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The severe economic downturn has been blamed on many things: deregulation, derivatives, greedy borrowers, negligent lenders. But could there be a deeper problem that is so severe, so long-lasting, and so dangerous that it makes these problems look like minor swerves in the road? Could we be facing an existential challenge to the promise of America, and to our system of government?
Inequality in America has reached historical highs. Throughout human history, this level of disparity has proven intolerable, almost always leading to political upheaval. Though many believe that America will never face a second revolution, that our politics are stable, in It Could Happen Here, Yale School of Management senior faculty fellow Bruce Judson makes the case that revolution is a real possibility here, driven by a thirty-year, unprecedented rise of inequality through six presidencies, three Fed chairmen, three recessions, and many years of expansion.
The last time inequality rivaled current levels was in 1928, just before the Crash and the Great Depression. Today we are in worse shape, divided into a tiny plutocracy of super-rich, on the one hand, and a fragile, indebted, unprotected "former middle class" on the other. As Judson shows, revolutions can occur suddenly, as happened with the Soviet Union's 1991 dissolution, and America today exhibits the central precursors to a collapse—extreme economic inequality and an increasingly impoverished middle class. He makes the most disturbing case yet for why our economics are leading us inevitably toward a devastating crisis.
When Franklin Roosevelt faced a similar situa-tion, he was saved by World War II. This time, the conflict may be at home, not abroad.
Prologue: The Gathering Storm 1
1 Freedom from Want 9
2 Immunity from History? 49
3 The Causes of Revolutions 78
4 How Unequal Are We? 107
5 Why Has Inequality Escalated Dramatically? 132
6 The Indicators Are Blinking Red 170
7 America in a Time of Vulnerability 199
Epilogue: Bringing Balance to Our Society 216
Anonymous
Posted February 20, 2010
It Could Happen Here: America on the Brin
That the economic inequities I have often obliquely referred to when I rail against the pay of CEOs is actually a sign of a real danger to our republic. That historically a society's rich and poor can only get so far apart before revolution or collapse occur. I didn't realize just how close we are and for how long it had been building up. Scary, but well reasoned, by a senior fellow of the Yale School of Management. - from Goodreads.com
Anonymous
Posted October 18, 2009
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted December 6, 2009
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Overview
The severe economic downturn has been blamed on many things: deregulation, derivatives, greedy borrowers, negligent lenders. But could there be a deeper problem that is so severe, so long-lasting, and so dangerous that it makes these problems look like minor swerves in the road? Could we be facing an existential challenge to the promise of America, and to our system of government?
Inequality in America has reached historical highs. ...