Runaway Inequality By Les Leopold: Book Review

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In my opinion, the saddest thing about this book is most Americans will never read it. That is just exactly what the rich elite and the powerful corporations want–the average American to be totally ignorant to what is causing our growing economic inequality. Why is the average worker’s paychecks stagnate? Why can’t we afford the things today that we did a year ago? Why is the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer? Why don’t Americans have the workers’ benefits other civilized countries do? Why do the rich pay less of their earnings for taxes than the poor and middle class do? This book answers these questions and many more. Most average workers think CEOs make about thirty-seven times what the average worker makes. The truth is most CEOs make over 825 times what an average worker earns. That means, no matter how much you make, it’s a good bet that the CEO of the company is making in less that three hours what you earn, working full-time, for the entire year. Most CEOs make in one year what most average workers earn in their entire working life. Other countries have better benefits. Say you plan to hike the Continental Divide Trail during your paid vacation. On the first day of your vacation, as you are loading your vehicle, you fall and break your leg. You spend your entire vacation sitting home watching television. When you return to work you tell your boss of your misfortune. Your boss tells you he is sorry but it’s time for you to get to work. In many other civilized countries this conversation would go more like this: You: I broke my leg on the first day of my vacation. Boss: I’m sorry to hear that. When shall we schedule your do-over vacation? Right now most Americans reading this will have their mouth hanging wide open. A do-over vacation? Yes, in most civilized countries it is the law that if a person is injured or becomes ill during their vacation they are entitled to a paid do-over vacation. Their vacation then becomes a paid leave. But not in the United States. Matter of fact, according to Leopold, there is no law stating an employer has to give any employee a paid vacation. And until recently, when cities such as Spokane, Washington, voted in laws requiring employers within the city to give employees paid sick leave, there were no laws requiring employers to do so. Furthermore, American companies (such as McDonalds) operating in these countries must follow these same laws in these countries. So while the American McDonalds employee has basically lost his vacation, due to his broken leg, the McDonalds employee in one of these other countries, who suffered the same fate as the American, will enjoy a do-over vacation. Why are Americans lagging behind in all these places? It all boils down to the Better Business Climate model. This is the believe that the more money big corporations and the rich make, the more money they will pay workers. The truth is instead of paying workers more, the money goes into the CEO and the rich elite’s pockets. Nearly everything that is wrong with America can be traced back to the Better Business Climate model which has been financially strip mining our country making the rich richer and causing the poor to become poorer. And as long as an average America is naive to this, the better the rich elite and the powerful corporations like it. What can be done to combat this? We can vote in laws that would cap the maximum income a CEO can make. Or laws giving stockholders the right to set a CEO’s pay. Better yet, vote in a cap on the percentage between what a CEO can earn in comparison to the lowest paid employee of the company. Then in order for a CEO to make more money, the lowest paid employee must make more money. We can vote back into law Acts such as the Glass-Steagall Act which will stop Wall Street from getting involved with risky investments (the cause of the Great Depression and the recession started 2008). I highly recommend this book to anyone who is sick and tired of stagnate wages, the growing financial separation between the rich and the poor or are just fed up being unable to keep up with the rising cost of living. Become educated to what is really going on and learn what needs to be done to reverse our runaway inequality.