Equal Is Unfair

America's Misguided Fight Against Income Inequality

Don Watkins, Yaron Brook

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781250084453
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

We've all heard that the American Dream is vanishing, and that the cause is rising income inequality. The rich are getting richer by rigging the system in their favor, leaving the rest of us to struggle just to keep our heads above water. To save the American Dream, we're told that we need to fight inequality through tax hikes, wealth redistribution schemes, and a far higher minimum wage.But what if that narrative is wrong? What if the real threat to the American Dream isn't rising income inequality—but an all-out war on success?In Equal is Unfair, a timely and thought-provoking work, Don Watkins and Yaron Brook reveal that almost everything we've been taught about inequality is wrong. You'll discover: • why successful CEOs make so much money—and deserve to
• how the minimum wage hurts the very people it claims to help
• why middle-class stagnation is a myth
• how the little-known history of Sweden reveals the dangers of forced equality
• the disturbing philosophy behind Obama's economic agenda.The critics of inequality are right about one thing: the American Dream is under attack. But instead of fighting to make America a place where anyone can achieve success, they are fighting to tear down those who already have. The real key to making America a freer, fairer, more prosperous nation is to protect and celebrate the pursuit of success—not pull down the high fliers in the name of equality.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Notice
• Part 1: Making Sense of the Inequality Debate
• Chapter 1: Who Cares about Inequality?
• Chapter 2: Examining the Inequality Narrative
• Part 2: Discovering the American Dream
• Chapter 3: The Land of Opportunity
• Chapter 4: The Conditions of Progress
• Part 3: The Betrayal of Opportunity
• Chapter 5: The War on Opportunity
• Chapter 6: The Money-Makers and the Money-Appropriators
• Chapter 7: Understanding the Campaign against Inequality
• Conclusion: How to Save the American Dream
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• About the Authors
• Praise for Equal Is Unfair
• Newsletter Sign-Up
• Contents
• Copyright