Author: Peter D. McClelland Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 9781442201965 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 148
Book Description
Presents statistical information regarding long-term trends in standard of living, financial security, economic mobility, and economic mobility in relation to education, in order to demonstrate the author's view that the American Dream is becoming less attainable for a large group of the population.
Author: Michael R. Strain Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press ISBN: 1599475588 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 169
Book Description
Populists on both sides of the political aisle routinely announce that the American Dream is dead. According to them, the game has been rigged by elites, workers can’t get ahead, wages have been stagnant for decades, and the middle class is dying. Michael R. Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, disputes this rhetoric as wrong and dangerous. In this succinctly argued volume, he shows that, on measures of economic opportunity and quality of life, there has never been a better time to be alive in America. He backs his argument with overwhelming—and underreported—data to show how the facts favor realistic optimism. He warns, however, that the false prophets of populism pose a serious danger to our current and future prosperity. Their policies would leave workers worse off. And their erroneous claim that the American Dream is dead could discourage people from taking advantage of real opportunities to better their lives. If enough people start to believe the Dream is dead, they could, in effect, kill it. To prevent this self-fulfilling prophecy, Strain’s book is urgent reading for anyone feeling the pull of the populists. E. J. Dionne and Henry Olsen provide spirited responses to Strain’s argument.
Author: David Brown Publisher: AuthorHouse ISBN: 1418406856 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 528
Book Description
Confrontations between nations, which were previously seen as wars on open battlefields, changed dramatically during the Twentieth Century. With "volunteer" units appearing to aid the participants on both sides of the fray. These units varied from the AEF in England prior to the US entry into World War II, and the Flying Tigers fighting the Japanese in China, to the Chinese divisions aiding the North Koreans during the Korean war. Suddenly the line between nations at war and those at peace became blurred, and at times indistinguishable. The true nature of the conflict was contained in the diplomat's pouch. Such confrontations required brilliant and unorthodox solutions to eliminate the threat from hostile governments. While this is a work of fiction, set in the 1951 Korean conflict, it illustrates the lengths to which governments will go to find acceptable resolutions. Belly Of The Dragon is about military personnel "detached" to the CIA and trained as agents. These "civilians" are to destroy a military objective, a jet engine factory deep in the heart of China. The real story emerges after the successful destruction of the target. Two men, of the nine who started, are alive. One, now suffering from a severe head wound, becomes part time brutishly insane, part time childish coward. Strong hatred on one side and deep resentment on the other seethes under the surface as the two must temporarily put aside their differences in order to survive the five hundred-mile trek to the coast. Both are wounded and sick, tall white men in a country of small yellow people. Stolen trucks, stolen motorcycles, and stolen boats are their modes of travel, always accompanied by their fear. Living off the land, they travel by night, in darkened vehicles on unknown roads and trails. Unable to steal enough food, even unable to keep themselves clean. Raiding a herbalist's shop in a small village, they find, by smell, medicine they remember having used as a child. Caught in the act by the "herbalist", they struggle, and accidentally set fire to the village, which burns like tinder bringing all the villagers out of their houses threatening to block their escape. Capture is inevitable, and a river patrol comes upon them as they sleep. Beaten and humiliated, they are being transported to the patrol headquarters, but luck and savage resistance allows them to overpower their captors and steal the boat. An early October winter storm adds to their peril, as the temperature plummets and blinding snow and freezing rain obscures their passage. Their wounds have become worse to the point that neither is able to go on, and the will to live or fight is fast ebbing away. Recklessly, John forces the boat forward, in spite of the weather, and his actions lead to a crash on the rocks of mighty rapids. The boat is destroyed, and they are stranded on the rocks far from the shore. One is trapped inside the boat rubble. The other decides to leave him, assuming he is dead, but what if he is only wounded, the Marine code of honor won't allow him to walk away. Finally, they are assisted by people who have been mistreated by the "New Government of the People." But it is still a long way to the coast and rescue, too far to make it by the time the pick-up team arrives, unless the wounded man is left behind. "Who would ever know?" But, it may be a moot point. In Washington, the President, who knows the mission has been successful, begins to hope that there are no survivors. Survivors could become an embarrassment to the administration, if word of the raid into neutral territory, is discovered by the UN or the opposing political party. Director Dolly of the CIA, points out, that if the President wishes there were no survivors, such a thing can be arranged. Although the thought
Author: Ian Brown Publisher: Ten Speed Press ISBN: 1984858300 Category : Photography Languages : en Pages : 370
Book Description
A powerful, moving collection of 170 portraits of Americans and their handwritten statements about what the American dream means to them. Shot by one photographer over twelve years, fifty states, and eighty thousand miles, American Dreams is a poignant, defining look at people from every walk of life and a remarkable exploration of what it means to be an American. Long fascinated by the idea of the “American Dream,” Canadian photographer Ian Brown set out to document, in photographs and words, what that dream means to Americans of all ages, races, identities, classes, religions, and ideologies. Over the course of twelve years, Brown traveled more than eighty thousand miles in an old truck, visiting all fifty states and connecting with hundreds of Americans. He knocked on people's doors; met them at town halls, diners, and factories; and approached them on main streets in small towns. He shot their portraits and asked them to write down their own American dreams. Their dreams and stories—which range from hopeful, moving, and optimistic to defiant, bitter, and heartbreaking—offer a fascinating, unparalleled perspective of the striking diversity and deep nuance of the American experience.
Author: Yuval Levin Publisher: Basic Books ISBN: 1541699289 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 230
Book Description
A leading conservative intellectual argues that to renew America we must recommit to our institutions Americans are living through a social crisis. Our politics is polarized and bitterly divided. Culture wars rage on campus, in the media, social media, and other arenas of our common life. And for too many Americans, alienation can descend into despair, weakening families and communities and even driving an explosion of opioid abuse. Left and right alike have responded with populist anger at our institutions, and use only metaphors of destruction to describe the path forward: cleaning house, draining swamps. But, as Yuval Levin argues, this is a misguided prescription, rooted in a defective diagnosis. The social crisis we confront is defined not by an oppressive presence but by a debilitating absence of the forces that unite us and militate against alienation. As Levin argues, now is not a time to tear down, but rather to build and rebuild by committing ourselves to the institutions around us. From the military to churches, from families to schools, these institutions provide the forms and structures we need to be free. By taking concrete steps to help them be more trustworthy, we can renew the ties that bind Americans to one another.
Author: Anne Case Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 0691217068 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 332
Book Description
A New York Times Bestseller A Wall Street Journal Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year A New Statesman Book to Read From economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton, a groundbreaking account of how the flaws in capitalism are fatal for America's working class Deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism are rising dramatically in the United States, claiming hundreds of thousands of American lives. Anne Case and Angus Deaton explain the overwhelming surge in these deaths and shed light on the social and economic forces that are making life harder for the working class. As the college educated become healthier and wealthier, adults without a degree are literally dying from pain and despair. Case and Deaton tie the crisis to the weakening position of labor, the growing power of corporations, and a rapacious health-care sector that redistributes working-class wages into the pockets of the wealthy. This critically important book paints a troubling portrait of the American dream in decline, and provides solutions that can rein in capitalism's excesses and make it work for everyone.
Author: Nicholas Lemann Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN: 9780374277888 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 352
Book Description
Over the last generation, the United States has undergone seismic changes. Stable institutions have given way to frictionless transactions, which are celebrated no matter what collateral damage they generate. The concentration of great wealth has coincided with the fraying of social ties and the rise of inequality. How did all this come about? In Transaction Man, Nicholas Lemann explains the United States’—and the world’s—great transformation by examining three remarkable individuals who epitomized and helped create their eras. Adolf Berle, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s chief theorist of the economy, imagined a society dominated by large corporations, which a newly powerful federal government had forced to become benign and stable institutions, contributing to the public good by offering stable employment and generous pensions. By the 1970s, the corporations’ large stockholders grew restive under this regime, and their chief theoretician, Harvard Business School’s Michael Jensen, insisted that firms should maximize shareholder value, whatever the consequences. Today, Silicon Valley titans such as the LinkedIn cofounder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman hope “networks” can reknit our social fabric. Lemann interweaves these fresh and vivid profiles with a history of the Morgan Stanley investment bank from the 1930s through the financial crisis of 2008, while also tracking the rise and fall of a working-class Chicago neighborhood and the family-run car dealerships at its heart. Incisive and sweeping, Transaction Man is the definitive account of the reengineering of America—with enormous consequences for all of us.
Author: James Stone Publisher: HarperCollins ISBN: 0544749650 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 293
Book Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A business leader and esteemed economic thinker outlines simple solutions to America’s five most pressing public policy issues, from healthcare to education to inequality. America today confronts a host of urgent problems, many of them seemingly intractable, but some we are entirely capable of solving. In Five Easy Theses, James M. Stone presents specific, common-sense solutions to a handful of our most pressing challenges, showing how simple it would be to shore up Social Security, rein in an out-of-control financial sector, reduce inequality, and make healthcare and education better and more affordable. The means are right in front of us, Stone explains, in various policy options that — if implemented — could preserve or enhance government revenue while also channeling the national economy toward the greater good. Accessible and thought provoking, Five Easy Theses reveals that a more democratic, prosperous America is well within our reach.
Author: Peter D. McClelland
Author: Michael R. Strain
Author: David Brown
Author: Ian Brown
Author: James Truslow Adams
Author: Leigh Gallagher
Author: Yuval Levin
Author: Anne Case
Author: Nicholas Lemann
Author: James Stone