Who Stole The American Dream

An important factor in understanding Hendrick Smith’s argument in Who Stole the American Dream, is understanding globalization. This is because many have attributed the downfall of the American Middle Class as well as the American Dream in part to globalization. Globalization is worldwide integration, interaction, and development. Globalization can describe anything from international trade to the global spread of popular culture, such as a Hollywood film, to immigration and terrorism. Some aspects of globalization cause mutually beneficial outcomes for all, and consist of the interaction between nations, businesses, and groups of people. An example of this type of globalization is the use of the Internet for the spread of information. Sometimes, …show more content…
The conflict between capital and labor has created inequality that has divided America in to two Americas, the rich and the poor, and in the new economy, the super rich have accumulated more wealth than ever before. This has created a war of the classes and the elimination of the middle class. In a similar vein, the political divide in America, a large aspect of Smith’s book has created a divided America. Politics have changed drastically and getting things done in Washington has become an insider’s game fueled by the financial backing of the country’s elite and lobbyists. Smith remarks that the civic engagement of middle class America used to be influential and have great impact in influencing change, but today more people feel powerless and alienated from the government. We live in a country with the illusion of democracy, even though at the end of the day money speaks the loudest. The greed and corruption, especially of U.S. corporations and politicians, has not helped reunite America. An example of both greed and corruption that Smith illustrates in his book centers around what he calls “offshoring the dream.” Rather than thinking about the well being of their own employees in the United States and what would happen to them when their jobs were off-shored, companies moved …show more content…
I think we always joke about how everything is made in China, but that joke becomes more real every day. It is more than a joke and has been a real tragedy that has affected the American economy and American workers. While many agree that offshoring is good for consumers, it also has caused many people to lose their jobs, which likely decreases consumption for those who lost their jobs, which in turn creates an even greater negative effect on our nation’s economy, since less people are spending money. While I love shopping for low prices, I believe corporations have taken it too far in focusing on their bottom line. Businesses mark up products to unbelievable amounts regardless of labor costs, so I am not completely convinced that labor being cheaper makes products cheaper, especially because of all the extra shipping costs to bring the products to the United States to be distributed. Another paragraph that really stuck out to me, which I referenced earlier, was the section beginning on page xxi comparing Germany and the United States. Both Germany and the United States faced similar struggles in the offshoring of jobs, however the two countries went about it differently and Germany was able to retain more jobs and trade unions. I think this helped their economy a lot and because of this, high power companies such as SAP or Lufthansa are headquartered in