Taibbi then goes on to look at the injustices committed by the wealthy, and those who benefit from this lack of control. This causes chaos, of which we’re now feeling the effects. With the Act gone, insufficient control is exercised over financial institutions. Taibbi considers the biggest failing of all to be the loss of the Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited banks from doing whatever they wanted to make money. This crisis went on to affect the entire world it can be blamed on revoking post-Depression laws combined with poor regulatory oversight. The Divide begins with Taibbi’s analysis of the 2008 financial crisis, which begins in the United States. Taibbi then goes on to look at individual stories to support his thesis and explain why we need to address the gap before it grows any bigger. Americans are firmly separated by whether they are poor or wealthy-there is no in-between. It’s this dividing line that causes Americans to either have basic rights or suffer injustice. Taibbi presents his main finding, which is the “Divide,” or “seam,” running through modern-day America. Taibbi is an American journalist who writes frequently in the fields of global politics and finance. The book was nominated for the 2014 Goodreads Choice Award for Nonfiction and is widely praised for its sharp insights and examination of the American judiciary system. Published in April 2014, it examines the rising poverty rate in America and how fraud by the rich is contributing to the ever-growing gap. The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap is a work of nonfiction by Matt Taibbi.

The Divide by Matt Taibbi