Why you won't get rich : how capitalism broke its contract with hard work /
Verkaik, Robert,author.
"In 2018, UN representatives spent two weeks in a single country investigating child poverty, concluding that it was 'not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster'. That country was the United Kingdom. Who are the new faces of poverty? The same people we applaud as heroes: policemen, nurses and firefighters. While a select few have gotten unthinkably rich in the past ten years, crushing levels of personal debt, high rents, low wages and a punitive welfare system have brought countless others to the brink of financial collapse. It doesn't take a lot to end up on the breadline in Britain. And once you're there, it's nearly impossible to get out of it. These are the unseen victims of a broken economy"--Publisher's description.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction : the road to Wembley -- What is rich? the billionaire who thinks everybody is worth £660,791 -- Survivors : the insurance salesman who didn't leave his home for 4 years -- First responders : the hungry nurse who ate the patient's sandwich -- Strugglers : the boy who missed his mother's funeral -- Workers : the mortician who became a hairdresser -- Renters : the princess and the paupers -- Millennials : the travel agent who swapped his career for a windsurfer -- Grafters : the city trader who lied about his holidays -- Taxes : the single mother on benefits who went to prison and the oligarch who didn't -- Born poor : the immigrant who wanted to be a social worker -- Borrowers : the railway engine mechanic who lost her job and never recovered -- Strivers : the £90,000 lawyer who didn't feel very rich -- Savers : the sailor and the dinner lady who ran out of money before they died -- Traders : the day the bookshop didn't sell any books -- The city : the classic-car enthusiast who forgot what kind of car his broker was driving -- Wealth : the world-famous mountaineer who sleeps in his Ford Mondeo -- Winners : the numismatist who accidentally cornered the market -- Generation poor : the graduate who didn't want to move to London -- Coronavirus : the man who tried to buy some toilet paper -- Enriching our society : how we all get rich.
"In 2018, UN representatives spent two weeks in a single country investigating child poverty, concluding that it was 'not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster'. That country was the United Kingdom. Who are the new faces of poverty? The same people we applaud as heroes: policemen, nurses and firefighters. While a select few have gotten unthinkably rich in the past ten years, crushing levels of personal debt, high rents, low wages and a punitive welfare system have brought countless others to the brink of financial collapse. It doesn't take a lot to end up on the breadline in Britain. And once you're there, it's nearly impossible to get out of it. These are the unseen victims of a broken economy"--Publisher's description.
Poor
Income distribution
Capitalism.