Debtonator: How Debt Favours the Few and Equity Can Work For All of Us

A powerful argument that transcends left vs. right to address one of the most pressing problems of our era

We are all swamped in debt. Households, corporations, governments—debt has become so ingrained in our culture, it is an unquestioned fact of life. But it has not always been this way. And there is increasing evidence that this model is damaging both business and society. Debt leaves control and ownership in the hands of too few: it is a direct source of extreme inequality. However, there is another way of bankrolling our economic future: equity. This book argues that, by broadening direct ownership of assets through equity, we can make everyone better off—not just the few. There is value in equity way beyond what financiers, economists, investment bankers, and many corporate CEOs will tell you. It is the value of aligned interests, of trust and fairness, of optimism and patience, of stability and simplicity, of shared endeavor. Only when we unleash this value will economic democracy secure the political democracy that we cherish.

Andrew McNally has spent 25 years in the investment industry, both as an institutional investor and a stockbroker, for companies such as Sun Alliance, Henderson, Morgan Stanley, and Berenberg. During that time he has met the founders and senior management of hundreds of companies in which he has invested clients’ money, and has written for the Daily Telegraph on politics and finance.