inequality” by Joseph E. Stiglitz, “Winner-Take-All Politics” by Jacob S. Hacker “Republic, Lost” by Lawrence Lessig, “The New Elite” by Dr. Jim Taylor, “ECONned” by Yves Smith, “The Great Divergence” by Timothy Noah, and “Bailout” by Neil Barofsky.
“Divided” is a very solid collection of essays regarding the growing inequality in our society. The essays come from a wide range of influential sources that include the likes of President Obama, economists, lawyers, journalists, educators and politicians. Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Cay Johnston put together this fine collection that ranges from the rare ordinary to some real standouts. This stimulating 352-page book includes a total of thirty-nine essays broken out by the following seven main topics: 1. Overview, 2. Income Inequality, 3. Education, 4. Health Care Inequality, 5. Debt and Poverty, 6. Policy, and 7. Family.
Positives:
1. A well-written, accessible book.
2. A good collection of essays that cover many aspects of the growing inequality in our society. Can be read in any order.
3. The book is well structured. The essays are broken out by inequality occurring by theme.
4. The book succeeds in covering the most important point sought out by Johnston, “The single most important point of Divided is: keep in mind who benefits and who does not. It’s our choice. We decide.”
5. President Obama kicks of this solid collection of essays with a great speech he delivered on December 6, 2011, at Osawatomie High School in Osawatomie, Kansas.
6. The following positives will highlight the best essays of the book. Elizabeth Warren’s makes the compelling case for creating a Financial Product Safety Commission (FPSC) on the model of the Consumer Product Safety Commission to protect consumers from abusive banking practices. Her idea became law as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Professor Warren helped set up in 2010–2011.
7. Joseph E. Stiglitz states four reasons inequality is holding our recovery back. “The most immediate is that our middle class is too weak to support the consumer spending that has historically driven our economic growth.”
8. Kim Bobo provides a 5-star essay on how unions protect the interests of workers. “Unions not only raise wages, benefits, and working conditions. They stop wage theft. Unions are one of the most effective wage-theft deterrents around.”
9. Interesting essay by Christopher Jencks that explains why many jobs pay so poorly. “The logic of a market economy is that we should all be paid the smallest amount that will ensure that our work gets done, and that is what low-wage workers generally receive.”
10. Beth Shulman explains the reason behind the ever expanding service-producing sector. “In 1947, service-sector industries accounted for only half of all hours of employment. A half century later, approximately 80 percent of the 134 million nonfarm jobs are in the service-producing industries: retail trade, transportation, telecommunications, utilities, wholesale trade, finance, insurance and real estate, federal, state, and local government, and services.”
11. Two leading advocates for a fairer economy, Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel, explain how great fortunes were assisted by taxpayer’s investments. “Thoughtful Americans are advancing a variety of proposals that would narrow the wealth gap, ranging from expanding worker ownership to creating universal asset-building accounts.”
12. Paul Krugman debunks the myth that education alone is responsible for our inequality. “What we’re seeing isn’t the rise of a fairly broad class of knowledge workers. Instead, we’re seeing the rise of a narrow oligarchy: income and wealth are becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of small, privileged elite. The proof is right in the data we economists get paid to analyze and understand.”
13. Sean F. Reardon exposes what’s really behind children’s success in school. “Family income is now a better predictor of children’s success in school than race.”
14. Mary E. O’Brien provides an analysis of unequal quality of care. “Quality of health care has little meaning if millions are unable to access care in the first place.” “What we need is a system that scrupulously guards our medical privacy and confidentiality while affording health care professionals immediate access to a patient’s medical history.”
15. Authors Olveen Carrasquillo and Jaime Torres show how racism pervades the provision of health care in America with severe consequences. “Disparities in health are due to a variety of factors—including environment, housing, poverty, education, and racism—that go far beyond just having insurance.”
16. Leo W. Gerard explains the benefits of universal health care. “A national single-payer system would relieve corporations of the burden of health-insurance administration, stabilize costs, and give corporations, the global level playing field they want.”
17. My favorite essay goes to Inequality Kills by Stephen Bezruchka. “The forty-seven infant deaths occur every day because of the way society in the United States is structured, resulting in our health status being that of a middle-income country, not a rich country.”
18. Robert Kutter explains why inequality is as much a political problem as an economic one. “A prosperous economy demands investment in children, in health, in education, in job training, in public systems, in the commons generally.”
19. Two scholars Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson, show how Social Security does more to reduce income inequality and prevent poverty among the old in the United States than any other program, public or private, while providing crucial protection for orphans and the disabled. “The reality is that Social Security is not a government handout. It is a benefit that is earned and paid for through hard work.”
20. Ernest Drucker closes out the best of the rest with his excellent essay titled, A Different Kind of Epidemic. “A subtle but significant factor in inequality is America’s use of long prison sentences for nonviolent crimes, which has hit black Americans especially hard. A prominent epidemiologist explains this as a new kind of public health problem.”
Negatives:
1. Some essays did not live up to the quality established overall. Adam Smith’s (yes that Adam Smith) essay or excerpt on necessaries was underwhelming.
2. Barbara Ehrenreich’s satirical essay on the other end of the pay scale falls flat.
3. Herrera was misspelled throughout one of the best essays of the book, Wage Theft by Kim Bobo.
4. Unless you look closely you would think that this book was written by David Cay Johnston. The book cover does not make clear it’s a book of essays, the term edited implies that but I would venture to say many will miss that.
5. Lack of supplementary materials. I would have added a chapter of interesting tidbits that highlight the main theme of the book. Perhaps a table that showcases what CEOs of top companies make versus the average employee.
In summary, this was an interesting and accessible book of essays covering the hot topic of income inequality. These are generally high-quality essays that cover a wide-range of topics within inequality. A worthwhile read, I recommend it!
Further recommendations: “Perfectly Legal”, “The Fine Print” and “Free Lunch” by the same author, “Divide” by Matt Taibbi, “Runaway Inequality” and “Looting America” by Les Leopold, “Saving Capitalism” and “Beyond Outrage” by Robert B. Reich, “Protecting Capitalism Case by Case” by Eliot Spitzer, “The Great Divide” and “The Price of Inequality” by Joseph E. Stiglitz, “Winner-Take-All Politics” by Jacob S. Hacker “Republic, Lost” by Lawrence Lessig, “The New Elite” by Dr. Jim Taylor, “ECONned” by Yves Smith, “The Great Divergence” by Timothy Noah, and “Bailout” by Neil Barofsky.
August 6, 2015
A collection of articles, essays and speeches made by economists, professors, politicians that address the problems associated with the unprecedented inequality in our society today. People such as Paul Krugman, Elizabeth Warren, Adam Smith (yes, THE Adam Smith), Barack Obama and many more - Pulitzer Prize winning authors and NY Times journalists. From hunger, to education, to the working poor, health care - how this inequality is affecting the lives of citizens at ALL levels and therefore detrimental to the country as a whole.
April 24, 2014
Divided is a collection of essays, speeches, and articles by wide range of contributors. They include Barack Obama, Paul Krugman, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Elizabeth Warren, Barbara Ehrenreich, and many more across various fields of expertise. I found it surprising that he would open up the book with a speech from Obama. As to whether or not Johnston is aware as to how much the right hates Obama, I can only guess. That is the side of the political divide that needs convincing.
The content of this book is divided into six sections, and a beginning overview that includes the previously mentioned speech by Obama, a piece written by Elizabeth Warren, and an excerpt from Adam Smith. Income inequality follows the overview, and is continued with education, health care inequality, debt and poverty, policy, and family. Many of the articles are jammed packed with facts and figures from various studies done around the time of the pieces composition. Not all of them are current up to the 2014 publication of this book.
For those who are truly unaware and ignorant of the growing problems of inequality; whether they be income inequality, or health care inequality (very important in regards to current debate over "Obamacare"), this book will teach you something. I loved the usage of quotes from famous people on the problem of inequality, and I absolutely loved the contribution by Moshe Adler. However, I must admit I love anything on Jeremy Bentham and utilitarianism.
Politics ultimately controls the outcomes of society. The thing we must remember is that it's our choice as to who benefits and who does not in this society. We decide. No matter how skeptical I am of the political system (I am highly skeptical), people must begin to accept that inequality affects us all. If you don't believe me, read this books collection of articles.
The content of this book is divided into six sections, and a beginning overview that includes the previously mentioned speech by Obama, a piece written by Elizabeth Warren, and an excerpt from Adam Smith. Income inequality follows the overview, and is continued with education, health care inequality, debt and poverty, policy, and family. Many of the articles are jammed packed with facts and figures from various studies done around the time of the pieces composition. Not all of them are current up to the 2014 publication of this book.
For those who are truly unaware and ignorant of the growing problems of inequality; whether they be income inequality, or health care inequality (very important in regards to current debate over "Obamacare"), this book will teach you something. I loved the usage of quotes from famous people on the problem of inequality, and I absolutely loved the contribution by Moshe Adler. However, I must admit I love anything on Jeremy Bentham and utilitarianism.
Politics ultimately controls the outcomes of society. The thing we must remember is that it's our choice as to who benefits and who does not in this society. We decide. No matter how skeptical I am of the political system (I am highly skeptical), people must begin to accept that inequality affects us all. If you don't believe me, read this books collection of articles.
December 20, 2021
Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality, David Cay Johnston, ed., 2014, ISBN 9781595589231, Dewey 305, 324pp.
39 articles by Elizabeth Warren, Joseph Stiglitz, Studs Terkel, David Cay Johnston, and many others.
Robert H. Frank, 2006, pp. 35-43
Rich kids taunt poor kids.
Your odds of dying are about 5 times as high in a 2,500-lb Honda Civic colliding with a 7,500-lb. Ford Excursion.
You may have to buy in an expensive area to get your kids a good school.
Median house price in a town tracks income in the top few percent of the town.
Gains at the top impose costs on the middle.
The median voter is in debt, and reluctant to vote for essential services. Delaying road- and bridge-repair makes repair bills much higher, damages vehicles, and kills.
Robert H. Frank (1945- ) is an economics professor at Cornell.
Joseph Stiglitz, 2013, pp. 44-49
The people who /spend/ their money have less in 2013 than they had in 1996.
The vast majority of people can afford neither college nor to start a business.
The people who /pay/ taxes--distinct from the rich, who avoid taxes--have less. So governments have little to spend.
The rich have no need to spend--they already have more than they can use--so they use their wealth to bid up the prices of real or fictitious assets--which bubbles burst, taking the real economy down.
More than a fifth of American children live in poverty: worse than Bulgaria and Greece.
Unemployment lowers wages. Real wages are less in 2011 than in 1968.
Median household wealth fell 40%, 2007 to 2010.
Student debt in 2010 is $1 trillion.
Tax laws encourage companies to produce overseas.
The economy would be stronger if inequalty were less.
Joseph Stiglitz (1943- ) is an economics professor at Columbia.
Kim Bobo, 2008, pp. 50-64
Unions stop wage theft.
Kim Bobo (1954- ) is founding executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice in Chicago.
39 articles by Elizabeth Warren, Joseph Stiglitz, Studs Terkel, David Cay Johnston, and many others.
Robert H. Frank, 2006, pp. 35-43
Rich kids taunt poor kids.
Your odds of dying are about 5 times as high in a 2,500-lb Honda Civic colliding with a 7,500-lb. Ford Excursion.
You may have to buy in an expensive area to get your kids a good school.
Median house price in a town tracks income in the top few percent of the town.
Gains at the top impose costs on the middle.
The median voter is in debt, and reluctant to vote for essential services. Delaying road- and bridge-repair makes repair bills much higher, damages vehicles, and kills.
Robert H. Frank (1945- ) is an economics professor at Cornell.
Joseph Stiglitz, 2013, pp. 44-49
The people who /spend/ their money have less in 2013 than they had in 1996.
The vast majority of people can afford neither college nor to start a business.
The people who /pay/ taxes--distinct from the rich, who avoid taxes--have less. So governments have little to spend.
The rich have no need to spend--they already have more than they can use--so they use their wealth to bid up the prices of real or fictitious assets--which bubbles burst, taking the real economy down.
More than a fifth of American children live in poverty: worse than Bulgaria and Greece.
Unemployment lowers wages. Real wages are less in 2011 than in 1968.
Median household wealth fell 40%, 2007 to 2010.
Student debt in 2010 is $1 trillion.
Tax laws encourage companies to produce overseas.
The economy would be stronger if inequalty were less.
Joseph Stiglitz (1943- ) is an economics professor at Columbia.
Kim Bobo, 2008, pp. 50-64
Unions stop wage theft.
Kim Bobo (1954- ) is founding executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice in Chicago.
September 21, 2015
Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality edited by David Cay Johnston is a collection of excerpts about inequality from other books, speeches and articles. Johnston brings together writings of leading scholars, activists and journalists to provide a deeper look into inequality in the United States.
Divided is split into seven sections: Overview, Income Inequality, Education, Health Care Inequality, Debt and Poverty, Policy and Family. The first two sections take up almost half of the book, which makes sense since income inequality is related to inequality in all of the other areas discussed later in the book. The writers talk about the history of inequality in the United States, and the fact that the divide between the rich and the middle class and poor has grown substantially in the past few decades. Many statistics stand out, including one highlighted in the book's jacket: "Shockingly, from 2009 to 2011, the top 1 percent got 121 percent of the income gains while the bottom 99 percent saw their income fall."
Inequality affects many aspects of our lives. President Barack Obama notes that inequality gives a stronger voice to those who can afford to pay lobbyists and fund political campaigns. Sean F. Reardon discusses the fact that high-income families are able to spend more resources on educational experiences for their children, such as high-priced preschool programs, specialized camps and many other opportunities that widen the academic achievement gap between rich and poor. Stephen Bezruchka talks about the fact that inequality is at the heart of the relatively poor health in the United States; "over thirty nations have better health by many measures than the United States." (p190-191)
One of the big changes is that it is not the gap between the poor and the middle class that is widening today; it is the gap between the richest of the rich, the 1 percent, and the rest of the country. It's the middle class that is suffering now. As Elizabeth Warren states:
"America was once a world of three economic groups that shaded each into the other--a bottom, a middle, and a top--and economic security was the birthright of the latter two. Today the lines dividing Americans are changing. No longer is the division on economic security between the poor and everyone else. The division is between those who are prospering and those who are struggling, and much of the middle class is now on the struggling side." (p28-29)
Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Economy is a great collection of thoughts on the issue of inequality in America. It definitely leans toward the left in terms of political views, but it is a real eye-opener in terms of understanding inequality, education, economic policy and other aspects of our country that are affecting each and every one of us today.
Divided is split into seven sections: Overview, Income Inequality, Education, Health Care Inequality, Debt and Poverty, Policy and Family. The first two sections take up almost half of the book, which makes sense since income inequality is related to inequality in all of the other areas discussed later in the book. The writers talk about the history of inequality in the United States, and the fact that the divide between the rich and the middle class and poor has grown substantially in the past few decades. Many statistics stand out, including one highlighted in the book's jacket: "Shockingly, from 2009 to 2011, the top 1 percent got 121 percent of the income gains while the bottom 99 percent saw their income fall."
Inequality affects many aspects of our lives. President Barack Obama notes that inequality gives a stronger voice to those who can afford to pay lobbyists and fund political campaigns. Sean F. Reardon discusses the fact that high-income families are able to spend more resources on educational experiences for their children, such as high-priced preschool programs, specialized camps and many other opportunities that widen the academic achievement gap between rich and poor. Stephen Bezruchka talks about the fact that inequality is at the heart of the relatively poor health in the United States; "over thirty nations have better health by many measures than the United States." (p190-191)
One of the big changes is that it is not the gap between the poor and the middle class that is widening today; it is the gap between the richest of the rich, the 1 percent, and the rest of the country. It's the middle class that is suffering now. As Elizabeth Warren states:
"America was once a world of three economic groups that shaded each into the other--a bottom, a middle, and a top--and economic security was the birthright of the latter two. Today the lines dividing Americans are changing. No longer is the division on economic security between the poor and everyone else. The division is between those who are prospering and those who are struggling, and much of the middle class is now on the struggling side." (p28-29)
Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Economy is a great collection of thoughts on the issue of inequality in America. It definitely leans toward the left in terms of political views, but it is a real eye-opener in terms of understanding inequality, education, economic policy and other aspects of our country that are affecting each and every one of us today.
January 21, 2018
Fascinating Collection of Articles on American Financial Inequality
These articles discuss the causes, implications, and impact on our country for potential unrest, political harm to the democracy and the country's development. People in America are being continually harmed. David Cay Johnston is the editor of this election . He often appears on MSNBC. He provides an insightful book on inequality and how it harms the nation that we love and the people living inside its borders. Because the U.S. is such a huge example for the world, what policies are advanced affects other countries. To some, we may be an example for cracking down on civil liberties, to others, the U.S. will become irrelevant and another nation Wil become more important.
These articles discuss the causes, implications, and impact on our country for potential unrest, political harm to the democracy and the country's development. People in America are being continually harmed. David Cay Johnston is the editor of this election . He often appears on MSNBC. He provides an insightful book on inequality and how it harms the nation that we love and the people living inside its borders. Because the U.S. is such a huge example for the world, what policies are advanced affects other countries. To some, we may be an example for cracking down on civil liberties, to others, the U.S. will become irrelevant and another nation Wil become more important.
March 11, 2015
The first two essays in this collection by David Cay Johnston are President Barack Obama's great 'Osawatomie , Kansas speech -- the President's re-election 2012 campaign speech was a prairie populist economic manifesto for the 21st century and an essay by Elizabeth Warren on our rigged economic system. This book is an excellent source book for understanding how we might positively reform the rigged social and economic system that we're still facing today. I highly recommend David Cay Johnston's book for the citizen-advocate interested in the pursuit of a more fair, just, moderate liberal sustainable American economy.
February 25, 2018
The difference in justice between the rich and the poor. Our justice system does indeed keep the poor "down." A poor person is not always a lazy person. Just being poor is work - the system runs the poor ragged.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2015
This is a strong collection of essays about the importance of relative equality of pay. It should be required reading for every business school student and anyone interested in how do we make our society better.
August 29, 2014
Great. Excellent collection discussing the topic of inequality which eventually will effect most middle class people.
Read
October 17, 2014305 D6184 2014
February 25, 2018
A fascinating, yet simply put, wide array of examples of the cause and continuingly growing divide between the classes. I highly recommend this book.
July 9, 2015
Great collection of essays about the growing inequality in the United States today.
September 10, 2017
Skimmed, probably good if you care much about social justice.
March 14, 2019
A very interesting collection of essays and speeches from a wide variety of experts, showing just how damaging inequality has become and how it affects everyday life. Really worth the read. Nothing about the information may be new, or at least not all of it, but the expert analysis and discussion of the effects of inequality are nicely displayed and it's easy to follow and understand. You don't need to know anything about politics or economics to understand the issue at hand.
November 10, 2020
A collection of essays by luminaries in the fields of politics, economics, education, health policy, etc. frames inequality in the context of the contemporary social and policy debate. The writers include President Obama, Nobel Laureates Stiglitz and Krugman, Ms. Darling-Hammond, and many others. A very useful summary of the major topics and points of argument, the flavor is oriented to a particular ideological view and should be complemented with contrasting views.
July 10, 2022
Discussion on the effects of inequality in our society. One doesn't need to know much about politics or economics to understand what's going on and has gone since the founding of the country. Nothing about the information is new. Johnston has put together a collection of essays and speeches from a variety of experts, easy to follow and understand. The reader can decide if the country is going in the right or wrong direction.
October 22, 2020
Excellent book but lower rating because it was written in 2014 and the problem of inequality is much worse now than it was when written. This is a collection of essays about various aspects of inequality- education, policy, debt, etc. Some I gravitated to more than others but only because of my interests and experiences that I was able to more easily relate to or understand.
April 12, 2025
Great collection of essays outlying social issues prevalent throughout not just the United States, but a lot of western countries. Adopting a lot of the ideas throughout the book would largely benefit a weakening middle and working class, which would impact on society positively as a whole.
A great read to explore small exempts of other writers in social economic theory.
A great read to explore small exempts of other writers in social economic theory.
Read
August 22, 2025Americans die younger than people in all the other Rich nations
agnotologists those who introduce ignorance into our scientific debates -have been hard at work creating a misinformed American public.
Probably is not natural it is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings Nelson Mandela
agnotologists those who introduce ignorance into our scientific debates -have been hard at work creating a misinformed American public.
Probably is not natural it is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings Nelson Mandela
March 2, 2025
tldr; lots of inequality in the US regarding income, health, education, everything
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