The Trickle Down Delusion

From inside the book: “Since 1980, the economy has been growing, and productivity has been growing, but trickle-down values—that we, the American people promote, pursuant to the Republican Party’s conservative ideology—have rigged the economy to continuously upwardly redistribute those revenues attributable to our increased productivity, yielding a productivity/wage disconnect, resulting in increased concentration of income and wealth at the top, in corporations and among older Americans (beneficiaries of income from Social Security, pensions and investments and continuing income due to delaying retirement), and the lowest percentage of GDP attributable to wages and highest attributable to profits since World War II. But trickle-down has not only distorted our economic thought; it has also distorted our political thought, our sociology and our concept of the rule of law. The result has been that the trickle-down policies promoted by the Republican Party are undermining our economy, democracy, institutions and health.” For further discussion contact author at [email protected].

Do Cubans live longer than Americans? Are Scandinavians happier than the British? Do Oscar winners live longer than other actors? Does capitalism cause mental illness? Does inequality lead to murder? Would higher taxes make us slimmer, more trusting and more charitable? The Spirit Level Delusion shines the light of reason on some of the extraordinary claims made in favour of big government in the twenty-first century. Several books (The Spirit Level, Happiness and Affluenza amongst others) have called for a radical shift in power from the individual to the state based on the supposedly devastating effects of wealth, economic growth and inequality. By examining all the available evidence, Christopher Snowdon tests the theory that 'more equal' countries are healthier, happier and more successful. Through a sober assessment of the facts-including some inconvenient truths-The Spirit Level Delusion shows that the theory not only lacks empirical support but also fails the basic test of believability. "If you haven t read a book that made you laugh out loud on the bus or the Tube in a while, try Christopher Snowdon s superb release, The Spirit Level Delusion. But the book s subtle humour is not the reason I am recommending it. The Spirit Level Delusion is, above all, a book that delivers and goes well beyond the promise of its subtitle 'fact-checking the left s new theory of everything'... It may well be that the next big battle for a free society will be fought against the new anti-wealth egalitarianism. Christopher Snowdon has provided defenders of freedom with powerful ammunition." Kristian Niemietz, Institute of Economic Affairs "Snowdon picks so many holes in the theory that were it a building it wouldn t be passed as structurally sound by the most crooked of third world local government surveyors... I wish that everyone who espoused The Spirit Level would read The Spirit Level Delusion, which explains just how dubious the science behind this grand theory is." Ed West, The Telegraph "The Spirit Level Delusion not only successfully and dramatically undermines much of the evidence in The Spirit Level, but also takes on the other fashionable opponents of economic growth... His engaging discussion unpicks the evidence of the anti-growth brigade and demonstrates that it is selective and partial. This book is excellent tube reading . Philip Booth, City AM

Based on a series of previously published articles, this book adopts a reader-friendly approach to the problems and issues facing those of us who depend on technology to make a living. Avoiding technical jargon, this book explains the law using the language of business and provides practical advice that you can use every day.

This book exposes the inherent contradictions of neoliberalism. The myth of limitless growth ignores the reality of resource constraints and fuels a global upward transfer of wealth. Meanwhile, a fractured global economy and intensifying class warfare chip away at neoliberalism's foundation. As inequality spirals and social justice crumbles, the model increasingly serves a privileged few at the expense of the majority. This undermines the Enlightenment ideal of using liberal democracy to improve lives in the age of mass politics, threatening neoliberalism's very survival.

What the hell happened on the way to making the world a better place? We boomers were told our success would be unlimited. We had democracy and capitalism, and God was on our side. We took our religious teachings seriously, and set out to end bigotry, violence, and destitution. Inevitably, we collided with American Caesars, whose power and wealth was sufficient to dominate national and international affairs. Political and religious Caesars appropriated Jesus and used him to justify war, sexism, racism, dictatorships, and poverty. What were the faithful to do? Lots of boomers I know tossed the spiritual baby out with the religious institution's bathwater, and became cynical about civic engagement. It is not time to abandon hope in our goodness, however, and it is not time to surrender our conscience to Caesar. Our experiences as boomers teach us that it is possible to bring the love of God to bear in our lives, despite Caesar's constant pressure to cherish power, wealth, celebrity, and things more than we cherish people. This book is for folks who are ready to get off Caesar's treadmill and dig deeply into their hearts and minds to see what remains of the Kingdom of God within.

“Sometimes the deepest knowledge of God comes from those who had to trust in Him the most” What does this book’s title, “Can’t See the Forest for the Trees” imply? A simple answer is: • The ‘Forest’ is symbolic of God’s Plan, revealed in Bible scripture with all of its mystery to be understood and fulfilled with steadfast belief, faith and trust in the power of the Holy Trinity: God (the Father), Jesus Christ (the Son), and the Holy Spirit (one for all, all for one). God’s Plan is a work in progress nearing fulfillment. • The ‘Trees’ are symbolic of obstacles, like gullibility, false teaching, false prophesy, false doctrine, apostasy, hate, lying, deceit, evil, love-of-money, blind speculation and the like; all of which are growing rampant in the United States. • The message reveals Spiritual Blindness as a curse that God has imposed upon His Church for their lack of true faith in Him (not unlike the Israelites), as they turn away from the New Covenant Law, blindly accepting unsuspected guidance from Satan, to employ worldly ways and promote apostasy. By misguided faith some may be unprotected by the “Armor of God”, and their failing to cultivate the Fruit of the Spirit makes matters worse. The author is hopeful that his book will bring awareness of spiritual blindness, to summon a repentant reaction for ‘restoration’ of religious understanding and direction in line with God’s real purpose.

A Nobel prize winner challenges us to throw off the free market fundamentalists and reclaim our economy. We all have the sense that the American economy—and its government—tilts toward big business, but as Joseph E. Stiglitz explains in his new book, People, Power, and Profits, the situation is dire. A few corporations have come to dominate entire sectors of the economy, contributing to skyrocketing inequality and slow growth. This is how the financial industry has managed to write its own regulations, tech companies have accumulated reams of personal data with little oversight, and our government has negotiated trade deals that fail to represent the best interests of workers. Too many have made their wealth through exploitation of others rather than through wealth creation. If something isn’t done, new technologies may make matters worse, increasing inequality and unemployment. Stiglitz identifies the true sources of wealth and of increases in standards of living, based on learning, advances in science and technology, and the rule of law. He shows that the assault on the judiciary, universities, and the media undermines the very institutions that have long been the foundation of America’s economic might and its democracy. Helpless though we may feel today, we are far from powerless. In fact, the economic solutions are often quite clear. We need to exploit the benefits of markets while taming their excesses, making sure that markets work for us—the U.S. citizens—and not the other way around. If enough citizens rally behind the agenda for change outlined in this book, it may not be too late to create a progressive capitalism that will recreate a shared prosperity. Stiglitz shows how a middle-class life can once again be attainable by all. An authoritative account of the predictable dangers of free market fundamentalism and the foundations of progressive capitalism, People, Power, and Profits shows us an America in crisis, but also lights a path through this challenging time.

Predatory Value Extraction explains how an ideology of corporate resource allocation known as 'maximizing shareholder value' (MSV) that emerged in the 1980s came to dominate strategic thinking in business schools and corporate boardrooms in the United States. Undermining the social foundations of sustainable prosperity, it resulted in employment instability, income inequity, and slow productivity growth. In explaining what happened to sustainable prosperity, William Lazonick and Jang-Sup Shin focus on the growing imbalance between value creation and value extraction in the U.S. economy, and the corporate-governance institutions that determine this balance in the nation's major business corporations. The imbalance has become so extreme that predatory value extraction is now a central economic activity, to the point at which the U.S. economy as a whole can be aptly described as a value-extracting economy. Balancing the contributions of economic actors to value creation with their power to extract value provides the foundation for stable and equitable economic growth. When certain economic actors are able to assert their power to extract far more value than they contribute to the value-creation process, an imbalance occurs which, when extreme, leads to dire economic, political, and social consequences. This book not only explores these consequences, but also sets out an agenda for restoring sustainable prosperity.

The notion of the individual creator, a product in part of the Western romantic ideal, is now troubled by accounts and explanations of creativity as a social construct. While in collectivist cultures the assimilation (but not the denial) of individual authorship into the complexities of group production and benefit has been a feature, the notion of the lone individual creator has been persistent. Systems theories acknowledge the role of others, yet at heart these are still individual views of creativity - focusing on the creative individual drawing upon the work of others rather than recognizing the mutually constitutive elements of social interactions across time and space. Focusing on the domain of music, the approach taken in this book falls into three sections: investigations of the people, processes, products, and places of collaborative creativity in compositional thought and practice; explorations of the ways in which creative collaboration provides a means of crossing boundaries between disciplines such as music performance and musicology; and studies of the emergence of creative thought and practice in educational contexts including that of the composer and the classroom. The volume concludes with an extended chapter that reflects on the ways in which the studies reported advance understandings of creative thought and practice. The book provides new perspectives to our understandings of the role of collaborative thought and processes in creative work across the domain of music including: composition, musicology, performance, music education and music psychology.

I have recorded in this book happenings and encounters in the first 33 years of my life. I am half expecting that they are, for the most part, of interest only to me, the curious members of my family, and friends, who are either nosy of what I had gone through, or just evoking memories of their own youthful past in 20th Century Philippines. These memories are mostly fragmented recollections of what I heard and saw when growing up in a small village, and while going to school and starting life, after the end of the 2nd World War and the start of Philippine independence. This book is about the unadorned simple life in a village of a newly independent country that was slowly emerging from a backward colonial past and its coming of age after the 2nd World War. At the people level, I have tried to narrate how the young typically responded to the demands of the outside world. Here you will meet family and friends, ordinary people, as well as some of the colorful characters in the 20th century Philippines I encountered from the sidelines of power.