Third World America: How our politicians are abandoning the average citizen

Description

Features updated material and a special foreword from Arianna for the UK audience It's not an exaggeration to say that the hard-working, average citizen on an average income is an endangered species and that the American Dream of a secure, comfortable standard of living has become outdated. The USA is in danger of becoming a Third World nation. The evidence is all around: its industrial base is vanishing, taking with it the kind of jobs that have formed the backbone of America's economy for more than a century; the education system is in shambles, making it harder for tomorrow's workforce to acquire the information and training it needs to land good twenty-first-century jobs; its infrastructure - roads, bridges, water, and electrical systems - is crumbling; its economic system has been reduced to recurring episodes of Corporations Gone Wild; and its political system is broken, in thrall to a small financial elite using the power of the chequebook to control both parties. And America's middle class, the driver of so much of the country's economic success and political stability, is rapidly disappearing, forcing this democracy to confront the fear that it is slipping as a nation - that its children and grandchildren will enjoy fewer opportunities and face a lower standard of living. It's the dark flipside of the American Dream - an American Nightmare of their own making. Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of the must-read Huffington Post, has her finger on the pulse of America and unflinchingly tracks the gradual demise of the nation as an industrial, political, and economic leader. In the vein of her fiery bestseller Pigs at the Trough, Third World America points fingers, names names, and details who's killing the American Dream. Calling on the can-do attitude that is part of America's DNA, Huffington shows precisely what needs to be done to stop the free fall and keep the country from turning into a Third World nation. Third World America is required reading for anyone who is disturbed by the United States' steady descent from twentieth-century superpower to backwater banana republic.

Arianna Huffington is the cofounder and editor in chief of Huffington Post, a nationally syndicated columnist, and the author of thirteen books. She is also the co-host of Left, Right & Centre, American public radio's popular political roundtable program. She was named to Time magazine's list of the world's one hundred most influential people and to the Financial Times' list of fifty people who shaped the decade. Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was sixteen and graduated from Cambridge University with an MA in economics.

"A voice of conscience in a time when we need conscience more than ever. . . Arianna Huffington is right: it's not too late for citizens to wake up politicians or to take matters into their own hands. Time is short: read this book now." -Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law School professor and author of The Two-Income Trap "Luckily for Congress, the White House, and Corporate America, no one reads anymore, because if people discover this book, America will become a very different place." -Bill Maher, host of Real Time with Bill Maher "Restoring the values that have made America strong - a thriving middle class and a sense of basic fair play - are of crucial importance to all Americans, left and right. Third World America is a powerful plea for our country to wake up so that we can change course - before it's too late." -Joe Scarborough, host of Morning Joe "Politicians talk endlessly about "protecting the middle class," yet, over the last 30 years, the middle class has taken a relentless pounding. In precise, graphic, and shocking terms that will bring the crisis home to everyone, Arianna Huffington explains why: special interests have become too powerful, money dominates our politics, and there is no sense of empathy or even shame amongst our elite. The national spirit that built America. . . lies in tatters. Turning this situation around will require strong new leadership. How long will that take? That depends on you - read this book and push hard for change" -Simon Johnson, professor of economics at MIT Sloan School of Business and co-author of 13 Bankers "Arianna Huffington is one of the very few people in America committed to say things the way they are and to expose the monstrous elephants in the room ignored by the dominant discourse. Even rarer, she does so in a lively, engaging, and, mostly, charming way." -Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author The Black Swan