A powerful and grippingly readable intervention into the 2020 US presidential election campaign, The System argues that the USA has become an oligarchy, run by and for the benefit of a tiny minority of the super-rich, with consequences that impact on the entire world.
Understanding what is happening in our country is critical if we want to fix it and Robert Reich is an exceptional teacher.' Senator Bernie Sanders
Millions of Americans have lost confidence in their political and economic system. After years of stagnant wages, volatile job markets, and an unwillingness by those in power to deal with profound threats such as climate change, there is a mounting sense that the system is fixed, serving only those select few with enough money to secure a controlling stake.
In The System Robert B. Reich shows how wealth and power have interacted to install an elite oligarchy, eviscerate the middle class, and undermine democracy. Addressing himself Jamie Dimon, the powerful banker and chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Reich exposes how those at the top, be they Democrats or Republicans, propagate myths about meritocracy, national competitiveness, corporate social responsibility, and the 'free market' to distract most Americans from their own accumulation of extraordinary wealth, and their power over the system. Instead of answering the call to civic duty, they have chosen to uphold self-serving policies that line their own pockets and benefit their bottom line.
Reich's objective is not to foster cynicism, but rather to demystify the system so that American voters might instill fundamental change and demand that democracy works for the majority once again.
In this book Robert Reich exposes the con job of America's present manic hyper-capitalism. He exposes a 'system' that is defined less by free markets than by elite capture.
He shatters the myths about rising tides and boats and slices of pie and whatever else those hackneyed people say, propelled by the insight that while money may not be a zero-sum situation, power is.
