The Privileges of Wealth

Rising inequality and the growing racial divide

Business & Finance, Economics, Microeconomics
Cover of the book The Privileges of Wealth by Robert B. Williams, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Robert B. Williams ISBN: 9781315395562
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: November 25, 2016
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Robert B. Williams
ISBN: 9781315395562
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: November 25, 2016
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

The American Dream is under assault. This threat results not from a lack of means, but from an unwillingness to share. Total household wealth increased by half in the past generation, but barely one fifth of American households captured this new wealth. For the rest, the dream of owning a home, gaining a secure retirement, and ensuring a college education for their kids is disappearing. Worse still, the widening wealth divide largely tracks our racial fault lines.

The Privileges of Wealth investigates the impact of the rising concentration of wealth. It describes how households accumulate wealth along three pathways: household saving, appreciation of assets, and family gifts and inheritances. In addition, federal wealth policies, in the form of assorted tax deductions and credits, act as a fourth pathway that favors wealthy households. For those with means, each pathway operates as a virtuous cycle enabling families to build wealth with increasing ease. For those without, these same pathways are experienced as vicious cycles.

The issue of wealth privilege is even more pronounced when examining the racial wealth gap. Typically, White households own ten times the wealth of Black or Latino families. This chasm results from the durability and transferability of wealth across generations and serves as a persistent legacy of our history of racial enslavement, expropriation, and exclusion. Current policies favoring the wealthy are simply cementing these wealth disparities.

This book explains how these sources of wealth privilege are systemic features of our economy and the basis of rising disparities. The arguments and evidence presented here offer a compelling case for how our current policies are undermining the American Dream for most Americans while fortifying a White plutocracy, with dire consequences for us all.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The American Dream is under assault. This threat results not from a lack of means, but from an unwillingness to share. Total household wealth increased by half in the past generation, but barely one fifth of American households captured this new wealth. For the rest, the dream of owning a home, gaining a secure retirement, and ensuring a college education for their kids is disappearing. Worse still, the widening wealth divide largely tracks our racial fault lines.

The Privileges of Wealth investigates the impact of the rising concentration of wealth. It describes how households accumulate wealth along three pathways: household saving, appreciation of assets, and family gifts and inheritances. In addition, federal wealth policies, in the form of assorted tax deductions and credits, act as a fourth pathway that favors wealthy households. For those with means, each pathway operates as a virtuous cycle enabling families to build wealth with increasing ease. For those without, these same pathways are experienced as vicious cycles.

The issue of wealth privilege is even more pronounced when examining the racial wealth gap. Typically, White households own ten times the wealth of Black or Latino families. This chasm results from the durability and transferability of wealth across generations and serves as a persistent legacy of our history of racial enslavement, expropriation, and exclusion. Current policies favoring the wealthy are simply cementing these wealth disparities.

This book explains how these sources of wealth privilege are systemic features of our economy and the basis of rising disparities. The arguments and evidence presented here offer a compelling case for how our current policies are undermining the American Dream for most Americans while fortifying a White plutocracy, with dire consequences for us all.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book Comparative Economic Systems: v. 2 by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book The Volksbuhne Movement by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book Divine Violence by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book History of Education by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book Leadership in America's Best Urban Schools by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book Continuities (Routledge Revivals) by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book The Musical Thought and Spiritual Lives of Heinrich Schenker and Arnold Schoenberg by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book Pre-Communist Indochina by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book Using Homework Assignments in Cognitive Behavior Therapy by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book Studies in the Islam and Science Nexus by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book Philosophical Basics of Ecology and Economy by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book Symbolism by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book The Ottoman World by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book Refugee Women, Representation and Education by Robert B. Williams
Cover of the book Port State Control by Robert B. Williams
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy