Is Inequality in America Irreversible? (The Future of Capitalism)

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Acknowledgments -- Dedication -- Introduction -- A Front Row Seat to Inequality -- Current Inequality Trends -- Is Inequality in American Irreversible? -- Notes -- 1 Why Does Inequality Matter? (And Why Is It Happening?) -- Why Inequality Matters -- Inequality Makes You Sick and Tears Communities Apart -- Inequality and Social Mobility, Opportunity, Poverty, and Democracy -- What is Causing Inequality to Grow? -- Notes -- 2 What Are the Barriers to Change? -- Tale of Two Populisms -- Changing the Stories that Hold Inequality in Place -- Disrupting Myths of Deservedness -- Notes -- 3 Changing the Rules: Raising Floors, Opening Doors -- Raising the Floor -- Additional Rule Changes that Raise the Floor -- Level the Playing Field: Opening Doors -- Democracy Protections, Money and Politics -- Notes -- 4 Reducing the Concentration of Wealth -- Progressive Taxation -- Reforming CEO Pay and Corporate Incentive Systems -- Anti-Trust Policy to Reduce Corporate Concentration -- The Hidden Wealth Problem -- Fixing the Hidden Wealth Problem -- Notes -- 5 Transformative Campaigns to Change the Future -- Four Transformative Campaigns -- Everyone Gets a Home Before Government Subsidizes Second Homes -- Debt Free Higher Education for All, Funded by Wealth Taxation -- Save the Planet and Create Good Jobs -- Universal Basic Income Funded by Commonwealth Funds -- Notes -- Conclusion: Toward Equality -- Notes -- End User License Agreement Read more...

We are living in a time of extreme inequality: America’s three richest people now own as much wealth as the bottom half of the population. Although most accept that this is grotesque, many politicians accept it as irreversible.

In this book, leading US researcher and activist Chuck Collins succinctly diagnoses the drivers of rampant inequality, arguing that such disparities have their roots in 40 years of the powerful rigging the system in their favor. He proposes a far-reaching policy agenda, analyzes the barriers to progress, and shows how transformative local campaigns can become a national movement for change.

This book is a powerful analysis of how the plutocracy sold us a toxic lie, and what we can do to reverse inequality.

We are living in a time of extreme inequality: America's three richest people now own as much wealth as the bottom half of the population. Although most accept that this is grotesque, many politicians accept it as irreversible. In this book, leading US researcher and activist Chuck Collins succinctly diagnoses the drivers of rampant inequality, arguing that such disparities have their roots in 40 years of the powerful rigging the system in their favor. He proposes a far-reaching policy agenda, analyzes the barriers to progress, and shows how transformative local campaigns can become a national movement for change. This book is a powerful analysis of how the plutocracy sold us a toxic lie, and what we can do to reverse inequality.-- Provided by Publisher ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1: Why Does Inequality Matter? (And Why is It Happening?)Chapter 2: What are the barriers to change?Chapter 3: Changing the Rules: Raising Floors, Opening DoorsChapter 4: Reducing the Concentration of WealthChapter 5: Campaigns to Change the FutureConclusionNotes