Democracy At Risk: Rescuing Main Street From Wall Street

by Jeff Gates

"A bible for a powerful populism that will arise after the latest Gilded Age is over. Read it and run, or read it and recover your sense of what it could mean to actually live in a democratic society."-Paul Hawken, author, Natural Capitalism and The Ecology of Commerce"[Gates] offers an ambitious "populist vision." You may not like its answers, but you can't ignore the questions."-Cheryl Dahle, Fast Company"A political-economic manifesto for the new millennium.…This persuasive and well-documented work will generate thoughtful discussion."-Library JournalCiting alarming statistics, Jeff Gates convincingly argues that the current economic boom is largely a mirage, buoyed by policies that continue to reward the wealthy and punish the poor. With equal measures of passion and incisive reasoning, he proposes an ambitious yet practical program of financial, political, and economic reform.

Genres: Politics

464 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2000

Reviews

[Taran Hewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of this book is full of some seriously scary facts and figures about the gross inequity existing in our society in the last days the twentieth century. This could not but help draw in this leftish leaning reader who, though brought up in a comfortable middle class home in England, has, through his own observations in his peregrinations through this life, come to realise the weaknesses of so many aspects of the so-called democratic world in which he lives. Although slightly numbed by the opening chapters, I found myself totally absorbed by Jeff Gates' ability to draw on so much damning evidence about the undemocratic democracy that the USA has become over the last century. I eagerly read the closing chapters in which Mr Gates puts forth his ideas about a new egalitarian approach to democracy that considers far more than the simplistic money and growth mantras of our governments on both sides of The Pond. How wonderful it would have been if he had been able to see these models for a thoughtful all-embracing democracy come to fruition. Sadly none of it ever happened, leading us to today's situation where we have a president who seems set on destroying every small figment of society that shows any inclination to share the country's capitalist wealth among the many rather than the few, let alone having the slightest consideration about our environment and the heritage we will be leaving for future generations.
Where are you now Jeff Gates and do you see any chance of the system ever recovering towards your ideals?

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first part of this book interesting but it did not sustain me, maybe because it was outdated. Some valuable and interesting data exists in this book but, again, I found myself skimming the last half while also searching for more recent books by this author.