"Families today are squeezed on every side--from high childcare costs and harsh employment policies to workplaces without paid family leave or even dependable and regular working hours"--Book jacket. Attaining the standard of living our parents managed has become impossible. Quart examines the lives of many middle-class Americans who can now barely afford to raise children, and shows how our country has failed its families. She offers real solutions...

Since Alexis de Tocqueville, restlessness has been accepted as a signature American trait. Our willingness to move, take risks, and adapt to change have produced a dynamic economy and a tradition of innovation from Ben Franklin to Steve Jobs. The problem, according to legendary blogger, economist and best selling author Tyler Cowen, is that Americans today have broken from this tradition-we're working harder than ever to avoid change. We're moving...

"Many fear that efforts to address inequality will undermine the economy as a whole. But the opposite is true: rising inequality has become a drag on growth and an impediment to market competition. Heather Boushey breaks down the problem and argues that we can preserve our nation's economic traditions while promoting shared economic growth"--

"The author of the widely praised Age of Greed now gives us a bold indictment of some of our most accepted economic theories-why they're wrong, the harm they've done, and the theories that would vastly improve on them. Jeff Madrick-former New York Times business columnist and now Harper's economics columnist-mounts a comprehensive case against prevailing mainstream economic thinking, illustrating how it has damaged markets, infrastructure, and individual...

""Too Much Magic" is what Kunstler sees in the bright visions of a future world dreamed up by optimistic souls who believe technology will solve all our problems. In Too Much Magic, Kunstler articulates a number of issues relating to the unsustainability of our high-energy lifestyle, including: The pernicious cult of "Happy Motoring" and our desire to preserve an ailing and backwards automotive industry at all costs; The upcoming demise of suburbia...

"For 150 years, there has been a contract. Companies hold the power to shape our daily lives. The state holds the power to make them fall in line. And the people hold the power to choose their leaders. But now, this balance has shaken loose. As the market consolidates, the lines between Walmart and the Halls of Congress have become razor-thin. Private companies have begun to behave like nations, and with the government bogged down in bureaucratic...

To combat the "vampires" of our society and to isolate the systematic ways in which our once productive industries and our government have been breached, Ratigan provides readers with a set of values that together form the answer for how each of us can not only understand what has gone wrong--but join together to make it right.

"The definitive report on what caused America's economic meltdown--and who was responsible. The financial and economic crisis has touched the lives of millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and their homes, but many have little understanding of how it happened. Now, in this very accessible report, readers can get the facts."--Page 4 of cover.