Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class -- And What We Can Do About It (BK Currents) [Hardcover]

Thom Hartmann (Author), Mark Crispin Miller (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

Hartmann argues that the middle class is not the natural consequence of a free market based economy, but rather, the intended result of policies put into place to maximize the public good. Unfortunately, he maintains, the American middle class is on its deathbed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beginning with the Reagan administration, the U.S. government has steadily instituted policies and legislation that favor corporations over citizens, argues Air America host Hartmann (The Ultimate Sacrifice). Analyzing the rhetoric and policies of the current administration's "compassionate conservatism," Hartmann goes on to detail the ways in which safety nets for working people (from progressive taxation to antitrust legislation to Social Security) have been steadily weakened, and argues that an empowered, educated middle class is crucial to a functioning democracy. Chapters detail the ways in which what gets called "the free market" is not really free (for good reason, he notes), how "We the People create the middle class," how the policies of the Founding Fathers and figures like FDR still have a lot to teach us, and ways for "Leveling the Playing Field." Though far from comprehensive, and despite its sensationalist title, Hartmann's latest is an intelligent critique of the contemporary plight of the middle class.
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About the Author

Thom Hartmann is the award-winning, best-selling author of fourteen books currently in print in over a dozen languages on four continents. He is the former executive director of a residential treatment program for emotionally disturbed and abused children, and has helped set up hospitals, famine relief programs, schools, and communities for orphaned or blind children in India, Uganda, Australia, Colombia, and the United States.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 239 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; First Edition edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576754146
• ISBN-13: 978-1576754146
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.9 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (98 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #469,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thom Hartmann, who started in radio in 1968, is also an internationally known speaker on culture and communications, an author, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, ecology, and economics. The co-founder (with his wife, Louise) of The New England Salem Children's Village (1978) and The Hunter School (1997), he has led national innovations in the areas of residential treatment for abused children and private/public education for learning-disabled children. Hartmann is the four-time Project Censored Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of 23 books currently in print in over a dozen languages on five continents. He is the former executive director of a residential treatment program for emotionally disturbed and abused children, and has helped set up hospitals, famine relief programs, schools, and refugee centers in India, Uganda, Australia, Colombia, Russia, and the United States through the German-based Salem International program. Formerly rostered with the State of Vermont as a psychotherapist, founder of The Michigan Healing Arts Center, and licensed as an NLP Trainer by Richard Bandler (who wrote the foreword to one of Thom's books), he was the originator of the revolutionary "Hunter/Farmer Hypothesis" to understand the psychiatric condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). A guest faculty member at Goddard College in Vermont, he also synthesized the "Younger/Older Culture model" for describing the underpinnings - and possible solutions - to the world's ecological and socio-political crises, suggesting that many of our problems are grounded in cultural "stories" which go back thousands of years.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

242 of 272 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Briliantly Weaves History and Constitutional Vision with Contemporary Politics and Economics August 28, 2006

By Robert Kall VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Thom Hartmann has hit another grand slam homerun. This book nails the truth about how the right wing-- in both parties-- have been screwing the American people, except for the one hundredth of one percent who earn over $6 million a year.

The book walks through so many of the big lies (taxes, big government, trickle down economics) of the faux conservatives-- which he calls, so appropriately-- "Cons."

As a publisher of a progressive website, I kept reading stretches of chapters and saying to myself-- "Wow, that would make a great article." While the book is a non-fiction book, it started off in the first two pages touching my heart, bringing tears to my eyes. (watching inconvenient truth brought tears too.) It is a very fast, smooth read. You do have to put it down every now and then, to deal with outrage build-up.

As usual with Hartmann's books (amazingly, Amazon lists over 200 results in a search for Thom Hartmann) he offers great solutions as well as unique, insightful perspectives on the problems.

I'm recommending this to my readers (300,000 unique visitors a month) at opednews dot com as the best book they'll see this year.

171 of 196 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great book from Thom Hartmann August 23, 2006

By O. Johnson

Format:Hardcover

I've read a few of Thom's books, and I'm about half way through with his latest one, Screwed. As usual with Thom's books, it's great, well written and researched, and the type of book you can't put down. the only down side is that as far as I know Thom didn't put out a Books on Tape version, which I would prefer as I spend more time driving during the day then I have time to read.

I'm also a big fan of his radio program, for 3 years now, and I've yet to hear Thom say that "a living wage" would be the equivalant to 18 bucks an hour. He has demonstrated that if you stimulate demand you improve the health of the economy, thus why the unemployment rate has dropped every time we've raised the minimum wage, short of those times when we had serious oil shortages, like in the 70's.

Even if we did raise it to 18 bucks an hour, the wage/productivity ratios at your average McDonalds would be still be better than 1:1, meaning McD's would still make a profit. As it is, it's a 1:4 ratio (meaning one week of sales pays for a month of labor), which was the same wage/productivity ratios in domestic industry immediately prior to the Republican Great Depression.

For anyone wanting to read a fine book, and to get familiarized with Thom Hartmann and his ideas, this couldn't be a better place to start....although What Would Jefferson Do? is great too.

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A book true conservatives and liberals can love September 23, 2006

By Wayne

Format:Hardcover

History repeats itself (mainly when you flunk it) and Hartmann is just the historian to explain the current attempt to overthrow our constitution and democracy in terms of our history.

This book is in no more a liberal volume than conservative one. It is a book about the American promise and American dream.

The neocons in charge are not true conservatives and I found this easy to read book points to the reason why.

True conservatives and true liberals want America to work the way it was founded to work and this book reminds us makes America great.

Reading it has made me feel good about America again. We still have a chance to recapture our real values.