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

by Thom Hartmann (Author), Mark Crispin Miller (Foreword) "Look at history and you will find that the middle class was the creation of liberal democracies..." (more)
Key Phrases: economic royalists, strong middle class, Social Security, United States, East India Company (more...)

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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Product Description
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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 239 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576754146
• ISBN-13: 978-1576754146
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #339,676 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

180 of 203 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 "Rob Kall of Opednews.com" (Newtown, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

144 of 162 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	O. Johnson "skatterkat" (Northern VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Powerful, October 17, 2007

By	Kenneth Brosky (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It (BK Currents (Paperback)) (Paperback)

Those who listen to Thom Hartmann should already know that anything he writes is well-researched and founded on the principles that the framers of our constitution held near and dear to their hearts. Thom has never been one to shy away from debate with conservatives, and in SCREWED he makes a point of confronting the most popular arguments in favor of free market economics and corporatocracy, using detailed research to thoroughly debunk claims that our country is headed in the "right path."

Thom Hartmann's point is one that 99 percent of Americans can agree with: people working full-time should be able to live comfortably. This means establishing and protecting the middle-class, an idea that no longer holds true and hasn't since the early days of Reagan. Thom highlights what needs to be done, and what we the people need to do about it. Highly recommended for anyone isn't currently making over $3 million a year.