Who Stole the American Dream? Author: Hedrick Smith | Language: English | ISBN:
B007MEWAX2 | Format: PDF
Who Stole the American Dream? Description
Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith’s new book is an extraordinary achievement, an eye-opening account of how, over the past four decades, the American Dream has been dismantled and we became two Americas.
In his bestselling
The Russians, Smith took millions of readers inside the Soviet Union. In
The Power Game, he took us inside Washington’s corridors of power. Now Smith takes us across America to show how seismic changes, sparked by a sequence of landmark political and economic decisions, have transformed America. As only a veteran reporter can, Smith fits the puzzle together, starting with Lewis Powell’s provocative memo that triggered a political rebellion that dramatically altered the landscape of power from then until today.
This is a book full of surprises and revelations—the accidental beginnings of the 401(k) plan, with disastrous economic consequences for many; the major policy changes that began under Jimmy Carter; how the New Economy disrupted America’s engine of shared prosperity, the “virtuous circle” of growth, and how America lost the title of “Land of Opportunity.” Smith documents the transfer of $6 trillion in middle-class wealth from homeowners to banks even before
the housing boom went bust, and how the U.S. policy tilt favoring the rich is stunting America’s economic growth.
This book is essential reading for all of us who want to understand America today, or why average Americans are struggling to keep afloat. Smith reveals how pivotal laws and policies were altered while the public wasn’t looking, how Congress often ignores public opinion, why moderate politicians got shoved to the sidelines, and how Wall Street often wins politically by hiring over 1,400 former government officials as lobbyists.
Smith talks to a wide range of people, telling the stories of Americans high and low. From political leaders such as Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and Martin Luther King, Jr., to CEOs such as Al Dunlap, Bob Galvin, and Andy Grove, to heartland Middle Americans such as airline mechanic Pat O’Neill, software systems manager Kristine Serrano, small businessman John Terboss, and subcontractor Eliseo Guardado, Smith puts a human face on how middle-class America and the American Dream have been undermined.
This magnificent work of history and reportage is filled with the penetrating insights, provocative discoveries, and the great empathy of a master journalist. Finally, Smith offers ideas for restoring America’s great promise and reclaiming the American Dream.
Praise for Who Stole the American Dream? “[A] sweeping, authoritative examination of the last four decades of the American economic experience.”
—The Huffington Post “Some fine work has been done in explaining the mess we’re in. . . . But no book goes to the headwaters with the precision, detail and accessibility of Smith.”
—The Seattle Times “Sweeping in scope . . . [Smith] posits some steps that could alleviate the problems of the United States.”
—USA Today “Brilliant . . . [a] remarkably comprehensive and coherent analysis of and prescriptions for America’s contemporary economic malaise.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Smith enlivens his narrative with portraits of the people caught up in events, humanizing complex subjects often rendered sterile in economic analysis. . . . The human face of the story is inseparable from the history.”
—Reuters- File Size: 2065 KB
- Print Length: 624 pages
- Publisher: Random House (September 11, 2012)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B007MEWAX2
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,284 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #13
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Economics > Economic Policy & Development - #18
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Political Science > History & Theory - #39
in Books > Business & Money > Economics > Economic Policy & Development
- #13
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Business & Money > Economics > Economic Policy & Development - #18
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Political Science > History & Theory - #39
in Books > Business & Money > Economics > Economic Policy & Development
EDIT of 16 Sep 2012: I fear this book will be over-shadowed by Mike Lofgren's book, "The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted" as well as Greg Palast's book, "Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps." For me the ideal would be modern day Chautauqua bus tour with these three authors, Matt Taibbi, author of "Griftopia," and a constantly changing mix of local Independents, Constitution, Green, Libertarian, and Reform candidates--and me as the Amazon reviewer and master of ceremonies. Such a tour WOULD make a revolution--especially if we could also draw attention to the daily suicide of veterans that the media refuses to honor.
EDIT of 12 Sep 2012: I spent the night thinking about this book. Directly below [and now also loaded as a graphic to this Amazon page] are a graphic showing the preconditions of revolution in the USA, and the short paper on revolution from which the graphic was drawn Here's the deal: ample preconditions exist for a public overthrow of the two-party tyranny, but a precipitant (such as the fruit seller in Tunisia) has not occurred. Even though 18 veterans commit suicide day after day after day, this is hushed up. Occupy blew it--they should have occupied the home offices of every Senator and Representative and demanded the one thing Congress could deliver that would energize the public: the Electoral Reform Act of 2012. This book by Hedrick Smith, and the book tour, could be a first step toward mobilizing a complacent public. [search for phrases below to get right to them]. Don't miss all three graphics above with the cover.
*****
"... Who Stole the American Dream? provides a readable and comprehensive account of how Americans have been robbed of our dream of a broad middle class over the past forty years. It is essential reading."--Jay Lorsch, Harvard Business School
*
"What would an economy built on principles of fairness and sustainability look like? How do we model it; where is it emerging; how do we collectively plan its strategies to fully implement it? These are the pressing questions of our time." Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith compelling work of political history and economic analysis is inspiring by unanticipated discoveries, and illuminating insights, inked with the empathy of a great research reporter. Smith offers ideas for reclaiming the American Dream by restoring the great American promise.
This is a systematic recount of socio-economic revelations; how the New Economy disrupted America's enterprise engine of shared prosperity, with a vicious circle that unveiled its ugly face in the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and the chain reaction which followed. We are at a turning period in America's history. Global economy has failed in its promise to produce and deliver basic goods in an efficient manner for an expanding population, with increasing number of hopeless poverty. Inequities between rich and poor, North and South, grow ever deeper.
Smith documents the transfer of six trillion dollars in middle-class wealth from homeowners to banks even before the housing boom went bust, and how the U.S. policy bowed favoring the rich, is stunting America's economic growth, and practices that once pushed and incited the American way of life. Smith narrates the distressing story of how the so-called New Economy destroyed the many tenets.
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