Who Stole the American Dream?

by Hedrick Smith

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

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Economics, History, American History, Audiobook, Sociology

624 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2012

About the author

Hedrick Smith is a journalist who has been a reporter and editor for The New York Times, a producer/correspondent for the PBS show Frontline, and author of several books.

Reviews

[Dan Lutts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!

This line from the Howard Beale character in the 1976 movie Network kept running through my mind as I read Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Hedrick Smith's Who Stole the American Dream? Smith's answer: corporations, banks, Republicans and Democrats in Congress, Republican and Democratic presidents, and many others.

Smith begins by describing the "virtuous circle" that existed from the 1940s to the early 1970s in which stockholders, corporations, and employees shared the profits. He goes on to explain how Wall Street broke the circle beginning in the 1970s by emphasizing shareholder profits and corporate salaries over everything else. To increase profits, the middle-class workers were sacrificed and their share of the "virtuous circle" was given to investors and corporate executives. That's when the middle-class Americans, little by little, lost their share of the America Pie, beginning with the introduction of 401Ks to replace company-sponsored pensions.

Walmart started the ball rolling by entering a joint venture with China to manufacture products at low prices for Walmart to sell in its stores. Walmart also pressured American manufacturers to price their products so low that the companies either went out of business or were forced to move production to China if they were to survive. Technology companies such as IBM, Apple, and Hewlett-Packard soon followed the manufacturers overseas. Companies became multinational corporations with no allegiance to America or American workers, only to profits for shareholders and executives.

How did the banks and corporations steal the American Dream? By lobbying members of Congress. According to Smith, in the 1970s companies weren't interested in lobbying Congress but by 2012 there were 500 corporate lobbyists for each member of Congress. Presidents from both parties – from Ronald Reagan to Barak Obama – also supported the theft by appointing people from banking and other industries to high-level positions that could be used to advance the influence of banks and multinational corporations at the expense of the middle class.

Middle-class jobs weren't just offshored. Jobs were onshored as well by importing workers from abroad. H-1B visas were the instrument of choice, allowing foreign workers to come to America and replace American workers at lower wages. (We saw a recent example of that in 2016 when Walt Disney World replaced their high tech workers with foreign ones at lower salaries– and even made the American workers train their replacements.) The companies maintain they can't find enough workers in America but Smith exposes their claim as a lie.

I remember when companies began offshoring jobs, they started with the call centers. The companies told their other workers, "Don't worry. Your jobs are safe. We're only offshoring call centers. Then they offshored back office functions, and said, "Don't worry. Your white-collar jobs are safe." Then they offshored white collar jobs.

I can identify with all that. When I got laid off from teaching in 1980, I became a technical editor and writer. I remember reading a Forbes magazine article that called the now-defunct Digital computer company one of the best companies to work for because instead of laying off employees the company retrained them, creating a flexible workforce. I ended up working for Digital in the late 1980s, when the company's fortunes were sinking. In an attempt to survive, Digital laid off its American engineers and replaced them with ones from India. I remember seeing the foreign engineers walking through the complex. Word had it that the foreign engineers who were working from India were being paid 1/3rd the salary of an American principal engineer and the ones working in the U.S. were getting paid 2/3 rds the salary of an American a principal engineer. All the technical editors and writers – including myself -- were laid off and a few were taken back as contractors with lower pay and no benefits.

Smith's book ends with 2012. But today in 2019 multinational corporations like Walmart, Home Depot, and Walgreens aren't satisfied anymore with just destroying the middle class. Now they're trying to destroy towns and cities as well by suing them for millions of dollars in tax abatements by claiming their stores should be taxed as if they were vacant – even after some of the stores spent millions of dollars renovating for online sales. This is happening today in Maine. The Ellsworth American, a newspaper from a nearby town, published a front-page article last week (Thursday, April 11, 2019) about their own experience with Walmart and how Walmart is asking for $49 million in tax abatements throughout Maine. Even when cities win in court, they have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money to defeat the lawsuits. But I digress.

To bring jobs back to America, Smith advocates a ten-step Marshall Plan that requires grass-roots support. But to be successful, you have to be "mad as hell" and unwilling to "take this anymore."

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book left me both angry, and charged in the way a good book makes you say 'yes, that is how this all fits together.' It's a canvas that connects many dots through a deep excavation of the socio-political events of the past 30 years - and the picture is not pretty (the man has been reporting for awhile) It made me rethink why the past past five years of financial cataclysm occurred. It is also - almost - above the politics of the left or right, though it's not hard to see Smith coming in from the left. But don't let that distract you from the fine research, the data, and the excellent writing that helps explain where we have landed today in the US, with rare authority.

If you look around at yet another ostentatious display of wealth and it prompts you to think "we'll look back on this time without a shred of doubt as a Gilded Age," and you're not delighted by that, this book has many arrows in the quiver that show how we are indeed there - a plutocracy going through the the motions of a republic. Think of the Lewis' "The Big Short", Murray's "Coming Apart", and "Too Big to Fail," and a few other books that have interpreted parts or the whole of the past generation of what has happened in politics, business, and the relationship of policy and business, and how the now casual and often fraudulent and reckless collusion of the two explains much of what happened in the wreck and wake of the past five.

From its explication on the rise of the 401k and its predatory structure, to the bankruptcy laws engineered to reward failed management, to the more obscure and fascinating origins (the fall of state usury laws, deregulation of securities laws, the US Congress of 1978 and the Washington lawyer who helped set the past generation's practices in motion, to the deconstruction of outsourcing as a corporate business model, and to the now familiar fireball that was the great crash and housing fraud of 2008 -- Smith lays out a case that we are indeed a nation of the few, for the few, and does so, again, with great authority.

The question he asks is: Can we be a democracy that makes it a policy to be for the middle class? This ideal seems quaint in a US enamored by hyper-wealth and instant success, and the book's success in part is that it makes me re-examine my own views on success, and the accountability we have - or should have - to civic institutions that ensure a system that enables a middle class to be the dominant political force in the American experiment. Clearly today it is not, and most of us tacitly aid and abet that failure, without examination.

Finally, the book is a technical success. A seasoned reporter who 1) stitches a wide array of events together, with good data, and 2) who creates a narrative that draws you in. And while it is a summary conclusion, Smith takes to heart that he should point to solutions, many of which, directionally at least, make sense.

If there is any flaw, it is the leftish strain where Smith steps outside the narrative and exonerates President Obama on the certain specifics of his own failed policies, while the case he makes against the political and business caste we have in place now would seem to indict our current President as being party to these failures (or at least hand-cuffed).

Read it, feel uncomfortable, and maybe, take something away that makes you do something to start to steer the ship back on course. I know I did.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished "Who Stole the American Dream?", and it has instilled in me a deep depression from which it will take months, possibly years, to recover. Nonetheless, I give it five stars for explaining, in minute detail and from many angles, how Americans have been robbed of their political power by those who reside in the upper reaches of Richistan. It's nauseating. Step by step, Smith methodically spells out how we lost the dream on account of our nasty, crooked little friends at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and their ilk: the organization and activism of corporate lobbyists, the voiding of the social contract between corporate elites and workers, the robbery of our pensions and the siphoning of our 401ks, the decimation of consumer protections, the criminal destruction of our home financing systems and the subsequent theft of our homes, destruction of local economies by the heirs of Sam Walton, the political acceptance of usury, the gutting of unions, offshoring of jobs, and on-shoring of jobs. Meanwhile the folks in Upper Richistan buy a couple more yachts and sneer at the little people.

All of this points to the disenagagement of "American" corporations who were once loyal to America. They aren't American anymore, but they're still calling every shot here. We all know this, don't we? We know we're moving into a new era in which the word "nation" does not mean anything, don't we? Some of us were fortunate enough to experience an America where our voice counted. When I was a very young girl, I remember my father taking our family to Washington D.C., where we were ushered into Charles Percy's office to meet with the Senator himself. I was too young to remember or understand what my parents talked to the senator about, but the visit made a huge impression on me. We were citizens meeting with our elected representative, sharing our concerns and views. We are no longer living in that America, but it existed once. I digress.

Smith seems to think we can get a representative government back. He outlines a plan at the end of his book as to how this can be accomplished, using good old fashioned citizen participation in Washington politics. "Look at the Arab Spring!" he suggests, "If they can do it, so can we!" Maybe, but the Arab Spring did not come about through using "business as usual" governmental channels. It came about through more subversive tactics, extra-governmentally. I don't think he has really looked that deeply into Arab Spring. David Graeber, author of "The Democracy Project" and "Debt: The First 5000 Years" has looked at Arab Spring, and looks at the Occupy Movement as its American cousin.

At first blush, people might think that Smith's more conventional approach to recouping the American government is the more practical and likely to bring results. But, given the intransigence of multinational corporations in Washington, it is quite likely that Graeber's anarchists may be more on the right track. As we move forward into the era of Corporate Global Feudalism, only time will tell if we acquiesce to our new serfdom or, whether by Smith's methods or Graeber's, we decide to fight.

[Caren · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been quite a number of books of this ilk, about the slow slide of the middle class, published lately. Of those I have read, this was the most accessible, the most clearly written. Perhaps because the author is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, he makes the results of his thorough research easily understood, perhaps even too much so (if that is possible). There was a refrain from the old film, "The Music Man" that kept popping into my head: "Make your blood boil? Well, I should say...".
I think most of us have a hazy idea that something is not quite right, that somewhere our ship has run aground. Mr. Smith will walk you through exactly what has gone wrong, beginning with a fateful message sent in 1971 by Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell to America's business leaders. He urged them to organize and push for favorable treatment of business and he actually laid out a blueprint for how to do so. Who would have thought that one memorandum would have the power to change the course of our society? It just goes to show the power of words, of ideas. The author illustrates his facts with stories of how real people have been impacted by the changes he describes. These stories bring the new reality alive and make for a heart-breaking read. If there is any book I'd recommend reading before the election, this would be it.
Here is the author speaking about his book on BookTV: http://www.booktv.org/Program/13833/W...

[Thomas Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who Stole the American Dream?, Hedrick Smith (1933-), 2012, 557 pages, Dewey 973.91 Sm58w, ISBN 9781400069668

The rich have been eating everyone's lunch. pp. 77-78.

From 1998-2010, business spent $28.6 billion on lobbying, compared with $492 million for labor, a 58-to-1 business advantage. p. xix. By 1978, there were 130 corporate lobbyists to every senator and congressperson. p. 12. By 2001, the Gang of Six dominated Washington:
* U.S. Chamber of Commerce
* Business Roundtable
* National Association of Manufacturers
* National Federation of Independent Business
* National Restaurant Association
* National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. p. 128.
Together, they spend billions to persuade Congress to take trillions from the rest of us and give it to the rich. pp. 129, 139-140. There's no countervailing power. p. 130. Business lobbyists don't see labor or public interest lobbyists as serious competition. p. 134.

Being born poor in the U.S. gives you disadvantages unlike anything in Western Europe and Japan and Canada. p. 72.

As the quality of education and safety on the streets deteriorate, people are in a bidding war for desirable housing. p. 77

The top 1% control nearly 40% of the wealth. p. 99. Sam Walton's heirs have $90 billion: enough to spend $90 million a year for a thousand years, even if they never made another nickel. pp. 102-103.

The top 0.1%--315,000 out of 315 million Americans--garner roughly half of all capital gains. These are taxed at 15%. The rest of us pay higher income tax rates, plus social security and medicare taxes, which high incomes are exempt from. p. 106-107. George W. Bush phased out the estate tax. p. 108.

Finance garners 46% of all corporate profits in the U.S., as of 2005. p. 142.

The U.S. is an oligarchy. p. 152.

ERRATA

"America met and overcame the prolonged global challenge of Soviet communism." p. xii. More accurately, the U.S. created the Cold War to maintain a permanent war footing.




Hedrick Smith's wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedri...

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

If it were up to me, this would be required reading in elementary school!!! This book's message should be on every t.v. newscast on every station every day. Clearly written, this book offers a good overview of many of the problems facing the poor and middle class, and proposes solutions.

[Zach Brandt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super clear and well-organized book.

The current wealth gap and extreme political power of the super rich is not a necessary component to American democracy. Indeed, we have developed to this point historically.

A series of steps made by big business lobbyists and a political shift to the right throughout the 70s and 80s started the erosion of the power and wealth of the middle class. By the 2000s, this power and wealth is seriously questioned. Pensions, 401(k)’s, housing, offshoring, certain types of immigration—these are the points of attack in the New Economy of the post-New Deal era.

How can we get out? Smith has a 10 step plan:

1) infrastructure jobs to compete better
2) push innovation, science, and high-tech research
3) generate a manufacturing renaissance
4) make the US tax code fairer
5) fix the corporate tax code to promote job creation at home
6) push China to live up to fair trade
7) save on war and weapons
8) fix housing and protect the safety net
9) rebuild the political center
10) mobilize the middle class

[Korin: A Crone Running Amok · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing look at how the power of 'we the people' has been eroded & replaced with power of corporations & the very rich.

[Danns · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an eye opening book. The author does a great job summarizing his points based upon the events of the past 50 years and their impact on the Middle Class in particular. The main point is that when business and working class/labor force goals are aligned a virtuous circle is created whereby the needs of both are met, profits are made, and the economy as a whole prospers. The author's point is that in the past 30 years in particular business has shifted away from supporting their work force to bolstering the wallets of share holders and wallstreet. The shift to profit at any cost, the movement to driving down labor costs, and seeking out resources in other countries has driven a huge schism between management and labor and unless some serious shifts in business and economics are made the downward spiral will continue.

One salient example to all this is covered in the chapters on Walmart. Walmart's drive to offer consumers the lowest cost possible has pushed manufacturers to move their factories over seas to China. By pushed that means Walmart has specifically told manufacturers they need to move their factories over seas to reduce cost or their products will not be sold at Walmart. To a business, this is the death kneel and those who have tried to fight this have sufferred tremendously. While consumers get the lowest cost, that cost is then passed on to the rest of the economy causing loss of jobs, increased dependency on welfare programs, and increased dependency on foreign goods and services. Walmarts profits soar but everyone else suffers in the long run. Since reading these chapters I have not shopped at Walmart, instead focusing more on local businesses.

I think the author does a fantastic job presenting his information culled from years of research and reporting on these topics. There is clearly a bias here towards labor and the middle class, and I would like to read some counter points to his arguements to make a more informed decision on these topics. Still, what I have learned is very jarring.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

There seems to be no shortage of books looking at the downturn of our Country's fortunes, and what is needed to correct our problems. Look, for example, at Bill Clinton's "Back To Work, Why we Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy"; Jeffery Sachs' "The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity"; Arthur Laffer's "Return to Prosperity"; Edward Kennedy's "America Back on Track"; Paul Krugman's "End this Depression Now"; Tom Friedman's "That Used to Be Us"; Tyler Cowan's "The Great Stagnation"; Thomas Mann's "It's Even Worse Than it Looks"; Charles Ferguson's "Predator Nation: Corporate Criminals, Political Corruption, and the Hijacking of America", etc. Hedrick Smith's book, "Who Stole the American Dream?" fits in with those others, but is among the most readable of them all. Smith presents significant laws, rulings, and events which impacted American society over the past several decades, and drives the impact home by describing real life stories of individuals impacted by those changes. The book is clear and concise, much more so than I would have thought given that it deals with what could be a fairly dry subject.

Those in the economic top 1 % of the Country probably won't be reading this book, because they're living the American Dream, and the book's title wouldn't make much sense to them. But if you're among the remaining 99%, this book will hold a lot of interest, because you may be feeling that the American dream of opportunity for all who are willing to work for it doesn't seem to be working out as well as it did in the post WW II boom.

Smith lists the problems and changes which have taken place over the time of our current generation, and provides an outline of what changes can be made, and how.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great read until the end when, it seems to me, the author blames all of America's ills (ok, perhaps that's a stretch) on the Republican Party. No reference AT ALL to America's growing entitlement state or complete lack of education/good grammar. Total crock of poo. Overall, good information/historical perspective until the conclusion of the book.

[Robert Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb book,the best i have read so far on the problems that have beset the U.S. and why they happened. Should be required reading for high school seniors and university students as they will have to try and change the system. The author also provides practical solutions and i am sure a lot of Americans would embrace his ideas.

[Flynn Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is nothing quite as fulfilling as obtaining knowledge that vastly shapes and/or changes the way one views the world. A perspective that fundamentally alters one’s thoughts, perspectives, and understanding of not only the bigger picture; but one’s place in the world as a whole.

This was the longest I’ve taken to finish a book all year. Not due to length, but the necessity to revisit topics and think critically about the content being delivered.

My conversations around money and politics have changed.

My understanding for the anger and discontent so many Americans feel has changed.

My frustration with institutions, many of which are meant to serve and protect the most vulnerable segments of our population, that directly harm folks with less means and resources has changed.

A direct and strategic attack on middle America in a decades long war between the haves and the have nots. Tactically changing tax law, distorting public opinion, buying elections and elected officials. A blitzkrieg of massive proportion funded by and perpetuated by the most wealthy and powerful people in the world…

I could go on and on about every aspect of this book. I could divulge into deep and meaningful conversation breaking what most of us have come to believe about America. The ideas we have been fed, and lies we are told to believe.

I could also be led into anger, frustration, hopelessness.

However, my takeaway from this book was none of that. My takeaway was, in essence, the same takeaway I’ve always had. Knowledge, and sharing of said knowledge, is the key. Remove emotions and speak to facts, speak to consequences of actions and lack thereof. Speak to education and the importance of it. There is no easier population to control than one that is unaware of its being controlled. No easier mind to fool than the ignorant and unknowing.

Do not shun those whom you disagree with. Do not shut out those who know no better. The way forward is through dialogue, hard conversations, and unlearning decades of lies and deceit. Through compassion, and kindness, and patience. Despite the hate and anger we have been thrust into.

Never once has a book given me so much despair, and hope, all at once.

For this and so much more, I give Who Stole the American Dream 5 stars.

[Abe Frank]

Hendrick Smith be concise challenge.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complicated story

[Luanne Coachman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As is said, ‘history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.’ This book shows how the anti-government, anti-middle class actions undertaken by the Trump regime are exactly consistent with the Lewis Powell memo of 1971 on how to effectuate corporate domination of American life—a through line of every Republican administration from that time on and poisoning even Democratic administrations and efforts to restore economic and political power to mid and lower income folks. Scary, upsetting, sad, but also immensely revealing.

[Selma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was published in 2012, and hearing it now is like, "oh no, things got worse 🙃 at this point, it's an American pipe dream" with everything that happened and is happening.

I do wonder if he has anything to add about H1-B visas now that there is a labor PERM certification process. The topic did feel like a "straw in a haystack" approach that he needed to be honest, but he also gave insight that it's 500 other things that also stole the American Dream.

I also feel more financially literate now that I understand the history and the factors behind what used to be and what is now offered in retirement. The book is super long on Spotify (15 hours and some change) so be prepared for one book a month.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent read. All Americans should read it to understand how/why the status quo works against the middle class. The government works very well, but for whom?

[Mark Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hedrick Smith’s 2012 book “Who Stole the American Dream?” is a powerful look at the way things have shifted against the middle class over the last 40 years in America. It’s an important book that everyone interested in American politics or economics should read.

I was an intern in Hedrick Smith’s office during the fall of 2001. While I was there I helped work on Smith’s documentary “Rediscovering Dave Brubeck,” which I would highly recommend to any jazz fan. While I interned at Hedrick Smith Productions, I saw first-hand Smith’s tireless work ethic and his dedication to journalism. He’s won two Pulitzer Prizes, but he’s not just resting on his laurels.

Smith’s reporting for “Who Stole the American Dream?” is deep and incisive. He weaves the threads of his story together very well, writing in clear prose that is easy to understand. The book covers a lot of ground, but Smith excels in presenting the reader with the most relevant points in each chapter. The book is separated into short sections that make for quick reading.

Smith does a great job of showing how many government policies over the last 40 years have favored the rich at the expense of the middle class and the poor. As Smith writes in the Prologue:

“This book sets out to describe how, over the past four decades, we came to this point-how we became two such polarized and dissimilar Americas, how the great economic and political divide affects the lives of individual Americans, and how we might, through changed policies and a revival of citizen action, restore our unity and reclaim the American Dream for average people.” (Prologue, p. xix)

“Who Stole the American Dream?” is a book that should make you angry. It should make you think about what’s happened in the country over the last 40 years, and how the wealth disparity in this country is growing larger and larger. You should get indignant about the status quo as you read this book. My high school Social Studies teacher Mr. Anderson would always say to us “Be indignant!” He wanted us to have a reaction to current events, and Hedrick Smith wants us to have a similar reaction to his book.

In the final section of “Who Stole the American Dream?” Smith focuses on possible solutions to the problem and how we can rebuild the middle class. None of the solutions he proposes are easy, and none of them will be a quick fix. Some of them require direct citizen action. It might not be easy, but there are ways that we can change things in this country and take action to help rebuild the middle class.

Personally, I think that Hedrick Smith hit the nail on the head with “Who Stole the American Dream?” He accurately diagnoses many of the maladies that plague our country today. He describes how we’ve gotten there over the last 40 years, and what can be done to change it. We would all do well to listen to him.

You can read my full review at my blog: http://mark-markmywords.blogspot.com/

[Matt Gladue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hedrick Smith's book is so compelling because he documents the multiple forces at work that have utterly destabilized the foundations on which the great American middle class was built. We've been asked to take more and more responsibility for our own health and financial security at the same time that wages have fallen. The cost of housing and higher education have skyrocketed at the same time banksters deregulated Wall Street and flooded us with offers of hundreds of thousands of dollars per household in credit offers. Is it any wonder so many have lost their homes, their jobs, their retirement savings? Smith's anger at what's happened and the people responsible for it is palpable. The chapters on the foreclosure crisis, the retirement savings crisis, credit, and Wall Street bank collapses are encyclopedic in research and economic in their prose. Most importantly, though, is the opening chapter I. Which Smith documents the concrete steps corporations and bankers took in the late 60s and 70s to retake power in the wake of muscular people's movements for change. The book's one significant shortcoming is the absence of a similarly robust portrait of serious initiatives to make a new set of decisions about our economic lives together. Occupy Wall Street gets a few sentences in a final chapter meant to give us hope and direction for the future. But it seems as if this last episode in Smiths drama must have come at the request of his editors. He doesn't have the heart to write in a nuanced way about where we can look for hope as we build the power necessary to take our country back.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book furthered my understanding of our political system and, most importantly, it exposed how much influence wealth has on everyday policies. I used to think that criminals were caught and prosecuted. I now understand that every law is selectively enforced; or more correctly, most laws are not enforced and those that are enforced largely shift wealth from the many to the few.

He does a nice job of summarizing what we might do to change the status quo - I've been thinking lately that we need to take to the streets and that's one of his top 10. If we want a different outcome we must take direct actions, do as was done in the 60s. Our elected officials want to remain in office - they need money and votes. Money can buy votes through advertising in all its forms but it's individuals voting that makes the difference.

Coincidentally, here in MA a 10-term Democrat was unseated by another Democrat, one who was loud and passionate and progressive. I think we need more of that to shift from status quo.

[Carl Reeverts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather infuriating look at the ways the middle class has been fucked over, in the last couple decades by rich people, and then those same rich people wail loudly when the middle class says something about it, despite leading us into a recession, and being bailed out by the taxpayers. Talks about ARM mortgages, 401ks, retirement, health care, minimum wages, non-existent cost of living pay increases, executive bonuses in the 10s of millions despite a failing business, capital gains taxes, costs of going to college, a dismantling social safety net, rigged stock market forces, and a plethora of other little tricks that make sure that you don't rise above your level in life, and never stop paying interest or fees to large banks. If there ever was a book that could start a fiscal revolution, this one is it.

[Rhonda Breiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes it just takes someone to connect all the dots. Many of the things Mr. Smith talks about I remember, but when you put them in a linear position and see them you will understand why we are where we are.

Great read.

[Skuzmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Автор книги – американский репортёр, обладатель Пулитцеровской премии за международный репортаж, работавший журналистом во многих странах мира, в том числе был сотрудником New York Times и The Times в CССР в 70е.
В своей книге, написанной в 2012, Хедрик довольно убедительно и последовательно показывает как постепенно разрушалась основа той великой Америки с равными возможностями, образ которой сформировался в сознании простых американцев в течение les trentes glorieuses (послевоенное тридцатилетие 1945 – 1975), когда в США всё «цвело и колосилось», рабочий и средний класс процветали и впереди было светлое будущее. Он объясняет каким образом видоизменялась политическая система, уменьшалась роль трудящихся и профсоюзов, росло лобби крупного бизнеса, значительно менялись экономические условия, радикально прогрессировало неравенство и разрыв в доходах (налоговая реформа в пользу богатых, льготы по capital gains tax, опционные программы (stock options) для CEO корпораций и пр.), сокращались социальные гарантии. По аналогии с Великой депрессией (Great Depression) этот процесс и период был назван Великой компрессией (Great Compression). Автор термина - Пол Кругман, американский экономист и нобелевский лауреат. Хедрик показывает, как вроде бы незаметно проходила деиндустриализация страны путем вывода производств в Китай. Потом это дополнилось запуском иммиграционной программы H1B и появлением огромных индийских компаний – бодишопов (body shop), которые служили поставщиками персонала для гигантов американской ИТ индустрии. А затем бизнес вдруг понял, что индийцев необязательно завозить, они прекрасно могут программировать и работать в центрах техподдержки, не покидая родную страну и получая впятеро меньше американца. Что, разумеется, приводило к снижению уровня занятости простых американцев и к падению их доходов. Он демонстрирует как трансформировалась пожизненная программа пенсионного страхования от работодателей в вроде бы неплохую в своей основе идею совместного финансирования пенсий (401к) и как быстро снизилась доля работодателей в этом финансировании. Потом пришел ипотечный бум 2000-х, во время которого американцы были загнаны в прокрустово ложе непосильных кредитов, иногда будучи просто обманутыми их брокерами и банкирами. Последовавший кризис 2008-2009 оставил многих без средств к существованию, без жилья и без надежды.
Во многом все эти изменения стали причиной деформации политического ландшафта, основной характеристикой которого сегодня является яростная и бескомпромиссная борьба двух партий. Система сдержек и противовесов стала давать сбои и приводить к тому, что через Конгресс и Сенат проходило очень малое число законопроектов (менее 7%), т. е. КПД политической системы снизился радикально. Ранее в обеих партиях были ярко выраженные крылья, тяготевшие к центру, и позволявшие принимать законы путем компромисса между партиями в интересах американского общества. Вскоре размежевание достигло своего пика, компромиссы стали невозможны и любой политический деятель, предлагавший компромисс с противником, воспринимался своей партией как предатель. Эту яростную политическую борьбу и желание победы любой ценой мы с вами наблюдаем все последние годы.
Но Хедрик в своей книге не только описывает проблемы, он также предлагает пошаговый алгоритм возрождения американской мечты как национальной идеи, цементировавшей ранее американское общество. Это стратегия из 10 шагов, своего рода внутренний план Маршалла. Насколько реалистичен этот план? Будет ли он работать? Может ли он работать? 13 лет, прошедшие с момента написания этой книги, заставляют в этом усомниться. Но, возможно, делать выводы ещё рано, и Америка «воспрянет ото сна», найдет волшебное лекарство от всех своих болезней и вернет себе если не мировое лидерство, то хотя бы необходимый ей уровень экономического и политического здоровья, который сделает жизнь американ��ев счастливой, какой она была 50 лет назад. Qui vivra verra.

[Moralia Blog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die Probleme der Mittelschicht nahmen in den letzten Jahrzehnten in vielen westlichen Gesellschaften zu. Bei seinem Werk "Wer stahl den Amerikanischen Traum?" gibt uns der erfahrene Journalist Hedrick Smith einige Einblicke über die gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung Amerikas über die letzten 40 Jahre (das Buch erschien 2012). Der Autor versucht zu erklären, warum die Mittelschicht in den USA seit den 70er Jahren an Boden verloren hat und wie sich dieser Trend umkehren lässt.

Während viele bekannte Aspekte dabei sind wie der wachsende Einfluss der Lobbys, die hohen Ausgaben für Rüstung und die Steuererleichterungen für Reiche findet man in diesem Buch auch weniger bekannte Entwicklungen. Dazu gehört etwa die Bedeutung der späten 70er Jahre mit der Privatisierung der Altersvorsorge. Dennoch bleiben die Kapitel für ein umfassendes Sachbuch zu oberflächlich und mit zu wenigen Fakten untermauert. So werden die rasant wachsenden Kosten für Gesundheit und Hochschulbildung in den letzten Jahrzehnten nur nebenbei erwähnt, obwohl diese zu den wichtigsten Problemen für die Mittelschicht in Amerika gehören.

Die vorgeschlagenen Lösungen bleiben bei bekannten Ansätzen wie mehr Geld für Bildung, Forschung und Infrastruktur sowie eine größere Beteiligung der Mittelschicht am politischen Prozess. Doch die großen Fragen werden nicht gestellt. Welchen Einfluss hat die demografische Entwicklung mit den älter werdenden Babyboomern? Welchen Einfluss hat die Gesundheitsbranche mit den weltweiten höchsten Ausgaben Anteil am BIP von fast 20%? Welchen Einfluss hatten die Ölkrisen der 70er Jahre und die damit einhergehenden Änderungen in der Energieversorgung? Das Werk bietet damit einen guten Einblick in die Probleme, aber keine tiefgehende Analyse der Entwicklungen.

[Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well documented history of the financial dilemma facing the US covering a time span of 1945 to 2012 when the book was published. It has no reference to Trump and only fleeting reference to Obama. It is definitely written from the left perspective but provides provocative documentation of how big business, supported mostly by republicans, changed the financial landscape from a broad distribution of wealth over a middle class that powered consumer growth to a distribution to the rich and super wealthy that caused a decline in the middle class wealth. The stolen dream. I now better understand why the left wants to tax the rich although I don't think they want to give it to the middle class as much as they just want to bring down the rich and the republicans. Smith provides a good argument that "trickle down theory" of Reagan years does not grow the economy as having a solid middle class who receive a livable wage and have confidence their jobs will not be shipped overseas. They feel comfortable spending their money.

Good discussion on economic theories and helped me understand the broader picture. Just because the sock market is soaring doesn't mean the average middle-class American is obtaining his equal share of wealth. However, it didn't convince me that a government wealth redistribution plan through higher taxation, guaranteed minimum wage and free health care and education offers any better solution. There is a middle ground where compromise could benefit us all but as Smith's points out the days of compromise in Congress are history. Today (2020) is about gaining power and wealth will follow a.k.a. the 2020 presidential election.

[Paul Tenorio · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book explores how the United States has become a nation of vast economic inequality, where the American Dream of upward mobility and prosperity has been eroded for the middle class and poor.
The main points are:
- The top 1% of Americans have seen their incomes rise dramatically since the 1970s, while wages for the middle class have stagnated. This growing income inequality has created an economic divide in America.
- Corporate interests and the wealthy have gained outsized influence in politics through lobbying and campaign donations, shaping policies and regulations in their favor at the expense of the working class.
- Factors like globalization, automation, the decline of unions, and regressive tax policies have contributed to the hollowing out of the middle class and concentration of wealth at the top.
- The American Dream of working hard to achieve a better life has become increasingly out of reach for many, with diminishing economic mobility and opportunity compared to previous generations.
- The book argues that the rules have been rewritten to favor the rich and powerful, undermining the principles of fairness and equal opportunity that the American Dream was built upon.

In essence, Smith contends that the American Dream has been "stolen" from the middle class by the forces of rising inequality, corporate influence in politics, and policies that prioritize the wealthy over ordinary workers and families.

[Holly Dolezalek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I put off reading this book for a long time, because I knew it would make me angry. Turns out, I was right; it did make me angry. I knew some but by no means all of how the American middle class has been hollowed out for decades while oligarchs essentially took over all of government. But I didn't know what started it, or the full explanation for what drove it.

But the book also made me sad. Smith goes on and on about the consensus that America followed for decades after World War II, and how we have to get back to that consensus - that wealth should be shared more equally and that government policies should support job-creating businesses, not rent-seeking businesses that ship jobs overseas and impoverish people here. And he proposes many solutions - but all of them seem to go back to Americans acting the way they did in the 1970s and before. None of them take into account the blatant obstructionism and white supremacy and gridlock for its own sake that an entire political party seems to have embraced for good.

I wish I believed that Hedrick's solutions could work. But with the tidal wave of dark money washing through American politics, and the extent to which elected representatives and senators simply ignore the will of the people in favor of their wealthy donors, I don't know if they can anymore.

[Calvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with the book's description that this is indeed a 'must read' book. Although, this book was written nearly 10 years ago, many of the concerns discussed in the book are true today. This book gives a detailed analysis of why the wealth gap has been growing. However, the author is professional and doesn't just complain or randomly insult people instead logically explaining how corporations have used lobbyists to get politicians to bend to their will at the expense of the majority of working Americans. The author also offers several solutions to fix the problems. I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 because certain chapters are a bit 'dry' (such as the mortgage chapter). However, ever the 'dry' parts of the book are essential reading. This book is loaded with information and is not one you will want to read in one sitting. However, read this book a bit at a time and you will be greatly informed of what in my opinion is the number one problem in the USA that must be discussed more (and is sadly underreported due to not being 'sensational' enough).

[Ted Eliason · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 12 year old book almost seems quaint after Trump part 1 and Covid. Elites are depressing. Most people in person come across as descent people. But there is a part of our nature that will extort, and exploit, and then just doesn’t want to know about the aftermath. A fundamental, criminal apathy towards others. The “losers”. Every person who was caught falsifying mortgage documents during the housing bubble should have been prosecuted. I expect the US will continue to only get worse. More impoverished, more unequal, more addicted, more despairing, until a wave of domestic terrorism attacks the billionaire class, in lieu of suicidal deaths of despair. People with nothing left to lose who decide to use their deaths to make a point. We are already scanning ID badges into buildings behind bullet proof glass. The elites have built a world where they now need to hire private security entourages. Let them eat cake.