Wall Street’s War on Workers
How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do About It
| Pages: | 240 pages |
| Book Art: | Black-and-white illustrations throughout |
| Size: | 6 x 9 inch |
| Publisher: | Chelsea Green Publishing |
| Pub. Date: | February 22, 2024 |
| ISBN: | 9781645022336 |
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Wall Street’s War on Workers
How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do About It
“This book gave me a new lens to see the world.”—Robert Krulwich, former co-host of WNYC’s Radiolab
Addressing the pressing issues affecting everyday Americans during an election year is essential—and one of our nation’s most profound challenges is the devastating impact of mass layoffs. Layoffs upend people’s lives, cause enormous stress, and lead to debilitating personal debt. The societal harm caused by mass layoffs has been known for decades. Yet, we do little to stop them. Why? Why do we allow whole communities to be destroyed by corporate decision-makers? Why do we consider mass layoffs a natural, baked-in feature of modern financialized capitalism? And what are our elected officials going to do about it?
In Wall Street’s War on Workers, Les Leopold, co-founder of the Labor Institute, provides a clear lens with which we can see how healthy corporations in the United States have used mass layoffs and stock buybacks to enrich shareholders at the expense of employees. With detailed research and concise language, Leopold explains why mass layoffs occur and how our current laws and regulations allow companies to turn these layoffs into short-term financial gains.
Original and insightful, Wall Street’s War on Workers places US labor practices in the broader context of our social and political life, examining the impact financial strip-mining and legalized looting are having on party politics, destroying the integrity of democratic institutions. Leopold expertly lays out how the proliferation of opioids coupled with Wall Street’s destruction of jobs in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin have led to widespread mass layoff fatalism. Democrats have unarguably lost the longstanding support of millions of urban and rural workers, and Leopold points out how party leaders have been wrong about the assumption that the white working class is becoming less progressive and motivated to abandon the Democratic Party by reactionary positions on divisive social issues.
With deep analyses, stark examples, and surprisingly simple proactive steps forward, Leopold also asserts that:
- Surviving and thriving in a competitive global economy does not require mass layoffs.
- A new virulent, financialized version of American capitalism is policy driven.
- To end mass layoffs, Wall Street’s domination of our economy must end.
- The accepted “wisdom” about white working-class populism is wrong.
- Ending stock buybacks and changing corporate officers’ pay structures could eliminate mass layoffs.
- Mass layoffs are not the result of inevitable economic “laws” or new technologies like artificial intelligence.
Both groundbreaking and urgent, Wall Street’s War on Workers not only offers solutions that could halt mass layoffs but also offers new hope for workers everywhere.
“Leopold offers a contrarian yet compelling take on America’s “white working class” . . . [and says] Democrats in 2024 ignore this massive, potentially sympathetic voting bloc at their peril.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Wall Street’s War on Workers the book neither party wants you to read . . . [It] penetrates one of the chief media deceptions of the 21st century, namely that working-class voters are driven by racism and xenophobia, and not by a more simple, enraging motive: they’ve been repeatedly ripped off, by the wealthy donors to both parties.”—Matt Taibbi
Reviews and Praise
“Wall Street’s War on Workers is incisive, infuriating, and yet inspiring. Leopold upends conventional wisdom, not only pinpointing the causes of mass layoffs but providing a blueprint for what we can do about them. This is a highly readable and thoroughly researched analysis; it should be required reading for workers, organizers, and policy makers alike.”
—Rebecca Givan, associate professor, Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University
More Reviews and Praise
“Les Leopold cuts through a lot of myths and explains the dynamics of mass layoffs and the reality that the white working class did not desert Democrats—the Democrats deserted them. Leopold also offers ingenious and practical solutions to take back our politics from the plutocracy.”
—Robert Kuttner, founding co-editor, The American Prospect
“After reading Les Leopold’s vivid description of how two little words [‘stock buybacks’] affect factory closings, mass layoffs, income shifts, and polarized politics, I’ve come to think of stock buybacks as the key, not just to why things have gone wrong, but how, if we choose, we can make them go right. . . . This book gave me a new lens to see the world.”
—Robert Krulwich, former co-host of WNYC’s Radiolab
“Les Leopold’s latest book, Wall Street’s War on Workers, is a must-read for anyone concerned with income inequity and employment instability in the US economy. Leopold locates the growing disaffection of the white working-class voter with Democratic candidates in the mass layoffs that have been characteristic of American capitalism since the 1980s. Yielding to the predatory demands of Wall Street, leading Democrats have failed to confront the prime cause of mass layoffs: trillions upon trillions of corporate dollars devoted to stock buybacks to jack up stock prices. Leopold lays out a comprehensive policy agenda for Democrats to stop the mass layoffs and win back the white working class.”
—William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics, University of Massachusetts
“Wall Street’s War on Workers is a breath of fresh air and a really necessary book. It wonderfully exemplifies Les Leopold’s distinctive knack for cutting through the mystifications that shroud the sources of inequality and insecurity in American life. And it cuts to the heart of the scapegoating that the Wall Street looters depend on to cover their tracks.”
—Adolph Reed, Jr., professor emeritus of political science, University of Pennsylvania
“Leopold sheds light on a crisis that has received far too little attention in the public sphere. Through careful analysis, he makes clear that the social and economic impacts of mass layoffs are not only far-reaching and devastating but potentially preventable. Tragically, political parties in the US have been all-but-indifferent to the suffering wrought. By showing a way forward, Leopold removes the excuse that there’s nothing significant to be done.”
—Douglas Stone, lecturer on law, Harvard Law School; founder, Triad Consulting Group; coauthor, Difficult Conversations and Thanks for the Feedback
"Leopold offers a contrarian yet compelling take on America’s “white working class” . . . [and says] Democrats in 2024 ignore this massive, potentially sympathetic voting bloc at their peril."
—Booklist (starred review)
"The right to a good job is the fundamental pillar of a decent and secure life. The Left must take up this fight if we’re serious at all about building a working-class movement to challenge inequality. Wall Street’s War on Workers is an essential tool for this task."
—Jacobin
Reviews and Praise
“Wall Street’s War on Workers is incisive, infuriating, and yet inspiring. Leopold upends conventional wisdom, not only pinpointing the causes of mass layoffs but providing a blueprint for what we can do about them. This is a highly readable and thoroughly researched analysis; it should be required reading for workers, organizers, and policy makers alike.”
—Rebecca Givan, associate professor, Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University
“Les Leopold cuts through a lot of myths and explains the dynamics of mass layoffs and the reality that the white working class did not desert Democrats—the Democrats deserted them. Leopold also offers ingenious and practical solutions to take back our politics from the plutocracy.”
—Robert Kuttner, founding co-editor, The American Prospect
“After reading Les Leopold’s vivid description of how two little words [‘stock buybacks’] affect factory closings, mass layoffs, income shifts, and polarized politics, I’ve come to think of stock buybacks as the key, not just to why things have gone wrong, but how, if we choose, we can make them go right. . . . This book gave me a new lens to see the world.”
—Robert Krulwich, former co-host of WNYC’s Radiolab
“Les Leopold’s latest book, Wall Street’s War on Workers, is a must-read for anyone concerned with income inequity and employment instability in the US economy. Leopold locates the growing disaffection of the white working-class voter with Democratic candidates in the mass layoffs that have been characteristic of American capitalism since the 1980s. Yielding to the predatory demands of Wall Street, leading Democrats have failed to confront the prime cause of mass layoffs: trillions upon trillions of corporate dollars devoted to stock buybacks to jack up stock prices. Leopold lays out a comprehensive policy agenda for Democrats to stop the mass layoffs and win back the white working class.”
—William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics, University of Massachusetts
“Wall Street’s War on Workers is a breath of fresh air and a really necessary book. It wonderfully exemplifies Les Leopold’s distinctive knack for cutting through the mystifications that shroud the sources of inequality and insecurity in American life. And it cuts to the heart of the scapegoating that the Wall Street looters depend on to cover their tracks.”
—Adolph Reed, Jr., professor emeritus of political science, University of Pennsylvania
“Leopold sheds light on a crisis that has received far too little attention in the public sphere. Through careful analysis, he makes clear that the social and economic impacts of mass layoffs are not only far-reaching and devastating but potentially preventable. Tragically, political parties in the US have been all-but-indifferent to the suffering wrought. By showing a way forward, Leopold removes the excuse that there’s nothing significant to be done.”
—Douglas Stone, lecturer on law, Harvard Law School; founder, Triad Consulting Group; coauthor, Difficult Conversations and Thanks for the Feedback
"Leopold offers a contrarian yet compelling take on America’s “white working class” . . . [and says] Democrats in 2024 ignore this massive, potentially sympathetic voting bloc at their peril."
—Booklist (starred review)
"The right to a good job is the fundamental pillar of a decent and secure life. The Left must take up this fight if we’re serious at all about building a working-class movement to challenge inequality. Wall Street’s War on Workers is an essential tool for this task."
—Jacobin
About Les Leopold
After graduating from Oberlin College and Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, Les Leopold co-founded the Labor Institute in 1976, a nonprofit organization that designs research and educational programs on occupational safety and health, the environment, and economics for unions, worker centers, and community organizations. He continues to serve as executive director of the Labor Institute and is currently working to build a national economic educational train-the-trainer program with unions and community groups. Les has written several books, including Runaway Inequality: An Activist’s Guide to Economic Justice (Labor Institute Press, 2015), How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour: Why Hedge Funds Get Away with Siphoning Off America’s Wealth (John Wiley and Sons, 2013), The Looting of America: How Wall Street’s Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions and Prosperity, and—What We Can Do About It (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009), and The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi (Chelsea Green Publishing, June 2006). The Mazzocchi story won the Gold Medal from Independent Publisher Book Awards for best biography in 2008.
Books by Les Leopold
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