America’s middle class drove our ascension to global superpower status—a post-World War II position we enjoyed while manufacturing around the globe smoldered.
In time, we came to believe a strong middle class was a naturally occurring force of our nature. Disinterest made it ever harder for this powerful resource to keep up. Dual income households strained, as elements of middle class well-being faced spiraling costs and stagnating wages. Consumer borrowing surged to historic heights until everything toppled, leaving a wake of lost jobs and dimmed hopes for tens of millions of Americans.
A tiny minority saw their wealth surge while most Americans suffered, with 45 million poor and another 50 million just a whisker from the same fate. In the middle, scrimping, saving and working longer hours were simply not enough. As our middle class changed in every way imaginable, Americans longed for the good old days.
Now, in American Mojo: Lost and Found–Restoring Our Middle Class Before the World Blows By (Turner Publishing Company; June 2015; $34.95), New York Times bestselling author Peter D. Kiernan reveals how we can re-ignite the engine of a strong, vibrant middle class.
American Mojo rejects recovery “recipes” using rearview mirror approaches applying fifty-year-old remedies to modern, dynamic problems. Supported by extensive research, Kiernan offers fresh solutions.
Kiernan is uniquely positioned to offer perspective. With a successful multi-decade Wall Street career, he understands the wrong economic turns we have made. After Wall Street, he led the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and numerous health care and poverty fighting organizations. A twenty-five year Robin Hood Foundation board member and former chair, he has dedicated himself for decades to fighting the epidemic of poverty.
Kiernan’s powerful storytelling weaves a tapestry of iconic individuals and events that catapulted the middle class to its apex, and incidents that left it to stumble through the social turmoil and the sine waves of economic ups and shattering downs in the decades that followed. Restoring the middle class is now a global challenge and greatness is within our grasp. But we must act before the developing world behind India and China steals the march. If dozens of nations have centerpiece plans to build their own robust middle class—how can we expect to compete without an equally robust commitment to a strategy of our own?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter D. Kiernan, award-winning bestselling author, is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and advisor to businesses and government. He left Wall Street in 2000 to pursue venture capital start-ups, nonprofit work, and writing. He has played a leadership role at hospitals, colleges, graduate schools, disability and poverty fighting organizations, and charter schools. He is a frequent TV and radio talk show contributor and a dynamic speaker. His last book, Becoming China’s Bitch, won the International Book Award and was a bestseller.