Cited Book: Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class — And What We Can Do about It

1. A vigorous middle class is essential for democracy.
2. Throughout history, the elites have done battle to eliminate the middle class and scoop all the wealth for themselves.
3. Starting with Reagan, the lower and middle classes in the USA have become poorer while the elite’s wealth has exploded into the stratosphere.
4. The elites tell all manner of lies to trick the middle class into giving up their power and wealth to the elites.
5. You have a choice:
   1. government can run things, via representatives responsible to the people.
   2. corporate CEOs can run things, responsible only to their shareholders.
   When you consider the alternative, big government managing society does not look so bad.

Hartmann argues that historically the wealthy elite have always worked to eliminate the middle class and hence stomp out democracy. They can then run things for their own ultimate financial benefit. We are going through a period now where the middle class is collapsing as a result of the corporatocracy and wealth of the tiny elite at the top is exploding. Since they control the media, they spread all manner of myths that make people vote against their own self interest in favour of those of the elites.

The book also discusses how the war business hijacks government to provide it with endless streams of money for perpetual unnecessary war.