num_pages: 352
description: From New York Times business reporter Nelson D. Schwartz comes a gripping investigation of how a virtual velvet rope divides Americans in every arena of life creating a friction-free existence for those with money on one side and a Darwinian struggle for the middle class on the other side.In nearly every realm of daily life--from health care to education highways to home security--there is an invisible velvet rope that divides how Americans live. On one side of the rope for a price red tape is cut lines are jumped appointments are secured and doors are opened. On the other side middle- and working-class Americans fight to find an empty seat on the plane a place in line with their kids at the amusement park a college acceptance or a hospital bed. We are all aware of the gap between the rich and everyone else but when we weren't looking business innovators stepped in to exploit it shifting services away from the masses and finding new ways to profit by serving the privileged. And as decision-makers and corporate leaders increasingly live on the friction-free side of the velvet rope they are less inclined to change--or even notice--the obstacles everyone else must contend with. Schwartz's must read book takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour of this new reality and shows the toll the velvet rope divide takes on society.
language: English
title: The Velvet Rope Economy: How Inequality Became Big Business
publisher: Doubleday Books