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Kevin Phillips The Politics Of Rich And Poor

448 Words2 Pages

In Kevin Phillips' novel The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath, the author dissects the economic and political impacts of the post Reagan era. The book mainly focuses on the economic changes that occurred in the 1980s. It was during this time that there was major political and economic growth for the United States, but this change was mostly seen in the rich upper class. An overarching theme of this period is the rich becoming richer. Phillips dives into the various issues that occurred during and as a result of such a large economic boom and its aftermath. During the Reagan era of politics, the United States saw an increase in their economic wealth, as did a number of other industrial nations. Americans saw a number of …show more content…

Housing ownership significantly declined and the median salary for these families and individuals either remained stagnant or declined in relation to rising costs of living and the growing wealth of the nation’s elites. It was due to these changes that Philips broached the idea that the nation has slowly become an elitist society. The novel also discusses the Republican and Democrat parties’ influence on the fluctuating society and political culture. Historically speaking, the economy is cyclical with three major Republican capitalistic eras: “the post-Civil War Gilded Age, the Roaring Twenties and the Reagan years.” It was during these eras that the Republican party took charge and the nation saw an overall boom in the economy. However, this eventually gave way to Democrat eras as the general public grew increasingly infuriated with the nation’s catering to the

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