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(Fortier Public Relations, October 31, 2009)

Contact: Mark Fortier

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Now a trade paperback updated and expanded edition that's more timely than ever...

ARE THE RICH NECESSARY?

Great Economic Arguments and How They Reflect Our Personal Values

Updated & Expanded Edition

by Hunter Lewis

Should Obama cap financial executive pay? Should we tax the rich for healthcare—or for deficit reduction? What else can we do to rein in Wall Street greed? These are highly practical questions but inevitably involve our personal values. We need to get enough good information to help us make better value judgements.

In ARE THE RICH NECESSARY?: Great Economic Arguments and How They Reflect Our Personal Values (October 31; Axios Press Trade Paperback; $12), Hunter Lewis examines the most fundamental economic questions that underlie society. Written for laymen in clear language, the book covers both sides of the most divisive arguments. The result is a provocative book that every citizen will want to read to make up his or her own mind on such pressing economic questions of today as:

• Do we need more "millionaire taxes"?
• Does President Obama's idea of limiting charitable deductions for the rich make sense?
• Should we be taxing schoolteachers to bail out bankers?
• Is Wall Street corrupting our politics?
• Why does it seem that Goldman Sachs is running Washington?
• Is the profit system to blame for the recent financial crash? Are there alternatives?
• Has anything really changed after the Crash of 2008?
• Are we in danger of becoming a banana republic?
• Can we do anything about the widening income gap?
• Are the rich even compatible with democracy?

In the last chapter, Lewis proposes a new way to bridge the extremes of rich and poor, of free markets and safety nets; a solution that would involve a massive expansion of the nonprofit sector through tax credits. His solution is to build up the nonprofit sector so that it will become a full partner of government and the private sector and be able to provide real solutions in the areas of social services, health, housing, and education. Lewis's solution offers a forward-thinking alternative to the bitter and often sterile quarrels between friends and foes of "big" government around the world.

With income disparity one of the biggest issues on the agenda of the Obama administration, Lewis asks us to make our own judgment based on our personal values about the pros and cons of the rich and solutions to this vexing problem.

About the Author

Hunter Lewis is the author of six books in the related fields of economics and values, as well as numerous magazine, newspaper, and online articles. His most recent book is Where Keynes Went Wrong: And Why World Governments Keep Creating Inflation, Bubbles, and Busts.

A graduate of Harvard University, Lewis co-founded Cambridge Associates, LLC, a global investment firm whose clients include leading research universities, charitable organizations, and families. He has served on boards and committees of fifteen not-for-profit organizations, including environmental, teaching, research, and cultural organizations, as well as the World Bank.

About the Book

ARE THE RICH NECESSARY?

Great Economic Arguments and How They Reflect Our Personal Values

Axios Press

Publication date: October 31, 2009

Paperback, $12; 413 pages

ISBN: 978-1-60419-016-8