The American Dream Is Not Dead:
(But Populism Could Kill It)
By Michael R. Strain
Populists on both sides of the political aisle routinely announce that the American Dream is in great peril. According to them, the game has been rigged by elites, hard work doesn’t pay off, wages have been stagnant for decades, the middle class is in decline, and America is no longer an upwardly mobile society.
Michael R. Strain disputes this rhetoric as both wrong and dangerous. In this succinctly argued volume, he shows that, on measures of economic opportunity and quality of life, there has never been a better time to be alive in America. He backs his argument with overwhelming—and underreported—data to show how the facts favor realistic optimism.
He warns, however, that the false prophets of populism pose a serious danger to our current and future prosperity. Their policy prescriptions would leave workers worse off. And their erroneous claim that the American Dream is dead could discourage people from taking advantage of real opportunities to better their lives. If enough people start to believe the Dream is dead, they could, in effect, kill it. To prevent this self-fulfilling prophecy, Strain’s book is urgent reading for anyone feeling the pull of the populists.
Read “The American Dream is Alive and Well” – The New York Times >
Read “The American Dream is Alive and Well” – The Wall Street Journal >
“Michael Strain’s important book is a welcome antidote to the pervasive pessimism surrounding economic policy debates. I don’t agree on everything but feel better after reading it about our economy and more importantly about how policy can make it better.”
—Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University and former Secretary of the Treasury
“An inoculation against politically motivated misinformation.”
—George F. Will, The Washington Post