title: Beyond Outrage: Expanded Edition: What has gone wrong with our economy and our democracy, and how to fix it
author:  Robert B. Reich 
description: The problem with our economy is that it currently works for the fewcorporate and Wall Street elitesat the expense of the rest of us, former labor secretary Reich argues. Elites not only receive higher compensation but enjoy greater job security. Regressivespoliticians who have been co-opted by big moneyhave turned the question of American morality upside down. These regressive forces push a divide-and-conquer strategy, primarily by raising alarms over deficit spending and asserting a need to cut public programs that benefit the middle class and the poor. Reich notes the blame heaped on public employees for state budget crises in comparison to that accorded either Wall Street practices that led to the recession or the Supreme Courts Citizens United decision that removed limitations on corporate contributions to political campaigns. Reich recommends that politicians and the public get out of their ideological bubbles and face the need to raise tax rates on the wealthy, reduce military spending, and restrict the size of banks to reduce the risk to taxpayers in case of failure. --Vernon Ford
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  #
  
  Beyond  
   **Outrage**
  
  
  _What Has Gone Wrong with  
  Our Economy and Our Democracy,  
  and How to Fix It_  
    
  
  
  **Robert B. Reich**
  
  
  ![](../images/00006.jpeg)  
  VINTAGE BOOKS  
   _A Division of Random House, Inc.  
  New York_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, SEPTEMBER 2012
  
  
  _Copyright © 2012 by Robert B. Reich_
  
  
  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a
  division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of
  Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in somewhat different form as an
  e-short by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
  
  
  Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
  
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data  
  Reich, Robert B.  
  Beyond outrage : what has gone wrong with our economy and our democracy, and
  how to fix it / Robert B. Reich.  
  p. cm.  
  eISBN: 978-0-345-80449-5  
  1\. United States—Economic policy—Citizen participation.  
  2\. Right and left (