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Where has capitalism gone wrong? Why are advanced capitalist economies so sick and why do conventional policy solutions, such as reduced taxes and increased money supply, produce only wider income disparity and inequality?
We now live in a new world in which we enjoy the highest living standard in history, acquiring ever more goods and services as necessary luxuries. Yet current policies only serve to expand public debt and exacerbate socio-economic inequality.
In Too much stuff, Yamamura upends conventional capitalist wisdom to provide a new approach. He suggests the only way for capitalism and democracy to thrive is to increase investment to meet societal needs such as improving social safety nets, infrastructure, and better education and health care for all, but this means raising taxes. Both solutions-orientated and accessibly written, this book argues that this will help reduce the growing wealth gap which threatens global democracy.
With fascinating examples from the US, Japan and Germany, as well as convincing evidence from across the Western world, this bold book challenges the economic orthodoxy and offers practical steps forward that we can all support.
The Need to Reinvigorate Capitalism and Democracy;
The New World of “Necessary Luxuries”;
The Failure of Pro-investment Fiscal Policies;
The Failure of the Pro-Investment Monetary Policy;
Economic Inequality Threatens Democracy;
The Failure to Invest to Meet Societal Needs;
Political Paralysis and Economic Injustice in the United States;
From the “Bubble” to Delusional Economic Policies in Japan;
Germany: From “The Sick man of Europe” to Merkel’s “Small Government”;
More Examples of Developed Economies in A Systemic Crisis;
Two Examples of Past Systemic Changes;
Suggestions on How to Make a Third Systemic Change;
Conclusion.
Description
Where has capitalism gone wrong? Why are advanced capitalist economies so sick and why do conventional policy solutions, such as reduced taxes and increased money supply, produce only wider income disparity and inequality?
We now live in a new world in which we enjoy the highest living standard in history, acquiring ever more goods and services as necessary luxuries. Yet current policies only serve to expand public debt and exacerbate socio-economic inequality.
In Too much stuff, Yamamura upends conventional capitalist wisdom to provide a new approach. He suggests the only way for capitalism and democracy to thrive is to increase investment to meet societal needs such as improving social safety nets, infrastructure, and better education and health care for all, but this means raising taxes. Both solutions-orientated and accessibly written, this book argues that this will help reduce the growing wealth gap which threatens global democracy.
With fascinating examples from the US, Japan and Germany, as well as convincing evidence from across the Western world, this bold book challenges the economic orthodoxy and offers practical steps forward that we can all support.
