An innovative approach to measuring inequality providing the first full integration of distributional and macro level data for the US.

Donald Trump's 2016 victory shocked the world, but his appeals to the economic discontent of the white working class should not be so surprising, as stagnant wages for the many have been matched with skyrocketing incomes for the few. Though Trump received high levels of support from the white working class, once in office, the newly elected billionaire president appointed a cabinet with a net worth greater than one-third of American households combined. Furthermore, he pursued traditionally conservative tax, welfare state and regulatory policies, which are likely to make economic disparities worse. Nevertheless, income inequality has grown over the last few decades almost regardless of who is elected to the presidency and congress. There is a growing consensus among scholars that one of the biggest drivers of income inequality in the United States is government activity (or inactivity). Just as the New Deal and Great Society programs played a key role in leveling income distribution from the 1930s through the 1970s, federal policy since then has contributed to expanding inequality. Growing inequality bolsters the resources of the wealthy leading to greater influence over policy, and it contributes to partisan polarization. Both prevent the passage of policy to address inequality, creating a continuous feedback loop of growing inequality. The authors of this book argue that it is therefore misguided to look to the federal government, as citizens have tended to do since the New Deal, to lead on economic policy to "fix" inequality. In fact, they argue that throughout American history, during periods of rapid economic change the federal government has been stymied by the federal institutional design created by the Constitution. The winners of economic change have taken advantage of veto points to prevent change that would address the problems experienced by the losers of major economic change. Even the New Deal, in many ways the model of federal policy activism, was largely borrowed from policies created in the state "laboratories of democracy" in the preceding years and decades. The authors argue that in the current crisis of growing inequality we are seeing a similar dynamic and demonstrate that many states are actively addressing economic inequality. William Franko and Christopher Witko argue that the states that will address inequality are not necessarily those with the greatest objective inequality, but those where citizens are aware of growing inequality, where left-leaning politicians hold power, where unions are strong, and where the presence of direct democracy allow for more majoritarian public policy outcomes. In the empirical chapters Franko and Witko examine how these factors have shaped policies that boosted incomes at the bottom (the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit) and reduce incomes at the top (with top marginal tax rates) between 1987 and 2010. The authors argue that, if history is a guide, increasingly egalitarian policies at the state level will spread to other states and, eventually, to the federal level, setting the stage for a more equitable future.

What is Reaganomics Reaganomics, or Reaganism, were the neoliberal economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. These policies are characterized as supply-side economics, trickle-down economics, or "voodoo economics" by opponents, while Reagan and his advocates preferred to call it free-market economics. How you will benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: Reaganomics Chapter 2: Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 Chapter 3: Supply-side economics Chapter 4: Government budget balance Chapter 5: Tax cut Chapter 6: Economic policy of the Bill Clinton administration Chapter 7: Fiscal policy of the United States Chapter 8: United States federal budget Chapter 9: Fiscal conservatism Chapter 10: Early 1980s recession Chapter 11: History of the United States public debt Chapter 12: Bush tax cuts Chapter 13: Domestic policy of the Ronald Reagan administration Chapter 14: Hauser's law Chapter 15: Laffer curve Chapter 16: Tax policy and economic inequality in the United States Chapter 17: Political debates about the United States federal budget Chapter 18: Deficit reduction in the United States Chapter 19: Reagan tax cuts Chapter 20: Economic policy of the Donald Trump administration Chapter 21: Economic policy of the Joe Biden administration (II) Answering the public top questions about reaganomics. (III) Real world examples for the usage of reaganomics in many fields. Who this book is for Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Reaganomics.

While the capitalist system has undergone numerous restructurings throughout its history, the capitalist elites' purpose in elaborating these changes has remained the same: to restore and/or extend their hegemony over domestic class and global challengers. The current systemic designation, operative since 1978, is "neoliberalism," deployed to obfuscate what in actuality is US imperialism and domestic class warfare. The Scourge of Neoliberalism describes the origins and evolution of the specifically American form of Neoliberalism. Its expansionary phase--from 1978 to 2008--was disrupted by the global crash and crisis of 2008-09 and was only partially restored by the Obama regime thereafter. Trump's attempt to resuscitate Neoliberalism has led to the emergence of a new, more aggressive and virulent form which, despite some gains, is nonetheless a destabilizing policy regimen destined to break down with the next global economic crisis, which is likely occur by 2020. The political consequences of US neoliberal policy evolution and restoration efforts have led, on the one hand, to the breakdown of government institutions, the decline of mainstream political parties, the atrophy of democratic practices, rights and values, and attacks on civil liberties, and on the other to the embedding of the Neoliberal credo that business tax cuts create jobs, free trade benefits all, low interest rates generate investment, entitlement programs are the cause of government deficits, markets are always efficient, recessions are caused by external shocks to an otherwise stable equilibrium system, and similar empirically unverifiable propositions. In describing the evolution of Neoliberal policies from Reagan through Clinton, the Bushes, Obama, and Trump presidencies, Rasmus shows how they have played a central enabling role in the financialization of the US capitalist economy, in its ever-growing income and wealth inequality gaps, and in the increasing polarization of US society and polity.

An inclusive economic history of America describing two centuries of American racial conflicts since the Constitution was written.

The stories behind the inequality crisis—a forty-year investigation by In These Times With heart-wrenching reporting and incisive analysis, In These Times magazine has charted a staggering rise in inequality and the fall of the American middle class. Here, in a selection from four decades of articles by investigative reporters and progressive thinkers, is the story of our age. It is a tale of shockingly successful corporate takeovers stretching from Reagan to Trump, but also of brave attempts to turn the tide, from the Seattle global justice protests to Occupy to the Fight for 15. Featuring contributions from Michelle Chen, Noam Chomsky, Tom Geoghegan, Juan González, David Moberg, Salim Muwakkil, Ralph Nader, Frances Fox Piven, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Slavoj Žižek, and many others, The Age of Inequality is the definitive account of a defining issue of our time.

From the author of Aftershock and The Work of Nations, his most important book to date—a myth-shattering breakdown of how the economic system that helped make America so strong is now failing us, and what it will take to fix it. Perhaps no one is better acquainted with the intersection of economics and politics than Robert B. Reich, and now he reveals how power and influence have created a new American oligarchy, a shrinking middle class, and the greatest income inequality and wealth disparity in eighty years. He makes clear how centrally problematic our veneration of the “free market” is, and how it has masked the power of moneyed interests to tilt the market to their benefit. Reich exposes the falsehoods that have been bolstered by the corruption of our democracy by huge corporations and the revolving door between Washington and Wall Street: that all workers are paid what they’re “worth,” that a higher minimum wage equals fewer jobs, and that corporations must serve shareholders before employees. He shows that the critical choices ahead are not about the size of government but about who government is for: that we must choose not between a free market and “big” government but between a market organized for broadly based prosperity and one designed to deliver the most gains to the top. Ever the pragmatist, ever the optimist, Reich sees hope for reversing our slide toward inequality and diminished opportunity when we shore up the countervailing power of everyone else. Passionate yet practical, sweeping yet exactingly argued, Saving Capitalism is a revelatory indictment of our economic status quo and an empowering call to civic action.

Analyzes the growing divide between the incomes of the wealthy class and those of middle-income Americans, exonerating popular suspects to argue that the nation's political system promotes greed and under-representation.

For anyone who believes that liberal isn’t a dirty word but a term of honor, this book will be as revitalizing as oxygen. For in the pages of Reason, one of our most incisive public thinkers, and a former secretary of labor mounts a defense of classical liberalism that’s also a guide for rolling back twenty years of radical conservative domination of our politics and political culture. To do so, Robert B. Reich shows how liberals can: .Shift the focus of the values debate from behavior in the bedroom to malfeasance in the boardroom .Remind Americans that real prosperity depends on fairness .Reclaim patriotism from those who equate it with pre-emptive war-making and the suppression of dissent If a single book has the potential to restore our country’s good name and common sense, it’s this one.

A vivid character-driven narrative, fused with important new economic and political reporting and research, that busts the myths about middle class decline and points the way to its revival. For over a decade, Jim Tankersley has been on a journey to understand what the hell happened to the world's greatest middle-class success story -- the post-World-War-II boom that faded into decades of stagnation and frustration for American workers. In The Riches of This Land, Tankersley fuses the story of forgotten Americans-- struggling women and men who he met on his journey into the travails of the middle class-- with important new economic and political research, providing fresh understanding how to create a more widespread prosperity. He begins by unraveling the real mystery of the American economy since the 1970s - not where did the jobs go, but why haven't new and better ones been created to replace them. His analysis begins with the revelation that women and minorities played a far more crucial role in building the post-war middle class than today's politicians typically acknowledge, and policies that have done nothing to address the structural shifts of the American economy have enabled a privileged few to capture nearly all the benefits of America's growing prosperity. Meanwhile, the "angry white men of Ohio" have been sold by Trump and his ilk a theory of the economy that is dangerously backward, one that pits them against immigrants, minorities, and women who should be their allies. At the culmination of his journey, Tankersley lays out specific policy prescriptions and social undertakings that can begin moving the needle in the effort to make new and better jobs appear. By fostering an economy that opens new pathways for all workers to reach their full potential -- men and women, immigrant or native-born, regardless of race -- America can once again restore the upward flow of talent that can power growth and prosperity.