Excerpts
from recent commentaries on Greed and Good
From a
review in the December 19, 2005 In These
Times
by David Moberg:
In Greed and Good, a highly engaging, encyclopedic survey of arguments
for and against equality, Sam Pizzigati, a veteran labor journalist,
makes a compelling case that increasing inequality contributes
to rising unhappiness, corruption of professions like law and medicine,
environmental destruction, less innovative businesses, slower economic
growth, a fraying social fabric and much more . . .
Americans
seem at best ambivalent about restraining great wealth. But Pizzigati
shreds the rationales
for inequality — as an
incentive, as a justifiable reward, as the price paid for charitable
benevolence — and argues that a just society must not only “level
up” the poor but also “level down” the rich,
capping their incomes at ten times the minimum wage. (The average
CEO last year made 431 times the average worker’s earnings).
That would create a real incentive for the elite to raise the wages
of most workers in order for them to increase their own incomes,
and it could have a wide range of benefits — from slowing
the hedonic treadmill to improving health and giving free reign
to
motivations other than greed.
“Sam Pizzigati takes us on a sweeping
tour of life in these United States that is both depressing and
angering, even embarrassing to see how gravely our country and
democracy have been overwhelmed by the greed and power of concentrated
wealth. His story, however, ends in hope and vision — big
ideas for rescuing American ideals from plutocracy and for restoring
our bedrock values of equity and equality.”
William Greider, author,
The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy
From a review in the August 2005 Political
Affairs
by Norman Markowitz:
Sam Pizzigati, a progressive journalist,
activist, and man of letters in the old sense, has written a treatise
on the rising tide of inequality in the United States and its profoundly
destructive effects on the quality of most individuals' lives.
In the tradition of "men of letters," Pizzigati ranges widely, using
political economy, history, philosophy, and modern social science
to demolish what New Dealer Thurman Arnold called the "folklore
of capitalism" in the 1930s, a "folklore" now
advanced by those who seek to literally destroy all of the advances
made from the 1930s to the 1970s.
“Sam Pizzigati has put together
the definitive case against the excessive inequality of income,
wealth and power in our society. He gives us hard numbers and
common sense observations, as well as imaginative proposals for
reversing our slide into plutocracy and social decay. If you
care about your country, read this book.”
Jeff Faux, distinguished fellow,
co-founder, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, D.C.
From a review in the March 2005 American Library Association journal,
Choice,
by economist Michael Perelman:
This extraordinary book begins with a detailed demolition of the
trickle-down case for inequality . . . No brief description can
adequately describe the mass of valuable insight and information
contained within this volume. . . . This book deserves the highest
possible recommendation.
“Greed
and Good is essential reading to grasp the widespread
and sometimes invisible evil impact of economic inequality
on our lives and society. Sam Pizzigati dares to envision
a world without grotesque disparities of wealth and power — and
makes a profound and inspiring case for dedicating ourselves
to this cause.”
Chuck Collins, co-founder, United for Fair Economy,
and co-author with Bill Gates Sr. of Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America
Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes
From a review in the November 15, 2004 Progressive Populist
by
Alvena Bieri:
We have a minimum wage. The author suggests the radical idea that
maybe we should have a maximum wage as well . . . Pizzigati has
two chapters on the details, and it all sounds good to me.
“The looting of America — from the top — has
been rolling along now for nearly a generation. Our nation’s
rich have become, far and away, the world’s richest. What
price do we pay for this massive inequality? No book exposes
the full true cost better than Sam Pizzigati’s Greed and
Good. And no book suggests a more thought-provoking strategy
for ending the gross inequalities that are rotting the American
dream.”
Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.),
chair, House Democratic Policy Committee
From a review in the September 2004 Labor
Party Press
by editor
David Ransom:
We dare
not imagine a society without them,” observes Sam
Pizzigati of the super-rich in his new book. Pizzigati dissects
the propaganda that made that so — the idea that concentrated
wealth benefits us all — and he investigates the price
we pay for inequality.
Pizzigati, who for many years directed publications at the National
Education Association, reminds us that once America considered
such wealth “a menace to everything that made us special
as a people.” Power corrupts not only those who have it,
he notes, but those who allow it to concentrate as well.
Think you know all this? Try him. At worst you get a powerfully
argued refresher course. And, though it’s a big book, Pizzigati’s
fluid prose makes for highly enjoyable reading.
From a review in the May 22, 2004 World Wide Work,
a American Labor Education Center bulletin,
by Matt Witt:
A thorough review of how unprecedented inequality is eating away
at every aspect of American life, plus a proposal for what could
be done about it. An imposing 550 pages of text that works because
of its conversational, plain talking style and preference for substance
over sloganeering.
From a review in the Summer 2004 Thought & Action,
the higher education journal,
by economist Mason Gaffney:
The author ranges widely over the effects of maldistribution of
wealth on culture, retailing, health, democracy, business administration,
charity, industrial organization, research, speculation, crime,
inner peace, professional standards, and victory in sports. Critics
could never call him narrow, so they will say he is spread too
thin. But he has much of value to say on each topic and keeps the
reader engaged. He fills out his themes but moves right along logically
and sequentially.
From a July 27, 2004 review by David Swanson,
International Labor Communications Association media coordinator:
We spend more on criminal justice and have more crime. How can
that be? We're richer and have more poverty. Why is that? Sam
Pizzigati, author of a new book called Greed and Good, thinks
he has both
an answer and a solution to these and several other riddles.
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