The Sum of Us

McGhee opens The Sum of Us by asking why Americans can’t have social goods like well-funded schools, a functioning public health system, and reliable infrastructure. She explains how her background in public policy led her to investigate this question through economic policy, and then she describes how bad economic policy disproportionately affects communities of color. She points to a bankruptcy law that made debt more burdensome for most Americans. After overhearing a senator complaining about people having babies with different women and ducking child support by claiming bankruptcy—a racial stereotype—McGhee realized that bad economic policy is motivated not solely by corporate lobbyists but also by racism. This was also true in the presidential election of Donald Trump, whose economic policies had negative consequences for everyone. After realizing that economic theory—which holds that individuals think in their own rational self-interest—couldn’t answer these questions, McGhee decided to explore what could. She journeyed across America, speaking to white communities and communities of color alike, “to tally the hidden costs of racism to us all” (xx).

McGhee describes her upbringing as a member of the “fragile middle class” where her family had no inherited financial safety net. Her parents came of age just as two laws designed to address racial discrimination—the Voting Rights and Fair Housing Acts—came into force.