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Equal Is Unfair: America's Misguided Fight Against Income Inequality Hardcover – March 29, 2016
| Don Watkins (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
| Yaron Brook (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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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.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSt. Martin's Press
- Publication dateMarch 29, 2016
- Dimensions6.37 x 0.99 x 9.62 inches
- ISBN-10125008444X
- ISBN-13978-1250084446
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Editorial Reviews
Review
*#1 Conservative Book Club Bestseller*
“This is an extraordinary book that will open your eyes and increase your awareness about this politically charged subject. You learn how and why “inequality” is largely a myth and that the key to higher incomes lies in making yourself more productive throughout your life.”--Brian Tracy, author of No Excuses!
"Incisive, well-written, much-needed and powerful antidote to the pernicious "wisdom" about income inequality. The real problem is not free markets but arbitrary government power. An impressive achievement".―Steve Forbes, Editor-in-Chief, Forbes Media
“There are all sorts of very good books and articles exposing the economic fallacies underlying recent calls for more aggressive government-sponsored wealth-redistribution. But none exposes the misguided ethics underlying such calls as effectively as Don Watkins' and Yaron Brook's Equal is Unfair. Defenders of free markets need to recapture the high moral ground from their redistributionist opponents, and this book supplies just the ammunition needed for the job."--George Selgin, Director, Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute
“Watkins and Brook have written the best summary of Ayn Rand’s classic Atlas Shrugged I could imagine in Equal is Unfair. This is a must read for every individual who wonders about America’s direction these past few years. The American Dream is under attack and this book clearly and succinctly explains the motives of the attackers and the defense which we all must provide. A brilliant piece of work!”--David L Sokol, Chairman of Teton Capital, LLC.
This book is like an oasis in the desert. At LAST the voice of reason breaks through the prejudices and presumptions and outright misrepresentations that are at the heart of the hysterical cries of the inequality fighters.”–Mark Pellegrino, star of Lost, Dexter, Supernatural and Quantico
“More bad ideas are promoted under the beguiling banner of ‘equality’ than anything else these days. If you’ve been seduced into thinking that it’s the key to personal or material progress, this book is your antidote. Read it cover to cover and you’ll never see humanity, the economy or public policy the same again.”--Lawrence W. Reed, President of the Foundation for Economic Education
“Equal Is Unfair demolishes the Left’s myths and demonstrates that the campaign against income inequality is actually an attack on the concept of the ‘land of opportunity’?America’s unique sense of life. As Watkins and Brook show, reason and freedom, not handouts and high taxes, are the foundations of human progress. And production, not redistribution, is the source of human flourishing.”--John A. Allison, retired President and CEO of the, Cato Institute, and retired Chairman and CEO of BB&T
“There are basically two ways of thinking about policy responses to inequality―raising or leveling. Leveling tends to promote the idea that there is a fixed pie of wealth in society and distribution is a function of luck, while raising tends to promote the idea that wealth must be created by individuals who realize the gains from trade and the gains from innovation, and as such distribution is a function of rewards for superior talent and insight into how to satisfy the demands of others in the market. Human excellence must be acknowledged before it can be rewarded, and talents are to be celebrated rather than explained away as a consequence of luck. In Equal is Unfair, Watkins and Brook provide a persuasive defense of human excellence, and of true capitalism which brings out the best in humanity and unleashes the creative genius in man in the arts, science and commerce. Highly recommended.”--Peter Boettke, University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University; the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism, Vice President for Research, and Director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at GMU
“Arguing the unarguable, Watkins and Brook blow the top off established wisdom on the evil of income inequality and the culpability of the 1%. Today’s one-sided debate on income inequality amounts to envy politics, not logic or fact, as these authors demonstrate in their explosive and entertaining book, Equal Is Unfair: America’s Misguided Fight Against Income Inequality. This book shows why the profit motive is noble and shows that government intervention in all areas of our lives―not income inequality―is what’s really threatening the American Dream. A must read for those who desire prosperity for more of the world’s people.”--Mallory Factor, NYT Bestselling Author of Shadowbosses and Big Tent, FoxNews Contributor and Professor, Oxford University and Buckingham University
Don Watkins’ and Yaron Brook’s latest book, Equal is Unfair is a much needed and well crafted take down of the attempt to force a political consensus that the State must focus on ending “inequality.” Government does not like concrete tasks―like building a bridge on time on budget. Government prospers when it convinces voters to demand that it pursue the impossible. Why? Because every failure becomes an argument for more centralized power.--Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform
About the Author
Yaron Brook is Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute. He is the co-author of Free Market Revolution. An internationally sought-after speaker, he has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, The Glenn Beck Show, On the Money, and Closing Bell, among others. His writings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, and CNN.com, and he is co-author with Don Watkins of a popular column on business and capitalism at Forbes.com.
Product details
- Publisher : St. Martin's Press (March 29, 2016)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 125008444X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250084446
- Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.37 x 0.99 x 9.62 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #876,519 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #368 in Government Management
- #825 in Economic Policy & Development (Books)
- #1,475 in Economic Conditions (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors

Born and raised in Israel, Yaron served as a first sergeant in Israeli military intelligence and earned a BSc in civil engineering from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. Yaron admits to being a socialist until the age of 16—then he read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Despite his best efforts to poke holes in Rand’s arguments, he couldn’t, and went on to become a student of Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism.
In the late 1980s, Yaron and his wife started thinking about where in the world they would want to live their lives and raise a family. Where could they find the greatest amount of freedom and the greatest amount of opportunity? The answer was clear, so in 1987 they emigrated to the United States. He would go on to become an American citizen in 2003.
Yaron received his MBA and PhD in finance from the University of Texas at Austin. For seven years he was an award-winning finance professor at Santa Clara University, and in 1998 he cofounded a financial advisory firm, BH Equity Research, of which he is presently managing director and chairman.
While in America, Yaron continued studying Ayn Rand’s philosophy. In the mid-1990s, he joined the Ayn Rand Institute’s new educational program, the Objectivist Graduate Center. It was in the OGC (now expanded into the Objectivist Academic Center) that Yaron deepened his knowledge of Objectivism, thanks to the efforts of teachers such as Rand’s heir, Leonard Peikoff, as well as leading Objectivist thinkers Harry Binswanger and Peter Schwartz.
It was also during this time that Yaron launched Lyceum International, an organization that for many years ran conferences on Objectivism.
In 2000 Yaron left teaching to become the president of the Ayn Rand Institute. Since then he has become a leading advocate of Rand’s ideas. His articles have been featured in major publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Investor’s Business Daily, and he is a frequent guest on radio and TV. In addition to co-authoring Free Market Revolution, Yaron is co-author of Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea and a contributor to Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism.
Yaron lives in Orange County, California.

Don Watkins is a best-selling author and one of today's most vocal opponents of the welfare state. A fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute, Don studies inequality, Social Security, entitlements, and the moral foundations of capitalism. He is a host of the weekly podcast on the entitlement state, The Debt of Dialogues. You can find Don's work at www.donswriting.com and follow him on twitter at @dwatkins3.
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We are taught that equality is a worthy goal. But is it possible for it not to be? What if there’s more than one kind of equality and achieving one kind can only be done at the expense of another? What if achieving income equality or economic equality can only be done by undermining political equality? Is equality of outcomes compatible with equality of rights? What about “equality of opportunity”? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Does income inequality even matter? And if income equality actually does threaten political equality, how do we fight it? These are the issues tackled by co-authors Don Watkins and Yaron Brook, scholars at the Ayn Rand Institute. Brook is also the director of the Institute.
Regardless of where you stand on inequality, you’ll want to read "Equal Is Unfair" because these are the arguments you’re going to be hearing from both sides: Watkins and Brook lay out the positions and tactics of those they call the “inequality alarmists” — from philosophers to policy wonks to commentators — and demolish them handily. They show you what arguments you can use to stand up for political equality in the face of attacks from inequality alarmists. Of course, that’s bad news for the alarmists, but great for those of us who care about our own personal freedom and being able to use it to get what we really want out of life.
Watkins and Brook look at the arguments and strategies used by the inequality alarmists and search for the source of their ideas, starting with the left’s current cause celebre, Thomas Piketty. This leads them, ultimately, to John Rawls, the philosopher of egalitarianism who has had a huge — and detrimental — influence on public policy over the past several decades. Rawls’ ideas, in particular, have been used to justify the view that everyone is entitled to “equality of opportunity” — in spite of the fact that we are all manifestly different in terms of abilities and motivation. Watkins and Brook take the density, misdirection and obfuscation of the inequality alarmists and make it direct, clear and easy to understand — without “dumbing” anything down.
Inequality alarmists attack freedom as a cause of poverty, claiming that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer — because the rich have rigged the system. But it’s not inequality that’s keeping people poor. It’s a lack of the very freedom that is being attacked by the alarmists. And the only way the rich can “rig the system” is by having access to government power — which they would not have in a genuine free market where individual rights are protected. In fact, it’s political freedom that has been eradicating poverty all over the world for the past 200 years and is now on the verge of completely eliminating it.
Watkins and Brook show why what we really need is not a culture where everybody strives to be no better or worse, or to have no more or less, than everyone else, but a culture that venerates achievement and the freedom that makes it possible for anyone to go as far as he wants as long as he’s willing to make the effort. "Equal Is Unfair" is often thrilling, such as when Watkins and Brook challenge the “victimhood” narrative with genuinely inspiring stories — vividly depicted — of individuals who overcame abusive families and communities to succeed.
Those who really care about alleviating poverty and ensuring that everyone has the best shot at getting what they really want out of life should be championing political equality: the equality of equally protected individual rights, not advocating that we should all be the same because the fact that we are all different is somehow unfair. That can only lead to an equality of misery — which is all it ever has led to and ever can lead to.
(The original version of this review is at [...] .)
Part 1 starts off examining the different types of arguments used to explain why inequality is bad, or what the authors call "The Inequality Narratives". They break down the narratives into 3 types, and take a deep look at the statistics commonly used to support the narratives. There is plenty of data/statistics in part 1, and the authors do a great job of tackling it from all angles.
Part 2 starts from the conclusion that the statistics of distribution of wealth are not enough if we want to identify what type of economic polices are good, and which are bad for the economy. It looks to identify how wealth is produced, and the conditions that make it possible.
Part 3 then looks to how government controls are reducing each individual's ability to produce wealth and pursue happiness ("The American Dream"). The last chapter in part 3, #7-"Understanding the Campaign Against Inequality" is really where this book sets itself completely apart from similar books and should be summarized separately.
Parts 1 through chapter 6, part 3, are superbly written for the two types of people that may read this book:
- The person who is somewhere between familiar and very familiar with free market economic principles/arguments. These people can find a fresh presentation of free market principles being utilized specifically against the income inequality narratives. If you fall into this category, you will find yourself highlighting or noting many essential passages that make the connection abundantly clear.
- The honest person who is not familiar with free market economic principles/arguments, but wants to seriously understand the other side. For these people, the authors do a great job of staying as unbiased as possible while moving through arguments, not relying on the reader to understand any principle before hand. In the data heavy parts, the authors don't claim to be able to take very complex statistics surrounding distribution of wealth from a very complex economy, and make a definitive claim that "inequality is good" as is done by the other side (with the opposite conclusion).
For both types of people the information is very refreshing. It covers many different government policies and there are plenty of examples from both modern day and past businesses to illustrate key points (Bill Gates, Andrew Carnegie, Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Warren Buffet, Henry Ford, Elon Musk etc.)
Chapter 7 does what few other books do - it analyses the core moral principles and motives fuelling the ideas being discussed. This is not a claim that everyone who is a critic of inequality prescribes to the principles and motives that are analysed, but the authors make a very compelling argument linking the common rhetoric back to the core source, while explaining how the principles and motives are incompatible with "The American Dream". The core sources examined are Egalitarianism and Collectivism. Even if you are very familiar with free market economics, this is a MUST read section and chapter.
I highly recommend this for both newcomers and veterans of free market ideas, because the additional philosophical and moral ideas presented in this book are essential to convince people that political equality is the correct choice between the two options explained by the authors below:
"..there is no such thing as being for equality across the board: different types of equality conflict. Namely, economic equality (including equality of opportunity) is incompatible with political equality. We must choose between political equality and economic equality. It’s one or the other."
Top reviews from other countries
An Excellent read.
Our sense of fairness that those objectives should be pursued is shown to be misguided.
In depth analysis and convincing arguments that pursuing equality in these fields has a strong negative effect on our society and lead us all to be worse off.




