ABSTRACT

for tom hazel, universal health care and income protections for low-wage workers couldn’t come too soon. But, at the same time, whenever they did come, in many ways they’d already be too late. The 2000s hadn’t been kind to Hazel and his friends, and no matter what changes might sweep the post-Bush nation, realistically their best days were likely behind them. It wasn’t just that they were facing the middle-aged blues; it was that the promises made to them had been broken and the ballast stabilizing their lives thrown overboard.