People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy

Humanity is on the verge of its darkest hour—or its greatest moment

The consequences of the technological revolution are about to hit hard: unemployment will spike as new technologies replace labor in the manufacturing, service, and professional sectors of an economy that is already struggling. The end of work as we know it will hit at the worst moment imaginable: as capitalism fosters permanent stagnation, when the labor market is in decrepit shape, with declining wages, expanding poverty, and scorching inequality. Only the dramatic democratization of our economy can address the existential challenges we now face. Yet, the US political process is so dominated by billionaires and corporate special interests, by corruption and monopoly, that it stymies not just democracy but progress.

The great challenge of these times is to ensure that the tremendous benefits of technological progress are employed to serve the whole of humanity, rather than to enrich the wealthy few. Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols argue that the United States needs a new economy in which revolutionary technologies are applied to effectively address environmental and social problems and used to rejuvenate and extend democratic institutions. Based on intense reporting, rich historical analysis, and deep understanding of the technological and social changes that are unfolding, they propose a bold strategy for democratizing our digital destiny—before it's too late—and unleashing the real power of the Internet, and of humanity.

• Occupy Nation: The Roots, the Spirit, and the Promise of Occupy Wall Street
• Who Rules America? The Triumph of the Corporate Rich
• The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism
• The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads
• Dollarocracy
• Digital Disconnect
• Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism
• White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
• Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy
• Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism