In the midst of a severe economic downturn, the US is whipsawed by news of stock market drops, layoffs, foreclosures, and bailouts. The mortgage and housing bubble are blamed, and everyone only looks backward and forward a few months or a year at a time. But what if the underlying economic crisis is much deeper and more fundamental? What if it began in the 1970s, and shows no sign of easing despite massive government intervention and political change in Washington? Bruce Judson began this book with two contradictory beliefs. First, inequality in America has reached historic highs that have been intolerable throughout human history, leading to violent political change. Second, America will never face a revolution because it's politics are peaceful. These two beliefs cannot both be true. Which one is stronger? In "It Could Happen Here", Judson makes a plausible case that revolution is possible here, triggered by some kind of unexpected shock - and he proceeds to make the most disturbing case yet for why our economics are leading us inevitably toward a crisis. The last time inequality reached anything close to current levels was in 1928, just before the Crash and Great Depression. Today, we are in worse shape, based on a trend that has been increasing since the mid-1970s. Government bailouts and budget gimmicks won't do a thing to reverse this trend. And as Judson shows, America's inequality rivals that of the Soviet Union prior to its 1991 collapse, and that of France in 1789. Time to stop worrying about any single bailout or tax increase - and start worrying about the existential threat of America's collapsing middle class, and the plutocrats who are the sole winners.
Bruce Judson is a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Yale School of Management and a New deal 2.0 Blog Braintruster (a project of the Franklin and Eleanore Roosevelt Institute), and the author of the new book, "It Could Happen Here: America on the Brink," which was recently released by HarperCollins.
Judson is a bestselling author, a successful entrepreneur, and one of the nation's leading experts on how technology has transformed the workplace.
His interest in economic inequality, and intense study of its implications, arose from his experience in seeing how the benefits of the technological revolution were being divided within the nation.
Judson holds a JD from the Yale Law School and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He was the Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the "Yale Journal on Regulation" and a Senior Editor of the "Yale Law Journal."
Judson's books have been selected by multiple entities in the "short lists" of the best business books published in the year of their release, and his previous book, Go It Alone!, is believed to be the only non SBA book ever recommended on the learning home page of the Small Business Administration's Web site.
Judson is frequently quoted in the national media,such as "The New York Times," "The Wall Street Journal," and "USA Today." His earlier work on entrepreneurship, and empowering individuals, was the subject of a special profile in "The Wall Street Journal"
Most people develop a point of view and then start to make noise. In writing "It Could Happen Here" Judson took an alternative approach: He spent years researching and writing the book "so that I would have a clear, meaningful perspective" he says. "If you get distracted by writing in response to each new event, you can lose the ability to focus on establishing a deeper understanding of what's happening in the nation, which was my overall goal" he says.
Now that the book is complete, Judson is participating in the important public debate surrounding these issues and has rapidly emerged as a recognized, unique perspective, that places what is happening in our nation today in the context of the nation's longer history. Posts at his blog, www.ItCouldHappenHere, are now regularly syndicated as featured articles on the "Huffington Post," on "The Business Insider", at the New Deal 2.0 Blog, and have been frequently referenced in "Economist's View."
At his blog, Judson describes why he wrote it "It Could Happen Here" and the purpose of his ongoing writing. He wrote:
"Income inequality is at the highest recorded levels in the history of the nation. Despite almost universal predictions that the Gap would decrease in 2008, as a result of the Great Recession, the latest data suggest that it increase. This is scaring and frightening: The nation is now in a self-perpetuating cycle which, as demonstrated by recent experience and history, will continue unless substantial, inevitably controversial reforms are undertaken.
To date, there appears to be no appetite for the kind of wide-ranging reforms that would be necessary to reverse our spiral toward a nation sharply divided between a privileged few and an underclass that struggles from day to day and lacks basic economic security.
America has never been a nation of have's and have not's. One of the great strengths of the nation has always been the self-correcting nature of or democracy. But, our most eminent political theorists have pointed out that there could easily come a time when the political power of the wealthy, who will inevitably fight to protect their prerogatives, may overwhelm our ability to self-correct. There is reason to believe we are rapidly approaching that point.
"It Could Happen Here" was written as a wake-up call. The book explores the dangers of our evolving society, and the impact of a collapsing middle class, combined with the growing distance between rich and poor, on our nation: the health of our economy, our democracy, our social fabric, and even our long-term political stability.
This blog is my ongoing effort to indicate how the issues in today's headlines relate to the central challenge economic inequality poses for America."
