The endangered American dream : how to stop the United States from becoming a Third World country and how to win the geo-economic struggle for industrial supremacy

In this "timely antidote to the parade of reassurance churned out in Washington's rent-a-scholar centers" (Kevin Philips, The Washington Post ), Edward N. Luttwak reveals that the American Dream has become a fantasy and supplies powerful remedies to reverse our nation's slide into Third-World status. Instead of rising prosperity for the middle class, the United States is undergoing an alarming transformation: Declining earnings for most Americans, the spectacular enrichment of a few, and the increasingly violent desperation of the uneducated poor are driving us toward classic Third-World conditions. Having opened our mark and borders to the world, we are competing against both poor countries and rich industrial rivals by cutting wages and eliminating highly paid jobs. This, Luttwak explains, is the true meaning of "globalization": the pursuit of economic efficiency at the expense of our already fractured society. One of America's most thoughtful and provocative strategists exposes the economic and cultural assumptions that have driven the U.S. to the brink of social and financial collapse. Edward Luttwak reveals a forceful new policy that can reverse America's decline. "A warning that should not be ignored."--New York magazine. The new struggle for industrial supremacy Our Japan problem Models and myths: Prussia and Japan When will the United States become a third world country? Capitalism without capital The poor and the super-rich Where have all the high wages gone? From law to legalism The savings gap What is to be done? The geo-economic arms race. "Edward N. Luttwak reveals that the American Dream has become a fantasy and supplies powerful remedies to reverse our nation's slide into the Third-World status."--Page 4 of cover.