This non-fiction memoir by Robert Reich is an accounting of how America failed to maintain the middle class, from the boom of the post-WWII era to current times. Having grown up being taunted and abused by bullies because of his short stature, Reich was particularly sensitive to protecting the underdog, and since he could not do so physically, he did so with his economic wisdom and understanding. He taught at Harvard and he also served in the Department of Labor in the Clinton administration, advocating for policies that in his view would protect the middle class and thereby narrow the gap between the very rich and the very poor. Much to his dismay, he was undermined at each turn, and over the course of the ensuing years, regulations over high finance and banking only relaxed, the highest earners became taxed at a lower rate, and the gap only widened. We are now left with a country that has an enormous wealth gap in spite of his efforts and it is a dismal outlook ahead.
I have to confess that I did not complete this entire book. I usually do not blog when I’ve done that, but I felt that I’d read enough to 1) learn quite a bit from it already and 2)get the gist of what he is trying to say from what I did read. While it is definitely readable, and he makes the economic parts very accessible (even to someone like me who never studied economics for very good reason…!), it was also quite repetitive. Perhaps that is a function of his frustration with everyone who did not listen to his advice -as he tried over and over to push for more decency in the policies and laws that were being passed. It was also quite hard to see how so many leaders, including Clinton and Obama, both of whom I had admired, came under the spell of Wall Street and its powerful lobbyists, who led them to pass such irresponsible and dangerous legislation. Worse, this deregulation of Wall Street and the disaster of 2008 did not teach us anything at all. Deregulation has only continued – to the point where folks are now predicting another similar bubble from AI. Will we never learn?
In any case, I believe this book carries much insight, much wisdom and even a bit of humor as it guides us through the past couple of decades of economic downfall. It gives us a window into how we’ve narrowed the middle class and why billionaires exist when the rest of society has seen little to no increase in wealth.
I would have liked to see answers to what we can do about it – perhaps how we can make changes for a brighter future.
Maybe that will be his next book? Or that is the book for the next generation to write…
kindread spirits 