Essay on Betrayal of the American Dream: Impoverishment of the Middle Class

The Betrayal of the American Dream is one of the books that has received laudable praises from different people and organizations for explicitly expressing some of the special issues affecting the American society. The book highlights in depth of a story of how the middle class in America has continuously been impoverished and its potentiality thwarted in favor of the current elites that are in ruling position. It is a book whose findings by the country's two trusted investigators can leave you angry and surprised. Regarding this, the paper aims at exploring on one major issue that in the book I consider having strong feelings about, my position about the issue, counterargument and the rebuttal of the same.

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It is important first to understand what it means of the American dream. America as a nation had one dream, a dream that the lure that was initially directed to the immigrants and the opportunity as a birthright for every American citizen (Ruist 4). This part of the dream is an important part of history like the passing of the bill of rights, the results of the Gettysburg battle, and even the space program. Unbelievably, nearly close to thirty years, America as a government and big business enterprises have colluded to roll back the dream of America. What was once available and at disposal for so many people, has progressively become a thing of the chosen few. In other words, not, everyone has an advantage to access what rightfully belongs to them.

One major issue that is attention-drawing is the economic troubles of the country; it is one issue that has never been expected that the nation can ever be associated with (Barlett and Steele 25). There is a sense in which the two investigators express their anger over the issue that for a long time has been contributing to the economic setbacks of the state. The authors express their feeling towards the existing state of unemployment, underfunding of pensions, offshoring, loopholes in taxation, fraud in the finance sector and other related disgusting issues that a normal citizen can never content hearing. In the book, according to the authors, there is the rage of conspiracies almost everywhere in the nation that is being led by Montgomery Burnses and Henry potters that are connected to the world and the associated minions in the Washington.

The country's economic troubles are because of the evil machinations of what we refer to as the ruling 'class'- a group that is most considered to be the few; they are at the verge of causing many economic flaws in the general economy of America in its entirety (Barlett and Steele 47). This is a group that according to the author's description, they are always in the quest and want nothing more but to snuff out the public with their strategies for killing job creation on the mentality driven by greed. There are a lot of instances where executives, financiers, and the politicians have been involved and do a lot of unethical and greed based practices over the recent years, all the way from influences associated with buying to outright fraud commission. Interesting yet is these senior groups of individuals who do this not because they are offended or because they sadists in nature but because they want to increase their status every single day; they want to improve their bottom line. The investigators attack the capitalists with an evil driven mind for engaging, advocating and sending work abroad to go for the lower prices, for instance, yet they leave the consumers back in the nation of America unable to meet the demand of those lower prices.

In criticizing the government, there are a lot of things highlighted in the book that are associated with the trade that have drastically lead to slightly impairing the economy. They demonstrate how neoliberalism had taken its toll and at the verge of affecting and contributing immensely to the deterioration of the economy. Also, the government obsession with the parties on free trade and the indifferent towards companies and business enterprises that outsource jobs. In a conversation between Barlett and the NPR's Steve ins keep, he demonstrates an example of an apple, "Everyone loves Apple. Apple makes nothing in this country anymore but then, look over here on the other side, and you have Intels, and their plants are massive, and they are good-paying jobs. They continue to invest in this country. And what we need in this country now are more Intels and fewer Apples." (Barlett and Steele 144) In other words, the investigator explains that there is a need for more intel, more well-paying business enterprises and employment companies and not the business enterprise and companies that have selfish gains from the inside but pretending outwardly to be good and well-intentioned.

In comparing united states and Germany concerning the state of the economy, manufacturing, and growth of jobs, Barlett and steel have a broader picture of Germany. They assert that Germany as a country has had a good record in the recent past. During the melting down of the global financial, Germany went ahead and adopted a policy that called for the company's subsidization to help them continue keeping their employees on the rolls. This is the reason why the employment rate in Germany is much lower than that of the unites states according to the two authors (Barlett and Steele 127). The high unemployment rate in the united states has contributed much to the effects of the economic global crisis today. In pointing out, they allude that factory workers in Germany do considerable great than their counterparts in the united states regarding the benefits and wages. In suggesting the solution, the two authors advocate for the Germany style in America so that the jobs of the employees will be preserved and that many individuals working will not be left jobless after tireless years of working for the factories and companies. They also recommend that there should be the introduction of tariffs on nations that transact and engage in business differently than the united states, it is better to go for a trade policy that the result will be a trade war, that will prove beneficial to the united states.

There is also a revelation that economic troubles that are experienced in the nation have their foundation in the united states exports rising every year. However, the mere fact that there has been rising of the exports, the trade deficit has not been impacted in any way; they are still outwitted by the imports. They also add that the media, however, should be responsible for whatever has been going around concerning the unreliable perceptions of the trade deficit shrinking. In other words, they try to imply that over three decades now the imports have been overwhelming the exports and it has been a trend. Steele, all the same, adds that most of the American citizens do not realize that observable other countries do not have the kind of trade deficit that the united states has; the deficit experience in the Us is directly linked with the unemployment situation. They state that this deficit has led to the eradication of all forms of jobs and yet have not been replaced by the jobs paying commensurate pay. It is even more astonishing and hope-derailing when the two conclude by saying that they don't think that there is a possibility of bringing back those jobs. They assert that the only hope that they have and that American can have is that they should try their best in dealing with the manufacturing they are left with and that it would be very good and okay for those working in America.

In my opinion, I would dare say that sometimes investigations will not always call for the positive feedback. Usually, an investigation will want to find the evil and the bad things that are happening and neglect the positive or rather the positive side. Thus, my position to alluding to the fact that the economic troubles of the united states are so numerous is different; I don't think that the situation is to that extent as described by the two authors. I don't think the dream of the America has been betrayed. Reflecting on the existing records and other studies, I realize that the economy of the united states has been ranked first in the ranking international of the venture capital and development funding (Fenton 17).

Additionally, united states have the consumer market that is the largest in the entire world, with a final consumption of teaching household accounting to an expenditure five times larger compared to Japan (Fenton 17). Therefore, America's dream is not yet betrayed; it is not shattered yet. Instead, the nation is on its way to achieving the dream. In aiming for a goal and dream, there will always be setbacks and obstacles, but with determination and unwavering commitment, you finally get there. The government is not so asleep; it is also aware of the criticism that it is facing; it will act and align towards the dream that was once intended. I believe that the nation is towards the prosperity and propensity that has long been desired especially now that the era of neoliberalism is coming to an end progressively. There is a sense in which the current president of the united states Donald Trump has introduced new trade policies that are directed to shaping the world economic order (Marris 21).

Counterargument and Rebuttal

It is interesting how there is no single mention of finance reform campaign despite the many complaints concerning the overwhelming influence of the wealthy in the nation. Instead, the authors give a solution for almost every problem and ailment as the erection of the new trade barriers and critically freeze employment and economic arrangement and specifications just like they are. In a real sense, this is not a sustainable mechanism for keeping the jobs for the American citizens let alone creating- as it is easily demonstrated by the trade wretch wars initiated by Smoot-Hawley tariff in the early 1930s (Fenton 13).

In a great sense, the two authors and investigators want to make the clock turn back those times when workers in America were the most competitive workers in the entire world, instead of finding new ways and mechanisms to make the workers in America became more competitive, for instance through an enhanced education system that is functional (Marris 7). An improved educational system will ensure that the output of the learners is more competitive than the individuals of the past. Better outcome demands change. Change is number one thing to bring a paradigm shift in the event of anything observable. It surprises when the authors write off the essence of education in the society when they call it "shopworn" theory that is used in addressing the worker's needs. There's a lot of complaining that wages have fallen in the level entry jobs especially for those who graduate from colleges and universities, and argue that the student debt that is ever rising is a proof that higher education is not something to go for. In other words, they state that higher education is not worthwhile. Contradictory, throughout the book, it is notable that some of their critical anecdotes involve workers who are displaced who get back on their normal position of standing after undergoing retraining. Additionally, closer observation and look at the recent job numbers reveal that the rate of unemployment among the graduates of the college are still slightly low. It is an estimation of 4.1 %, less than half the rate for the workers with only a high school diploma (Carney 61). Again, the wage premium reflected by most secondary learning has been on the rise, not decreasing in the last few decades. A good education will equivalently address another social force that is usually behind the displacement of the working class, especially the individuals in the manufacturing industry. Such force, pr...