Who stole the American dream? / Hedrick Smith.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [527]-538) and index.

The challenge from within -- Power shift. The business rebellion : the power shift that changed American history ; The pivotal Congress : Jimmy Carter and 1977-78 Democrats ; Middle-class power : how citizen action worked before the power shift ; Middle-class prosperity : how "the virtuous circle" worked before the new economy -- Dismantling the dream. The new economy of the 1990s : the wedge economics that split America ; The stolen dream : from middle-class to the new poor ; The great burden shift : funding your own safety net, crippled by debt ; The wealth gap : the economics "of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%" -- Unequal democracy. The new 2000s power game : why Congress often ignores public opinion ; The Washington-Wall Street symbiosis : the inside track of "the money monopoly" -- Middle-class squeeze. Broken promises : bankrupting middle-class pensions ; 401(K)'s : do-it-yourself : can you really afford to retire? ; Housing heist : prime targets : the solid middle class ; The great wealth shift : how the banks eroded middle-class savings ; Offshoring the dream : the Wal-Mart trail to China ; Hollowing out high-end jobs : IBM : shifting the knowledge economy to India ; The skills gap myth : importing IT workers costs masses of U.S. jobs -- Obstacles to a fix. The missing middle : how gridlock adds to the wealth gap ; The rise of the radical right, 1964-2010 : assault on the middle-class safety net ; The high cost of imperial overstretch : how the U.S. global footprint hurts the middle class -- Challenge and response. Reclaiming the dream : a domestic Marshall plan : a ten-step strategy ; Politics : a grassroots response : reviving the moderate center and middle-class power -- Appendix. Stolen dream timeline : key events, trends, and turning points, 1948-2012.

Recounts how the American dream has been dismantled over the past forty years by legislative, electoral, and corporate decisions that have compromised the middle class and minimized individual economic and political power.