Inequality and the 1% - Danny Dorling (2014).epub

Since the great recession hit in 2008, the 1% has only grown richer while the rest find life increasingly tough. The gap between the haves and the have-nots has turned into a chasm. While the rich have found new ways of protecting their wealth, everyone else has suffered the penalties of austerity.

But inequality is more than just economics. Being born outside the 1% has a dramatic impact on a person's potential: reducing life expectancy, limiting education and work prospects, and even affecting mental health.

What is to be done? In Inequality and the 1% leading social thinker Danny Dorling lays bare the extent and true cost of the division in our society and asks what have the superrich ever done for us. He shows that inquality is the greatest threat we face and why we must urgently redress the balance.


By Malvin VINE VOICE on October 19, 2014

“Inequality and the 1%” by Danny Dorling explains why greed has imperiled us and what to do about it. Professor Dorling teaches at Oxford University. His main focus is on the U.K. but frequent comparisons in the book are made with the U.S., the most unequal amongst developed nations. This passionate, informative and impeccably-researched book will interest everyone active in today’s struggle for economic justice.

Professor Dorling documents how the greed of the 1% crowds out opportunities for the rest of us to lead decent lives. Specifically, professor Dorling discusses in depth how education, work, wealth and health are made worse overall when so much is given to so few. In fact, the author’s research into the London housing bubble suggests that inequality, when taken to extremes, threatens to undermine everyone’s wealth, health and security – the 1% not excluded.

Professor Dorling hopes that his work will help us demand change. The author argues persuasively that higher income tax rates are effective disincentives to greed; with funds otherwise spent on art, yachts and second homes better spent on socially useful programs such as youth employment, healthcare, education, housing and so on. Simply put, the author empowers us to challenge the entitlement mentality of the 1% in order to achieve a sustainable, just and equitable society.

I highly recommend this excellent book to everyone.