The Vanishing Middle Class

Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy

By: Peter Temin

Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne

Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

The United States is becoming a nation of rich and poor, with few families in the middle. In this book, MIT economist Peter Temin offers an illuminating way to look at the vanishing middle class. Temin argues that American history and politics, particularly slavery and its aftermath, play an important part in the widening gap between rich and poor. Temin employs a well-known, simple model of a dual economy to examine the dynamics of the rich/poor divide in America and outlines ways to work toward greater equality so that America will no longer have one economy for the rich and one for the poor.

Many poorer Americans live in conditions resembling those of a developing country - substandard education, dilapidated housing, and few stable employment opportunities. And although almost half of black Americans are poor, most poor people are not black. Conservative white politicians still appeal to the racism of poor white voters to get support for policies that harm low-income people as a whole, casting recipients of social programs as the other - black, Latino, not like "us". Moreover, politicians use mass incarceration as a tool to keep black and Latino Americans from participating fully in society. Money goes to a vast entrenched prison system rather than to education. In the dual justice system, the rich pay fines and the poor go to jail.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2017 Peter Temin (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Modern American Liberalism, well-argued

This well written book covers a gamut of issues, each in a concise manner. The author is an MIT economist, and I was surprised that it didn't contain more unique takes on the issues. The book articulates a pretty standard liberal narrative; there won't be much new here for liberal policy wonks. Nevertheless, the author's arguments were rigorous, and I found my ideas challenged on those issues on which I disagreed with the author.

I highly recommend it to two audiences. 1. Casual Democrats who want a basic understanding of policies they probably already support. 2. Republicans who want to confront the best (concise) versions of their opponents' arguments.

Insight into the Liberal Mindset with a Real Warni

Insight into the Liberal Mindset with a Real Warning of Right Wing Manipulation of a political dichotomy.

Informative history of poverty and race in America

It is a good book and very eye opening. It does take a Liberal view point and can be preachy about certain ideas and solutions. Even so, the author gives great and sobering sources and solutions to poverty that has played America for some time.

The book is amazing, the narration not so much.

There is many flagrant gaps in the narration, which makes it very annoying at times

Insightful with excellent voice-work...

Really enjoyable to listen to...the narrator is compelling without condescension. No clumsy voice characterizations or goofy-attempts trying to mimic regional dialects...just straightforward facts and statistics that serve to highlight why many on the right perceive the gains of "others" as a personal loss and a reduction in societal status. Solid, well-researched book.

Surprisingly good for a freebie

This is the king of stuff I usually only hear the radical left talk about and have for years. A little elementary at times but otherwise some good info. I didn't care for the narration, sounded pretty pablum to me. I have usually heard this kind of thing expressed with more emotion ; this guy sounds like he's reading a high school term paper. Anyway this is the kind of book everyone should hear. I recommend.

A crisp, clear relevant analysis for our times..

The sociopolitical economy unmasked in clear, simple language, this analysis outlines several recommendations for making America truly great.

Disappointing

I don't know why I continue going into literature hoping for straightforward writing with just facts. Everyone implements their social and political views into their work and it is off-putting. Temin in a longtime MIT economics professor which is what drew me to purchase this book, but instead of hard facts, his work is littered with slanted opinions.

It would be nice to just have facts for once.

The narrator was enjoyable though.

Informative but rambling

The information and insight is good, but could focus on or present solutions more frequently. Got depressing after a while as it went from one problem to another.

Change your thoughts and change your world

This is a developmental economics book which shows the black/African-Americans as victims of their circumstances. The author calls this victimhood racecraft.