Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It (BK Currents...

Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It (BK Currents (Paperback)) | Thom Hartmann | Corporations vs. the Middle Class

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Screwed: The Undec...

	Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It (BK Currents (Paperback)) Thom Hartmann Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2007 - 249 pages average customer review:based on 74 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Nationally syndicated radio host and bestselling author Thom Hartmann exposes the covert class="textlinks">war conservatives, and corporations are waging against America's middle class?a war that's reducing the rest of us to a politically impotent working poor. This book asks: How did this happen? Who's benefiting? And how can we stop it?

Corporatocracy:What it is and How We Got it.

"Screwed:the Undeclared class="textlinks">War Against the Middle Class" is the best book that I have read on American government and economics. It's easily understood and has good lessons from American political history.

The author opens with a compelling example of an employee being exposed to asbestos and suffering for it while the company profited from his labor. That employee was Hartmann's father.

Thom Hartmann identifies those screwing the middle class. He calls them "cons" and categorizes them into two categories-conservatives(I have been guilty of voting in that vein)and the neo-conservatives.
These two groups break down further into two subcategories- True Believer cons and Predator cons. These folks believe that Americans will accept "security" for poverty.

Mr. Hartmann is harsh in his criticism of the multinational corporations who gain their vast profits on the backs of employees' low wages and slim benefits.

Why conservatives in general want "smaller government" is explained by what corporations/big business gets in return, large profits for assuming tasks that the government normally did. A case-in-point would be privatizing the military so that Halliburton can rake in huge profits.

Mr. Hartmann covers a wide range of issues relating to the middle class and economics.
Among them are:
+NAFTA and the devastating results for the middle class.
+The fundamental differences between Thomas Paine and Edmund Burke in ideas of government.
+Tracks the last four administrations and decisions that ultimately led to the corporatocracy we suffer from now. Corporatocracy's power is monopolistic.
+The origin of "corporate rights" approaching those of an individual. This is a perversion of the 14th Amendment.

There is a timeless quote form Thomas Jefferson in 1816.
"Those seeking profits, were they given total freedom, would not be the ones to trust to keep government pure and our rights secure. Indeed, it has always been those seeking wealth who were the source of corruption in government. No other depositories of power have ever yet been found, which did not end in converting to their own profit the earnings of those committed to their charge."
So much for the myth of "trickle down economics"!

Or, James Madison's quote on war.
"In war, too , the discretionary power of the Executive is extended."
"No nation could preserve it's freedom in the midst of continual warfare."
Those quotes uncover an alternate motive for the neo-con's "perpetual peace for perpetual war".

He sums up the Iraq war aptly on page 133.
"Bush's war in Iraq was a huge success for corporate America. It redistributed wealth from American taxpayers to multinational corporations at an astonishing pace while leaving the Iraqi people literally in the dark."

Hartmann's views on the cause and solution of illegal immigration differ from those of Lou Dobbs. He sees the problem as "illegal employers". I think he has a valid point.

Thom Hartmann does offer solutions to many of the problems that he cites in the book. The biggest is involvement, particularly in local party politics. Other solutions include progressive taxation, regulation of large predatory corporations, and protecting domestic industry by imposing tariffs on cheap labor imports.

On the subject of economics and the screwing of the middle class for corporate gain, Thom Hartmann explains it better than any other author in my estimation.

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Corporations vs. the Middle Class

I bought this book because I am an avid listener of Thom Hartmann's talk radio program on Air America. He frequently engages conservative commentators in a level-headed, respectful dialoge. His understanding of economic history is outstanding, albeit biased in favor of populism. His book has delivered just the way I anticipated -- straightforclass="textlinks">ward, witty and easily understandable. I will read many more Hartmann titles in the future. Thom Hartmann and Rachel Maddow are my two favorite talk show hosts because they are brilliant and well-informed and don't just shout down the opposition.

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Absolute must read

If you have any care at all class="textlinks">about your finacial wellbeing in this country
you must read this book. Few people are old enough to know what it was like in the usa when one person working one job made enough to buy a house and raise a family. health care was very affordable for all.
Where did it all go? This book tells you.

Hartmann is Brilliant

Thom Hartmann's Screwed is must reading by everyone who isn't a right wing nut. In easy to understand language, Hartmann debunks right wing myths class="textlinks">about Liberals and progressives using facts and history, not emotional mantra.
He's on Sirius Radio each day, and he'll take on any Neo-con and every issue and argue intelligently for the need for liberal/progressive politics in America, and he shows the historical and constitutional basis for all his agrguments. All of his works are a must read. I give this book to all my Independent and moderate Republican friends( see I'm a Liberal, very tolerant).

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A common sense book and a primer for the non-specialist

Thom Hartmann has a fairly simple message, and fortunately he provides evidence for this thesis through quoting primary sources, so his views are not just opinions as Rush and his permutations are. His basic message is that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and since the rich control the rules of the game, they call the shots. The newer strategies in this millenial problem is the reduction in health care, the gap in wages (by the way, not mentioned in the book but the ratio of highest paid employees in the average hospital in the U.S. to the lowest is 7 to 1; in Europe it's 4 to 1). If you think that laborers don't deserve better, I guess you'd say 'class="textlinks">what's the problem?' Hartmann does advocate a conspiratorial theory to the widening gap in U.S. wages, but it's not about black helicopters; his thesis is based on solid research and primary sources. His main beef is with the intentional weakening of the labor union movement by management, and one particular way to do so is through the hiring of non-legal immigrants. So, if you want to call someone who is anti-illegal immigration 'liberal,' go ahead but you will sound like a fool. He makes a good point about creating the term 'illegal employers' who after all are also breaking the law by not checking on proper ID's from prospective workers. Maybe the best thing about the book is that he plainly shows that it is the neo-cons who are anti-American if you use the traditional concept of this term. But unfortunately, when you live in a country where many people would rather shock and awe than stop and think, it shouldn't be too hard to fool people into thinking otherwise.

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