The American Dream vs. the Gospel of Wealth; The Fight for a Productive Middle-Class Economy

by Norton Garfinkle

• ISBN13: 9780300108606
• ISBN10: 0300108605
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2006-10-10
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Norton Garfinkle paints a disquieting picture of America today: a nation increasingly divided between economic winners and losers, a nation in which the middle-class American Dream seems more and more elusive. Recent government policies reflect a commitment to a new supply-side winner-take-all Gospel of Wealth. Garfinkle warns that this supply-side economic vision favors the privileged few over the majority of American citizens striving to better their economic condition. Garfinkle employs historical insight and data-based economic analysis to demonstrate compellingly the sharp departure of the supply-side Gospel of Wealth from an American ideal that dates back to Abraham Lincolnthe vision of America as a society in which ordinary, hard-working individuals can get ahead and attain a middle-class living, and in which government plays an active role in expanding opportunities and ensuring against economic exploitation. Supply-side economic policies increase economic disparities and, Garfinkle insists, they fail on technical, factual, moral, and political grounds. He outlines a fresh economic vision, consonant with the great American tradition of ensuring strong economic growth, while preserving the middle-class American Dream.

Author Biography

Norton Garfinkle is chairman, The Future of American Democracy Foundation. He has taught economics at Amherst College and is former chairman of the George Washington University Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	1	(11)
ONE The American Economic Vision	12	(15)
TWO Lincoln's Economics: The Origins of the American Dream	27	(20)
THREE The Gospel of Wealth	47	(22)
FOUR The Age of Reform	69	(19)
FIVE The Business of America Is Business	88	(19)
SIX The Renewal of the American Dream	107	(37)
SEVEN The New Gospel of Wealth	144	(19)
EIGHT The Current Debate: Supply-Side vs. Demand-Side Economics	163	(26)
NINE The Way Forward	189	(12)
Appendix	201	(4)
Notes	205	(16)
Index	221