Billionaire Democracy: The Hijacking of the American Political System
About this audiobook
This isn’t your America. No matter who the president is.
We are told that, when we vote and elect representatives, we gain a voice in government and its policies. Yet, it hasn’t translated our preferences into higher living standards for the majority of us.
In America, the wealthy few have built a system that works in their favor, while maintaining the illusion of democracy. American voters have little influence on policies engineered by lawmakers. Political scientists call it the “income bias,” causing lawmakers to compete to satisfy preferences of donors from the top 1 percent instead of the middle class. It is why our economy has been misfiring for most Americans for a generation, wages stagnating and opportunity dwindling.
Economist George R. Tyler lays out the fundamental problems plaguing our democracy. He explains how our democratic system has eroded the middle class and provides a comparison to peer democracies abroad. He shows where we fall short and how other rich democracies avoid the income bias pitfall. He also outlines reforms to improve our government’s responsiveness.
It’s time for the people of this nation to demand a government that properly serves us, the American people.
About the author
George Tyler is an economist who has extensive private and public-sector exposure to international issues and foreign economics and political systems. He is the author of Billionaire Democracy as well as What Went Wrong: How the 1% Hijacked the American Middle Class–and What Other Countries Got Right. His experience in the US Senate and Treasury and with economic systems in Europe and across the globe give him an expansive perspective on the many variations of capitalism and democracy worldwide. He worked in the United States Senate for eighteen years. He served as senior economist to former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and to Sen. Lloyd M. Bentsen (D-TX). Appointed by President Clinton as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, her has worked closely with top policymakers like Lawrence Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. His international exposure was intensified when working at the World Bank in Washington. Drawing on his international experience and contacts, he co-authored the creation of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in 1999. As a member of the DNDi audit committee, he gained extensive exposure to Europe and economic systems across the globe.
William Hughes is an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. A professor of political science at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, he received his doctorate in American politics from the University of California at Davis. He has done voice-over work for radio and film and is also an accomplished jazz guitarist.
