Political Corruption and Ethics Reform

Why is America living in an age of profound and widening economic inequality? Why have even modest attempts to address climate change been defeated again and again? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? In a riveting and indelible feat of reporting, Jane Mayer illuminates the history of an elite cadre of plutocrats--headed by the Kochs, the Scaifes, the Olins, and the Bradleys--who have bankrolled a systematic...

"We live in an age of extreme corporate concentration, in which global industries are controlled by just a few giant firms -- big banks, big pharma, and big tech, just to name a few. But concern over what Louis Brandeis called the "curse of bigness" can no longer remain the province of specialist lawyers and economists, for it has spilled over into policy and politics, even threatening democracy itself. History suggests that tolerance of inequality...

This authoritative and passionate primer on the three branches of government reveals the changes--political, cultural, constitutional, technological, institutional--that render our government completely dysfunctional, and the urgent need to fix our democracy before it's too late. If you've been watching the news and worrying that our democracy no longer works, this book will help you understand why you're right. There is colossal concentration of...

"Our political system has become big business--and business is booming--yet solutions to big problems seem impossible. Behold, the political-industrial complex. Rampant lobbying and gerrymandering. Election spending rising exponentially with each cycle. The Democratic and Republican parties competing furiously against each other for advantage, while together--as a duopoly--having a lock on the entire industry. And yet, who is this system for? Citizens,...