This was a mind opening, mind blowing book that exposed me to truths that I did not know before reading this book. The author of this book, Kevin Phillips, did a good job that put a lot of effort into this novel, The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath. He blended his ideas as well as an abundant amount of facts in the book. The topics that were touched upon alludes to these current times. The author compares the years President Reagan held office to two previous Republican heydays, the 1920s and the Gilded Age of the late 19th century. .
I was excited to find this book based on the title and book description, mainly because I felt I was going to get a book of facts that would just reinforce my already set opinions. The book provided a lot of facts. The only negative comment that I have to say about the author is that he failed to realize that the average reader would find it almost impossible to plod through the text. .
As for the construction of the U.S. economy, by 1989 concentration of wealth, mounting debt and financial recklessness were present enough of the Gilden Age. And also in the 1920s to pose questions about similar eventual consequences, inasmuch as both prior heydays had been followed by speculative implosions, populist turbulence, increased regulatory reform and some downward redistribution of wealth. Pressures were also growing to reduce the central role of money in U.S. politics and culture. What would develop along these lines remained to be seen. But normally optimistic Americans spoke of the future with foreboding, and the decade ended as it had begun: amid a rising imperative for a new political and economic outlook, and with the imminent prospect of a very different chapter in the annals of the wealth and power of the United States.
(page 221).
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The main idea of the book is that wealth inequality is bad for democracy.