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

Norton Garfinkle paints a troubling picture of America, a country increasingly split between economic winners and losers, in which the middle-class American Dream seems ever harder to reach. He argues that recent government policy reflects a supply-side, winner-take-all gospel of wealth, which favours a privileged few over the majority.

Garfinkle uses history and data-driven economic analysis to show how far this approach has moved from an American ideal dating back to Abraham Lincoln. That ideal holds that ordinary, hard-working people should be able to get ahead and reach a middle-class living, and that government has an active role in widening opportunity and guarding against economic exploitation.

He argues that supply-side policies widen economic disparities and fall short on technical, factual, moral and political counts, and then outlines a fresh vision that aims at strong growth while preserving the middle-class Dream. Edition note: published by Yale University Press in 2007, 240 pages. ISBN-13 9780300126112.