As an average Joe many parts of the book did make me a bit mad, just on the basic fairness point of view. They are good tidbits to have handy next time you are in a discussion with a person that pulls out the 'rich already pay most of the taxes' lines. With that said I did feel that the authors might have been reaching on some of thier complaints about corporations. Like most things it is a matter of degrees and in some parts I thought they went one or two steps over the line. My biggest complaint of the book was the number of person quote examples they used. It was nice to see two or three comments from some Senators on this or that tax bill, but the authors always seemed to use 10 ' 15. It was too much, we all know the politicians all read from the same talking points memos so to spell it out in a book using examples was overkill. Overall the book was interesting but not earth shattering.
This book is the most well argued book I have read about the current demise of the middle class in the U.S. After reading it I would definitely have to say that I have more concern about political decisions being made in Washington as the authors illustrate that consistently the politicians don't do the right thing for the country.
The authors bring up several concerns
1.Middle class demise via outsourcing of manufacturing to lower cost areas
2.Growing disparity of wealth (the rich own more in % terms)
3.The outsourcing of the 'HIGH TECH JOBS' that are to be the savior of the country.
4.Commentary about various social programs set up and how ineffective they are.
In conclusion I would say this book was extremely well researched and I therefore give KUDOS to the authors. While I don't agree with everything they wrote I believe they have put forth an excellent piece of work.
My main contention with the book is that it focuses on the demise of manufacturing and low-end jobs, along with some high tech. The U.S. is expensive from a labor perspective. As we have outsourced much of our manufacturing we have been able to purchase products at cheaper prices in the U.S.. Imagine what some products would cost if we were paying for labor that was, in some cases, 10x higher than current wages in developing countries? NOWHERE in the book do the authors mention the BENEFIT to our standard of living because we can buy more with our dollars than we would be able to do so otherwise. In general, this book is WAY to the left so reader beware.
My background is a B.S. in Acct., an MBA in finance and current interests in economic and social policy development so I found this to be quite an interesting read.
In the 80's, as the budget deficits soared beyond anyone's worst nightmare, something had to be done to mask the true size of the monster. The result? A spike in the "payroll taxes" used to pay for Social Security and Medicare! While technically "off budget" and held in trust, the shell game used these receipts to disguise the growing deficits by lumping them in with other tax revenue. Oh yeah...the wealthy don't pay this tax on the vast majority of their income.
Barlett and Steele do a very passable job of explaining the shell game that has been used to lead Americans down the primrose path while transferring an ever greater share of our nations wealth to the very few at the expense of the rest of us. Now, as we repeat the major blunders of the Reagan eras transfer of wealth to the well to do with the fiscally irresponsible Bush tax cut (if you think that there is really a surplus to pay for this thing you are in for a rude awakening), this book is a very timely read. I can't recommend it highly enough. Get a copy and find out why almost all of what you thought you knew and almost all of what our political leaders are telling you is simply wrong.
America now has the largest gap between rich and poor in the entire industrialized world. Tax policy is at least partly to blame and has accelerated the growth of that gap such that it has more than doubled in the last twenty years. Do yourself a favor by finding a copy of this book to find out why. It's much worse than I can tell you here in the words allowed to me. I think most people instinctively know the truth but they are in denial. It's ugly and it's time to face it.