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Beyond Outrage (Expanded Edition): What Has Gone Wrong With Our Economy And Our Democracy, And How To Fix It (2012)

by Robert B. Reich(Favorite Author)

4.03 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0345804376 (ISBN13: 9780345804372)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Vintage

review 1: The Obama administration claims that our economy is improving; it claims that we are on the right track back from the terrible collapse in 2008. Our GDP is growing again and unemployment is on the decline, so it looks like the United States are doing alright. It is therefore perhaps surprising that a fellow democrat, Robert Reich, came with an indictment of the current state of the United States economic and political system in his latest book. He does a remarkable job outlining how America is actually on the decline, but also offers real solution how to stop it.Reich makes a compelling case that the income gap between the rich and the poor is increasing too much, and that this is devastating to the United States economy. As the rich get richer, they gain political influen... morece by spending vast sums of money on campaigns and donations to politicians to further increase their disproportionate wealth. As the rich get richer, the poor and middle class no longer have the buying power to make a decent living and to keep the economy functioning efficiently. This will ultimately force the rich to seek returns on their wealth overseas. In turn, this will result in a stagnation and decline of the United States economy.Reich does an excellent job of putting complex economics into plain English, so that any reader without a deep background on the topic can not only read it, but understand it. On page 15, he analyzes the income gap and how it is harming our society and explains it in a way that anybody can understand. He talks about how “In the 1960s and 1970s, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans earned 9 to 10 percent of our total income. By 2007, just before the Great Recession, that share had more than doubled, to 23.5 percent” (15). He also states that “The 400 richest Americans now have more wealth than the entire bottom half of earners—150 million Americans—put together” (15).In this book, Reich does not only explain the issues, but also calls for action by the ordinary people to change the corrupting influence of the wealthy on Washington and reverse the decline. He says that “Americans can’t rely only on getting good people elected because nothing important happens in Washington unless good people outside Washington are organized to help make those things happen after the election” (15).He believes in a government of the people, not just the rich people, but all of the people. He wants to eliminate the plutocracy that the United States has turned into, and reinstate the government of the past… the one where everybody was in charge. He wants the rich to pay more taxes to diminish the corrupting power that they gained, and give that power back to all Americans in the form of better incomes, education and health care: “Income in excess of $1 million should be taxed at 70 percent. There should be more tax brackets at the top and higher rates in each of those top brackets” (108).Reich does a great job of explaining the issues of the American government. He opens the ordinary American’s eyes to the fact that the United States are going to fail if the trends are not reversed. Not only does he do a great job of explaining these issues, but he also tells us how to solve them. “You also need to organize against the regressives. Don’t be fooled by the lies they’re telling, and don’t let others be fooled. The more you know and understand, the more powerful you will be at mobilizing others” (102). Instead of leaving the reader depressed and pessimistic, Reich offers a solution.I believe that this was a great book and I would recommend it to any reader who is interested in economics and the influence of politics on our economy.
review 2: This material is very familiar. It's a plea from Reich to the left (I think particularly the young) to reach out and try to talk to the right. And it's an attempt to talk to the right and introduce Reich's clear desription of what has occurred in the U.S. economy and what actions make sense as we go forward. Unfortunately, though it's a clear, simple, straightforward analysis, I don't think anyone on the right will actually persist in reading it. less

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