Rating: 
Summary: One person one vote...
Review: Yes, we do have one vote per person in the US. But, with the SC ruling that money equals free speach, some one with one million dollars has more free speach than some one with one dollar. Lots of solid reseach and writing in Mr. Phillips' book.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Statistics
Review: If I could rate the book based entirely on the statistics used I would give it a 5. However, I think Kevin Phillips might be reading too much into these stats. He sees a linear development taking place in which one country is allowed to be top dog in material development and strength. Once this top dog reaches a certain limit of inequality of wealth he believes the dog falls to lap dog in international perspective and no longer leads the race of dogs. (This dog thing is getting old--my invention, not Phillips') I think Phillips is trying to do too much with his remarkable compilation of statistics on wealth. First, who is to say that the statistics of inequality are the only determinant of a societies basis for economic strength. Perhaps political culture, effectiveness and openness of government, level of democracy, culture, homogeneity of population and language, and rule of law should be given greater weight together than level of inequality deserves standing alone. Inequality is not good and I desire for all to be rich, but it is not realistic when the opportunities are not equal and people's abilities are not equal. I therefore feel this recent obsession with economic inequality as a great bane to be a waste of breath. Economic inequality cannot be avoided but can be managed so to make things better for those on the lower end of this inequality. Phillips' belief that the current tax rate and division of property currently in the hands of the top 1% and 5% will lead to the collapse of American hegemony is misguided. America is home to the richest population ever to inhabit the earth and its tax rate is progressive. I am not an advocate for the current welfare state and desire more change so to benefit more of America's poor, but I do find Phillips' views to be alarmist. Just for the statistics alone: buy this book. Also, his historical arguments about Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and Britain are also informative, if sometimes misguided.
Rating:
Summary: Who's been victimizing whom
Review: This book has two main themes: 1) The very rich victimize the rest of us. They are presently forcing us onto a shorter and shorter end of the stick.
2) The U.S. is well into its hour, as a super power, of strutting across the world. Our script parallels earlier ones acted out by Spain, Holland, and then England. The author spends 422 pages spelling out how the little guy has been and is being victimized, often with the collusion of government. His presentation glosses over how some victims have contributed to their fate. He doesn't, for example, point out that our pre-revolutionary tobacco farmers were deeply in debt to English buyers partly because they lived higher on the hog than their situation warranted -- a lot like present day victims of credit card debt. The book didn't pull me along, so I had to push myself to wade through it. If you have a greater interest in this subject you may, however, appreciate its wide-ranging coverage.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit of a hard slog, yes...
Review: ... but I found it rewarding. They do call economics the dismal science, but I was willing to grind through this book.
As hard as a read as it was, it was the first time someone was able to explain to me why (and how) populist movements rise and then fade in this country (even when the results of the movement are obviously positive).
If you were wondering why it seems as though your parents are/were better off than you feel yourself to be, this book has a few answers in it.
And to think it was written by a former Nixon staffer!
Rating:
Summary: The upper and lower class
Review: This book is written in a style that makes it simple enough for a common person to understand. The charts and graphs make it even easier to grasp the concepts presented throughout. Rather than being repetitious, I appreciated the way the author often referred back to things already mentioned, in order to broaden the understanding of them and make it all easier to remember. The book shows the underlying reasons for stock market failures, depressions, and the ups and downs of the standard of living without any bias. The facts speak for themselves and if anyone finds that offensive, they should blame history, not the author. The truth hurts but that's what is in this book - the truth about how the wealthy thrive at the expense of the masses by making a mockery of what this country was founded on.
Rating: 
Summary: Booooring - zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Review: This "book" bu Phillips is nothing but a rehash of all the misconceptions on how to build wealth. The same people who support this book probably watch reruns of DALLAS & DYNASTY and then go out any buy lotterytickets looking for a wealth without work existance.1 star only because pages are numberedcorrectly.
Rating:
Summary: An analogy to summarize book
Review: Imagine that you are a mid-level manager at a growing company and you make a relatively high income of $150,000 a year. You are quite happy with your contribution to the company and have made plenty of sacrifices to get where you are and earn your pay. In a year's time the company's profits begin to grow exponentially. You receive a 33% raise for that year. You are feeling quite good. After all, how many people get raises that big? Is it reasonable to assume that your peers received the same? What about your immediate supervisor? How do you feel if your boss, who works as much as you and who makes more got a 200% raise on his $200,000 a year salary? And what would you feel about the CEO's 1000% raise on his $3,000,000 a year salary? On the other, how when direct employees receive a raise of 8% (considered well above average) and their employees get no raise at all? Do you take your 33% without concern for those above you? After all, you are doing better than almost everyone else you know. You are living comfortably and are considered successful. Do the people below you deserve the same percentage or even a little bit less or do you say 'screw em' because they are obviously inferior. Is that what your boss thinks about you? Is that why he got 200% even though he put in the same working hours and effort as you since the company was founded? This book, Wealth and Democracy, is that employee payroll report, but for the broader economy as a whole. Those handing out one or two stars and unfounded insults are probably another 33%er or maybe even an 8%er who doesn't want to spoil their raise by letting those not getting any raise in on the secret. While this example is purely fictional it is a fair analogy to give you a general idea of one of the major ideas being presented in this book. Some think that giving everyone in the company the same 33% raise (or even keeping the variance in the percentages down) is socialism. You decide -- don't let them scare you from reading this book or thinking for yourself by using emotionally charged words and phrases. What I think is really sad is that the 33%ers and 8%ers (all hard working people) are probably shooting themselves in the foot, losing some of their share of the company's profits -- a large part that went out with that 1000% raise. Remember that we are starting off with drastically different salaries here. The guy getting the 1000% is already making 3 million or 20 times the 33%ers salary so the reality is, as it should be, that people are already getting paid on merit. The thing you want to decide is if the discrepency should continue to grow exponentially, despite almost equal effort. I'm giving this book only four stars, not for its ideas or research, but because it seems like it is a bit much (425+ small print pages) for the average person with little free time. Its somewhat dry due to all the tables, facts, figures, and various quotes from other sources Let those who disagree bring their own facts and figures and detailed historical comparisons. Of course, judging by some of the reviews, they won't need to bring any solid facts to the table if they can keep people from reading a book like this. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that anything that remotely looks like it is criticizing the system or the wealthy is anti-capitalist. In fact, one could make an argument that Mr. Phillips is trying to protect capitalism and our economic success in the long run.
Rating:
Summary: Working more/living less
Review: Have we seen the apex of American economic hegemony? Kevin Phillips makes a compelling case that as we enter the 21st Century the United States mirrors many of the historical aspects of previous economic powers in decline. And what is most startling, Phillips provides quotes and historical vignettes showing that the citizens of those powers pilloried anyone who critized the increasing wealth inequality that precedes the downfall of those nations (not unlike the unsubstantiated negative reviews on this page). The thesis of "Wealth and Democracy" is that wealth inequality is bad for democracy, and viewed historically has always presaged the decline of previous world powers: Hapsburg Spain, the 17th and 18th century Dutch, 19th century Britian. Of course, our current leaders and their supporters make strong arguments that our political and economic systems are superior and therefore less likely to experience detumescence. The author warns that this argument is not unique. "Cocksure Americans were hardly the first to think themsleves immune from prior history." In "Wealth and Democracy," Phillips takes us through that history and examines the paralells to the modern American dependence on financial institutions and the ways in which money limits access to all three branches of government. It is both enlightening and disheartening. The author says the U.S. can now be called a plutocracy. "The United States remain[s] what comparisons ha[ve] clearly shown: the most polarized and inequality-ridden of the major Western nations." In fact, what is most troublesome about the myriad statistics in this book is our comparison to other economically advanced nations. Over the past thirty years the "average" American has significantly increased time spent at work while not gaining financially. The promise of more economic freedom has been eroding since the 1960s. Phillips is a trenchant student of economic history. I highly recommend this book. The only reason I do not give it the highest rating is because I think some of the history may be esoteric. My rating is really 4 1/2 stars--a near classic. There are those who will attack Philllips' personal and political motives. And others will say his book causes more harm than good because its arguments can be used by those engaged in class warfare. But Phillips has an answer for them as well: "'Class warfare,' however, is a false description, a perverse conservative borrowing from Karl Marx." For anyone interested in a thorough and insightful discussion of wealth and agressive economic power in United States history, this is an excellent book. If you read the poor reviews, I think you will see that they show a general dislike for hard truths much more than a substantive critique of a well-reasoned and meticulously detailed thesis.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard Ground
Review: In your school English compositions did you craft long, elegant sentences that furthered your argument in a oh-so-clever way? Did your teacher tell you that your sentences were too long? Well, this guy writes the way you think you should be able to. And he gets published! So there! But seriously; working my way through this book I had to reread sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph. When exposed to Mr. Phhillips acute analysis, my most common thought was; huh? I'm sure that there is a good point in this book but it eluded me. I vote for Mr. Phillips to go back to English class.
Rating:
Summary: I'd rather put money in my savings than send it to Wash. DC
Review: As Bob Dole so adequately mentioned in his debate with former President Clinton regarding taxes; "I'd rather put money in my savings than send it off to Washington, DC [in the form of taxes]A congressman once said that "taxes are a levy on ignorance".Higher taxes also puts a strain on our employers. That is more money that can go to us.Besides the tax issue, I strongly dissagree with Phillips personal opinion and take issue with who is really writing these "5 star" reviews.Check your wallet before giving Phllips book anything above 2 stars.
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