ABSTRACT
In the wake of the stock-market panic in October 1987, leaders from Congress and the Reagan administration loosed a chorus of dismay over the size of the federal budget deficit. Indeed, over the last two decades, younger Americans as a group have been experiencing a continuous and unprecedented decline in real income. As a consequence of the panic on Wall Street, the ritual was replayed with more than the usual fanfare: press conferences, camera floodlights, television spots, and fist pounding in congressional committees. More than any other Western country, America was a creation of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution—and its middle-class ethos, loosely embodied in the American Dream, has always been rooted in the belief that each succeeding generation will be better off than the previous one. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
