The Expendables could be a good read for anyone interested in understanding the reality of globalisation's consequences on the middle class. Jeff Rubin's book presents an insightful analysis of how the 'expendable' middle class has been left behind, while the rich have become richer due to falling tariffs, low-interest rates, global deregulation, and tax policies that benefit only them. Rubin draws on the ideas of both Naomi Klein and Donald Trump and provides an exhilaratingly fresh perspective, which is both humane and irascible, fearless and rigorous, making it a must-read for anyone looking for a unique and fresh perspective on the impact of globalisation.

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We are constantly being told that globalisation is good for the economy and good for us, but it’s actually the opposite, argues bestselling author Jeff Rubin in this provocative, timely book. In the pre-coronavirus world, governments and economists bragged that GDP was growing and unemployment was down. But even then, real wages had been stagnant for decades, union membership had collapsed, and full-time employment no longer guaranteed you could pay the bills. When we emerge from the virus, it would be nice to think that living in a country that’s getting richer means that you’re getting richer too, but that’s not the way it works anymore. Falling tariffs, low interest rates, global deregulation, and tax policies that benefit only the rich have all had the same the erosion of the ‘expendable’ middle class. The result, growing global inequality, is a problem of our own making. And solving it won’t be easy if we draw on the same ideas about capital and labour, right and left, that led us to this cliff. Articulating a vision that, remarkably, dovetails with the ideas of both Naomi Klein and Donald Trump, The Expendables is an exhilaratingly fresh perspective that is at once humane and irascible, fearless and rigorous.

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