Rating: 
Summary: Nixon taught this man well
Review: Pillips prior association with Richard Nixon shines in this book.Not since the days of Nixon have I heard so much bull from one source.This book contrary to that one 5 star reviewer, is not very well researched.This book is biased and the conclusions are ridiculous.Save your money and buy a different book.
Rating: 
Summary: Mostly myth; Poorly researched
Review: I can relate to real poor people. When I was 12, I had to pick strawberries after school and all day in the summer time to help my parents. When I was 16, my first job was sweeping floors in a warehouse and working as a busboy and dish washer on weekends. I pumped gas and did hard physical labor in temperatures of 90-100-degrees. I also worked in management and witnessed the corporate lemmings.I've been there. But there is a world of a difference between true poor people and those who only use poor people as an example to try to justify Phillips b.s.As someone once said; "Broke is temporary, poor is a state of mind."This book by Phillips is a poor excuse for the sorry state of some peoples finances. It implies that something is wrong with being wealthy (same people who read this book were also probably regular viewers of the Dallas and Dynasty TV shows).The wealthy provide the jobs. The wealthy keep the economy going. If you think the economy is bad now, keep taking away from the wealthy and it may just stop completely.I strongly recommend in place of this book to read 'Millionaire Next Door', American Dream by Dan Rather and 'Who Stole The American Dream' by Burke Hedges. That is if you want facts, not fiction.If only the people giving this book five stars were as good at telling the true and finding facts as they are at finding spelling errors and creating multiple aliases, perhaps they would find affluence as well.
Rating:
Summary: A different response to Jessica G.
Review: All I can say is BRAVO! It's about time somebody gets the guts to tell it like it is.Something has smelled about this book since the getgo. And you Jessica G. brought that smell out.So many people are excuse makers and looking for a free handout. America is indeed the "land of opportunity" for those perceptive enough to see it. The only thing that I would add to your excellent review is that it is long past time to revamp the social security system. In it's present form it is an antiquated system at best that won't be around or won't be enough. It definitely needs to be privatized as other countries have done. Phillips does touch on the social security issue, but not with the right authority or conviction. Now here is an area that I think Phillips should go after, if in fact he is genuinely concerned about Wealth & Equality.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but Slow
Review: This is a good book on how are country is being sold to the highest bidder. Phillips goes into great detail to back up his assertions with facts. Most negative reviews written here must be by people who never read the book and know nothing about Phillips. He is a republican not a left winger as asserted by certain reviewers. What he is trying to show is how the rich have an undo influence on government. The book is a hard read, if you don't like economics don't buy this book. It was worth the time to me.
Rating:
Summary: Absurd conclusions
Review: It is totally absurd to assume that the top 1% have more political power. Think about it, who has more voting power, the top 1% who number in the minority or the remaining 99% who make up the majority?I also found the comments about Jack Welch utterly ridiculous by a reviewer here. No doubt, this revewer is a democrat who dislikes Welch because Mr. Welch was one of the first prominent CEO's to approach then newly elected President Bush to explain the sorry state of the economy, why GE had to layoff masses and was having great difficulty making profits while Bill Clinton was still in office and before GWII was sworn in.Some people can't see the forrest from the trees and act like your head is in the ground. You know which end sticks out don't you?
Rating:
Summary: Working 3 jobs and starving while others are prospering?
Review: I found that review by the individual from Alameda, Ca interesting but also pretty typical of reviewers giving Wealth & Democracy five stars.Foreigners have planned and saved to come to America for opportunity and have attained affluence while native borns are working 3 jobs and starving? What's wrong with this picture?As mentioned, the starvers are exactly the type of people wh love to read drivel like this from Phillips. It's not me, it's the government. ENT!You guys need a different book than this one. You need to read Millionaire Next Door, Millionaire Mind by Stanley and Danko. You also need to read 9 Steps to Financial Freedom and Courage to Be Rich by Suze Orman to get you finances right and straighten your mind out. You also need books like The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale to get the garbage out of your head.There is no reason to have to work three jobs just to get by, not in this great country. But keep reading books like this one and soon you will have to work four jobs and still not be any further ahead.
Rating:
Summary: A response to Jessica G
Review: All I can ask is, who are you kidding? Opportunities are open to anyone who rolls up their sleeves and starts working? The people who break their backs to pick your strawberries in the oppressive Southern Californian sun; the people who risk their limbs to ready your meat for eating; the people who put in 16 hour days, 6 or more times a week to keep your local markets running -- these people work harder, and for much less, than any white-collar type I've ever come across. The "American Dream" is a myth, one that the rich need to perpetuate in order to ensure that order is maintained. If prosperity was equally open to everyone, after all, who would be left to clean your toilets, wash your floors, cook your food, stitch your garments, pick your produce, assemble your high-tech toys, etc., etc., etc.? This book lays it all down for everyone to see. It's too bad that so many people simply refuse to open their eyes.
Rating:
Summary: Please Read the Book Before Criticizing
Review: Mr. Phillips book is well-researched and carefully written. And whether one agrees with him or not, a customer-reviewer at least owes him the effort to actually read the book before criticizing it. Careful scrutiny of most of the one- and two-star reviews posted on here strongly suggest that his worst critics have not got past the dust jacket. A one-star review begins: "I didn't buy this book, but browsed it at our local Borders, so perhaps I missed a few points." Another reviewer worries about the influence of Carl (sic) Marx. Mr. Phillips is also subject to ad hominem attacks for being associated with Richard Nixon 30 years ago or for having written another book 12 years ago that some reviewers didn't like. Wealth & Democracy should be thoroughly read and then carefully critiqued, not blasted with emotional invective that adds nothing to a genuine debate about the book's ideas.
Rating: 
Summary: Wealth and Democracy revealed
Review: This is an outstanding, well-researched, and carefully written book that uses data and statistics to make the most telling points, e.g. the Second Gilded Age of America was from 1945-the early 1970s (1973?) when it was possible for any class to make at least a comfortable living. Since then, the richest 1% has been garnering wealth - through the stock market, family/clan trust, unregulated hedge funds, off shore holdings, and access to funded venture capitalist funds - at an incredible rate so that they now own 40% of the nations assets. The author puts this wealth accumulation in perspective within American history: if the richest man in the mid-1700s was a millionaire and the average family made ~$500/year that might be like a man standing next to a 5,000 foot mountain, but today's billionaire families (housing several billionaires who would rank in the top 30 wealthiest in the nation) wealth would be like an ant next to an Everest-like 29,000 foot mountain.Phillips goes on to further put the cycle of wealth generation in this county in context with a similar rise (and fall) of the richest families in 17th cc Spain, 18th cc Holland, and 19th-20th cc Britain. All of these countries rose out of trade, manufacturing, crafts, and agriculture to be dominated by a minority super-rich class that increased its wealth through financial leverage - just as the very rich are doing (legally) today. Is this a reflection of a deterioting economy or a telltale symptom of a corrupted government? You will need to read the book to find out. Kevin Phillips, a self-declared Republican, sees the present administration accelerating the greed and wealth accumulation of the richest 1% in this country as a betrayal of the legacies of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, both of whom recognized the dangers to democracy of unbridled and acquisitive private interests - the privileged criminal class as Teddy Roosevelt called them (re: Edmund Morris', Theodore Rex...another outstanding and well-documented book). The book is slow reading at first because of all of the data and charts you will want to read, scan, and digest to set the background for the book, but the story is compelling and the forecasts for Democracy thought-provoking. Political philosophers going back to Euripides (also tragedian) have warned of the dangers to democracy of an imbalance between rich and poor. You only need to look at Venezuala today that has ~70% of its population living in poverty to see the issue, but history is replete with examples. Are we not far behind? This is not a sociological or philosophical ranting of the new Left, but a very sobering book written by an experienced and perseptive writer/reporter. A must book for someone seriously interested in thinking about and learning of our economic and political history.
Rating: 
Summary: Never mind T. Daniels
Review: Mr.Phillips'arguments give flesh to anyone grappling to explain the vanishing Middle Class. What passes for jobs today are either retail or high-end careers in three areas? This is not prosperity. Since when is prosperity defined by holding down three jobs to equal a 1970 standard of living? A Daniels mind believes a Jack Welch creates jobs at the expense of his perks . A more informed mind, like Mr. Phillips, demands explanations for this obvious financial sleight-of-hand that finds no reconciliation with democratic ideals.
|
