Wealth and Democracy
by Kevin Phillips, Kevin P. Phillips · first published 2002
100% recommend
"For more than thirty years, Kevin Phillips' insight into American politics and economics has helped to make history as well as record it. Now he turns his attention to the United States' history of great wealth and power, a sweeping cavalcade from the American Revolution to what he calls "the Second Gilded Age" at the turn of the twenty-first century.". "The Second Gilded Age has been staggering enough in its concentration of wealth to dwarf the original Gilded Age a hundred years earlier. However, the tech crash and then the horrible events of September 11, 2001, pointed out that great rich
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2009–2026The Spirit Level
Richard & Kate Pickett Wilkinson, Illustrated
Recommended by 18 · mentioned by 2718 recommend · 27 mention18 recommend · 2718 recommend
2018–2025Radical Markets
Eric A. Posner, E. Glen Weyl
Recommended by 19 · mentioned by 4319 recommend · 43 mention19 recommend · 4319 recommend
2011–2026Debt
David Graeber
Recommended by 182 · mentioned by 303182 recommend · 303 mention182 recommend · 303182 recommend
2007–2026The Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith
Recommended by 92 · mentioned by 40592 recommend · 405 mention92 recommend · 40592 recommend
The USA has decided 3 times to create a middle class. By enacting massive transfers of wealth. Most recently the New Deal. Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich by Kevin Phillips http://a.co/d/glFxd7G That the rich get richer is just math. Without deliberate wealth redistribution, growing inequity is inevitable. Gross…
on “Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees” ↗This is actually correct. Wealth and Democracy: How Great Fortunes and Government Created America's Aristocracy by Kevin Phillips https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Democracy-Fortunes-Government-... Similarly, the USA previously decided three times to…
on “The Dream Hoarders: How America's Top Percent Perpetuates Inequality” ↗I recommend Kevin Phillips’s book Wealth and Democracy. One of the more interesting things I learned was that many of the pirates in the Caribbean in the late 18th century were sailing out of Boston and Salem, tasked by the US government with capturing British…
on “Are You A Pirate?” ↗Yes, it matters. Gross inequity is undemocratic. I cite Kevin Phillips' book Wealth and Democracy http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Democracy-Political-History-Ame... but it's been researched and detailed ad nauseum. More equitable societies are happier. More equitable societies have better public health.…
on “The Rise Of The Artist” ↗…decision. Not the natural outcome of Freedom Markets (tm). The USA has previously chosen to nurture a middle class on three separate occasions. We're overdue for a 4th restructuring, say by 20 years. Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Democracy-Political-History-Ame...
on “Silicon Valley Is Not Driving Jobs Growth” ↗Kevin Phillips' book Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich http://a.co/1wny0Iz details how the creation of the middle class was (three times) a deliberate policy choice. As we're now seeing, Freedom Markets™ leads to…
on “Technology Change Not the Culprit in Wages Falling Behind US Productivity Gains” ↗…political decisions they've made?" The USA previously decided three times to explicitly create its middle class. The New Deal, the Homestead Act, etc. Policy choices which were hard fought and narrowly won. Wealth and Democracy: How Great Fortunes and Government Created America's Aristocracy by Kevin Phillips https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Democracy-Fortunes-Government-... Without active redistribution, accelerating inequity…
on “Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two” ↗Yes, and: The never ending struggle between wealth and democracy. Same as it ever was, including the pearl clutching and feinting spells. This was my introduction to the nuts and bolts, written by Kevin Phillips, Reagan's economist: Wealth and Democracy: A Political…
on “IRS records reveal how the wealthiest avoid income tax” ↗…Phillips: No. It won't happen while Wall St. and finance remains in control of our political discourse. -- It'll be amazing if Biden Admin is able to uncork the next cycle. But I'm not holding my breath. Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich [2003] https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Democracy-Political-History-Am... Here's a more recent account: Lobbying America: The Politics of Business from Nixon to…
on “Biden launches action on "Big Tech, Big Pharma, and Big Ag" – can it be real?” ↗Will read, thanks. Graeber's book Debt rewired my brain. (I was also greatly influenced by Kevin Phillips' Wealth and Democracy, back in the day.) IMHO, the advocates of MMT (modern monetary theory) don't dare nearly enough. My current worldview: "Governmental spending is a loan that we repay thru taxes."
on “Ask HN: Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2021?” ↗I don't understand your objection. You don't like the mental model (worldview)? I gleened it from conservative economist Kevin Phillips' book Wealth & Democracy. I assume it's bog standard economic world building. Nothing I've read since has contradicted Phillips. (I'm noob, not some kind of economist. Though I did get to chat with Phillips one time and I felt like I understood his answers.) Wh
on “Plans Develop for High-Speed Rail in the PNW” ↗…without lowering the ceiling. -- [1] Kevin Phillips, Reagan's conservative economist, detailed our history of purposefully creating a middle class and the upper class' efforts to thwart such efforts: Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich Paperback [2003] https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Democracy-Political-History-Am...
on “Capitalism and Inequality” ↗before somebody screams "but aren't they all subsidized by the government" Government is the source of all wealth. So says Reagan's conservative economist, Kevin Phillips. Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich http://amzn.to/2ntP4eW Belief in Freedom Markets™ is faith-, not reality-based.
on “Google Fiber Was Doomed from the Start” ↗The creation of the middle class has always been a deliberate policy decision. Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Democracy-Political-History-Ame... http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_phillips.html
on “Top 1% now owns more of the wealth than the remaining 99%” ↗I now think of these economic shocks as opportunities for profit taking, like a game of musical chairs. Sell off before the rubes notice, then buy it all back up at bargain prices. Previously, Kevin Phillips' book Wealth & Democracy in America is a more academic, pedantic telling of the same story. https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Democracy-Fortunes-Government-...
on “President Trump says that he’s waiving interest on federal student loans” ↗