Barlett,D. Steele,J. America: Who Stole the Dream? 1996

Barlett, Donald L. and Steele, James B. America: Who Stole the Dream? Kansas City MO: Andrews and McMeel, 1996. 241 pages.

This is another in a series of articles, which then appeared as books, by these two reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer. This one emphasizes the loss of high-paying manufacturing jobs to the global economy, due primarily to slick Washington lobbying by foreign and transnational interests. It's written for the mass market -- sobering statistics are illustrated with attractive graphs, and hard luck stories of little people losing their jobs are coupled with reasonable arguments for "fair trade" rather than "free trade." No problem so far (yawn).

Who's to blame for all this? Apart from lobbyists and transnational corporations, the authors suggest that it's mainly a matter of well- intentioned politicians and bureaucrats who inadvertently sold the American dream to the highest bidder. Darn those incompetent bunglers! Don't expect to find any class analysis here -- this is 1996 and Karl Marx lost the Cold War. Published authors are now required to bracket out the last 150 years of intellectual history; serious ideas that might prove inconvenient for the ruling class are not allowed. It's permissible to moan ineffectually about the poor getting poorer, but just barely. -- D.Brandt
ISBN 0-8362-1314-9