OURS WAS THE SHINING FUTURE

A senior writer at the New York Times argues that lack of investment in the next generation is keeping Americans from attaining the so-called American dream.

As Leonhardt reports in this well-researched, thoughtful work, the phrase “American Dream,” coined during the Great Depression, was once meaningful to many poor, struggling, and immigrant American families, but now it’s often used “ironically or bitterly.” Using a combination of personal stories and statistics, the author demonstrates that “a shining future” in the form of better educational prospects, jobs with livable wages, and greater health and material well-being than one’s parents enjoyed was very much in reach for many Americans by the mid-20th century. For example, Leonhardt learned from a longitudinal study that tracked progress for Americans in terms of tax rates that an astounding 92% of children born in 1940 grew up to have higher household income than their parents. Until the 1980s, quality of life improved dramatically in terms of physical health, declines in inequality, rising incomes, and material benefits, and the bounty was shared relatively broadly. However, in the last three to four decades, inequality has widened. “The result,” writes the author, “is stagnation in nearly every reliable measure of well-being.” He examines trends in power, business culture, and investment, arguing that the “rough-and-tumble capitalism” under recent Republican administrations has run roughshod over “democratic capitalism,” which “describes a system in which the government recognizes its crucial role in guiding the economy.” Leonhardt illustrates his argument through the work of influential Americans across the ideological spectrum, from Frances Perkins to Dwight Eisenhower and Robert Bork. His economics-heavy overview considers factors such as the decline of labor unions, split within left-leaning political circles, embrace of law and order, rise of interest groups, and decline in investment in education, among others.

Excellent, accessible overview of socioeconomic trends over the last decades and what they bode for the future.