About this item
Highlights
- "In this lively and engrossing work, Ludwig presents a model of public discourse--informed, multidisciplinary, and shorn of myopic ideological commitments.
- About the Author: Gene Ludwig, 27th Comptroller of the Currency, is a business and civic leader and expert on banking, regulation, risk management, and fiscal policy.
- 275 Pages
- Business + Money Management, Economic Conditions
Description
About the Book
"The unemployment rate has neared record lows and the stock market neared record highs in 2019. Yet the gap between low- and moderate-income Americans and their wealthier counterparts is greater than ever. In 2019, founder and CEO of Promontory Financial Group Gene Ludwig gathered a bipartisan group of the nation's foremost economic thinkers - academics and politicians, CEOs and former presidential advisors - to break with convention and candidly discuss that widening gap. The Vanishing American Dream: A Frank Look at the Economic Realities Facing Middle- and Lower-Income Americans comes from their insights. Ordinary Americans are struggling along common lines and raising questions about our nation's future. Where should government invest? What role should the private sector play? And how did our American Dream begin to slip into myth? While they debate the solutions, these diverse men and women find one point in common: There's a prosperity problem in America. Combining expertise with optimism, The Vanishing American Dream invites readers to take a seat at the table and a bracing look at economic injustice"--Book Synopsis
"In this lively and engrossing work, Ludwig presents a model of public discourse--informed, multidisciplinary, and shorn of myopic ideological commitments. An exhilarating record of intellectual engagement."
--Kirkus Reviews
As we remap our economy, we have an opportunity to rebuild the American Dream for the long-term.
The gap between low- and moderate-income Americans and their wealthier counterparts has become unconscionably wide. A post-pandemic economic recovery presents an opportunity to address this deeper, troubling challenge and to rectify the economic injustice that threatens so many Americans.
In 2019, founder and CEO of Promontory Financial Group Gene Ludwig gathered a bipartisan group of the nation's foremost economic thinkers--academics and politicians, CEOs and former presidential advisors--to break with convention and candidly discuss that widening gap. The Vanishing American Dream: A Frank Look at the Economic Realities Facing Middle- and Lower-Income Americans comes from their insights.
The opportunity to rebuild our economy should inspire the most important conversations and ideas of our time. The dialogue captured in this book provides broad and experienced perspectives on inequality and policy shortcomings, along with examples of ideas that have successfully narrowed the wealth gap, from government investment to the role of the private sector.
Combining expertise with optimism, The Vanishing American Dream invites readers to take a seat at the table for a bracing look at the road back to widespread opportunity, security, and prosperity.
With Contributions By: Sarah Bloom Raskin, Glenn Hubbard, Deval Patrick, Robert Shiller, Larry Summers, Luke Bronin, Daryl Byrd, Oren Cass, Jacob Hacker, Heather Gerken, Susan Krause Bell, Andrea Levere, Zachary Liscow, Jonathan Macey, Daniel Markovits, Mary Miller, Michael Moskow, David Newville, Steven Pearlstein, Isabel Sawhill, Jay Shambaugh, Anika Singh Lemar, and Andrew Tisch.
Review Quotes
"The Vanishing American Dream shines a bright light on how crucial it is that we find a way to achieve more broadly shared opportunity and hope and offers strategies that, with a modicum of political comity, should be achievable. The challenge ahead is for business and political decision makers to take this message to heart."
--Jack Lew, former Secretary of the Treasury
"Gene Ludwig's insightful new book raises timely questions that reveal inconvenient truths about an economic system that is increasingly leaving entire communities behind."
--Wayne Frederick, President of Howard University
"In tracing the economic decline of vibrant industrial towns, he asks the hard questions about technology, globalization, the role of government, trade, our educational system, and corporations. He and the extraordinary group of assembled experts force us, with data and insightful analysis, to confront the inequality of our system."
--Mary Schapiro, former Chair of the SEC
"Gene Ludwig's book is very much worth reading. The issues raised in the book are timely and important. To address the problems the book so clearly highlights, it's my view that income growth and inequality for low- and moderate-income Americans can only be solved by strong GDP growth and a dynamic market economy. The history of other programs, however well-meaning, are much less effective, if at all."
--Alan Greenspan, former Chair of the Federal Reserve of the United States
"Gene Ludwig's thoughtfully edited volume takes us closer to bipartisan consensus and solutions. With contributions from conservative thought leaders, academics, journalists, former Democratic governors, and others, The Vanishing American Dream outlines the problem and reaches consensus across ideological disagreements: Our economy is not working for a vast portion of the population."
--Mark Warner, US Senator, D-Virginia
"In this book, Gene nails the inequality equation by compiling thoughtful, credentialed solutions to address our country's pervasive economic problems. Gene and his cohorts advance ideas that are pragmatic, doable, and capable of building a broad, bipartisan consensus. As Gene himself might say, 'Let's get on with it to get it done.'"
--Ken Duberstein, Chief of Staff to President Ronald Reagan
"In this lively and engrossing work, Ludwig presents a model of public discourse--informed, multidisciplinary, and shorn of myopic ideological commitments. An exhilarating record of intellectual engagement."
--Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Gene Ludwig, 27th Comptroller of the Currency, is a business and civic leader and expert on banking, regulation, risk management, and fiscal policy. In 2019, he founded the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP), a non-profit dedicated to improving the economic well-being of low- and middle-income Americans through research and education.
His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Politico, the Financial Times, and TIME. He holds a master's degree from Oxford University and a J.D. from Yale University, where he was on the Yale Law Journal and chairman of Yale Legislative Services. He is the author of The Vanishing American Dream and The Mismeasurement of America.
