The Betrayal of the American Dream (30 page)

Other sources of information at the national level included the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the United States Trade Representative, the Foreign Agents Registration Unit Public Office of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Senate Records Office, the House Clerk’s Office, the Government Accountability Office, the Employee Benefit Research Institute, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Inspector General’s Office,
Public Papers of the Presidents,
the
Congressional Record,
and congressional hearings related to trade, taxes, and other economic issues spanning more than half a century.

We also collected information from many associations, nonprofit organizations, court jurisdictions, and local government agencies, including the Association for Manufacturing Technology, Footwear Industries of America, the Aerospace Industries Association, the Institute for Policy Studies, Good Jobs First, the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, the Offshoring Research Network, the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, the National Consumer Law Center, the Center for Responsible Lending, the Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina, the California Reinvestment Coalition, the Lee County (Florida) Circuit Court, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, the Circuit Court of Van Buren County, Arkansas, and the Concord (California) Police Department.

As always, the libraries in many communities were vital in allowing us to access older records that haven’t been digitized, including the Free Library of Philadelphia, the American University Library, the Wayne County Public Library of Wooster, Ohio, and the Bob and Wauneta Burkley Library and Resource Center of DeWitt, Nebraska.

We benefited from the work of others who have also studied the impact of economic measures affecting the middle class. We want to single out the 2010 report, “Shifting Responsibility—How 50 Years of Tax Cuts Benefited the Wealthiest Americans,” by Chuck Collins, Allison Goldberg, and Sam Pizzigati. Published by Wealth for Common Good, a network of business leaders, high-income individuals, and others working to make the tax system fairer, “Shifting Responsibility” is a straightforward view of how tax policy has been hijacked by the rich.

While we used primary materials for the most part, some books and publications were invaluable. One of the most important books was
Manufacturing a Better Future for America
by Richard McCormack, Clyde Prestowitz, David Bourne, John Russo, Sherry Lee Linkon, Ron Hira, Irene Petrick, Peter Navarro, James Jacobs, and Michael Webber, published in 2009 by the Alliance for American Manufacturing. This is a compelling account of the systematic gutting of American manufacturing by American policymakers.

INDEX

A

Abramoff, Jack

Accenture

AdAge

Afghanistan

Aguiar, Jacob

Aguiar, John

Aguiar, Meghan

Aguiar, Syrena

Airline Deregulation Act

airline industry. S
ee
deregulation

Albaugh, Jim

Alcatel Data Networks

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Allen, Marc

America: What Went Wrong?

America’s Community Bankers

American Airlines

American Bankers Association

American Bridge Company

American Chung Nam

American dream

American Graduate School of Business, Switzerland

American Journalism Review

American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC)

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

Americans for Prosperity

Ames Research Group

Anchor Hocking Glass Corp.

Andrews, Wright Jr.

Anheuser-Busch

Apple Inc.

Argentina

Arison, Micky

Arison, Shari

Arison, Ted

Armenia

Association of Flight Attendants

AT&T

Art Basel Miami

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlantic
,
The

Ave Maria, Florida

Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC)

B

Badman, Randy

Bain Capital

Ballmer, Steve

Bank of America

Bank One Corporation

Banking industry

deregulation of

escapes prosecution

low taxes of

promotes U.S. as tax haven

See also
Wall Street

Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and

Consumer Protection Act

bankruptcy court

and employee benefits

and Polaroid case

bankruptcy law

Barclays Bank

Bartlett, Douglas

Bartlett Manufacturing

Bell Laboratories

Bentsen, Lloyd

Bethlehem Steel

Birds Eye Foods

Birkenfeld, Bradley

Blackstone Group

Blinder, Alan S.

Bloomberg News

Boeing Company

Boeing Tianjin Composites Company Ltd.

Bosch Rexroth

Bowman, Judy

Boxer, Barbara

BP Solar

Brandeis, Justice Louis

Braniff

Brawny paper towels

Brazil

Breaux, John

Britain’s Royal Society of Portrait Painters

British Virgin Islands

Brooklyn Bridge

Broward County Meals on Wheels

budget deficit, U.S.

as excuse to cut middle class benefits

fueled by tax cuts to the rich

Buffet, Warren

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Bush, George H. W.

Bush, George W.

Byers, Andrew

C

California Transportation Department (CALTRANS)

California State University

Canada

Cantor, Eric

Cape Coral, Florida

Carnival Cruise Lines

Carrollton Specialty Products

Carter, Jimmy

Cary, Illinois

Caterpillar Inc.

Cato Institute

Catz, Safra

Cayman Islands

Center for American Progress

Center for Responsive Politics

Chengdu, China

Chambers, John

Channel Islands

Cheung, Yan

China

barriers to U.S. imports

Bay Bridge steel from

as Boeing subcontractor

civilian aircraft industry of

high-tech development in

middle class of

software development in

trade policies of

U.S. research hubs in

U.S. technology transfer to

U.S. trade deficit with

working conditions in factories of

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Chronicle of Higher Education

CIGNA

circuit board industry

Cisco

Citigroup

Citizens for a Sound Economy

Citizens for Tax Justice

Citizens United

civilian aircraft industry

Clarksburg, West Virginia

Clinton, Bill

Clinton, Hillary Rodham

Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing

Coalition for Fair and Affordable Lending

Coleman, Kathy

Colgrove, Linda

Colombia

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. (COMAC)

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

computer programmers

Concord, California

Congress

deficit hawks in

erodes retirement benefits

rewrites tax code for the wealthy

grants tax breaks to corporations

trade policy and

Conner, Ray

Connex International Services

Consolidated Freightways

Continental Airlines

Cook, Tim

Cooney, Stephen

Coyne, William J.

Crandall, Robert

Crane, Ed

Credit Suisse

Critical Condition: How Health Care in America Became Big Business—and Bad Medicine

CSX Corporation

D

Danforth, John

debt (national).
See
budget deficit

debt (student)

Defending the American Dream Summit

Delta Airlines

Denver, Colorado

deregulation

of airlines

anti-government mindset and

of financial services

of trucking

DeWitt, Nebraska

Dixie Cups

Dizik, Betty

Doherty, Harry

Domino’s Pizza

Douthat, Ross

Drysdale, Opal

Duke Energy

Dunn, Anita

DuPont

E

Eastern Air Lines

Economic Policy Institute (EPI)

Egerman, Paul

Eli Lilly

Elk Grove, California

El Salvador

Emerson Electric Company

Empire State Building

Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)

Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)

earnings.
See
wages and earnings

education and training

employment.
See
jobs

Enron

executive compensation

exports

as policy failure

promotion of

of scrap paper

See also
free trade; imports; trade policy, U.S.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

Ezell, Stephen

F

Falcone, Philip

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Federal Register

Federal Reserve

Federal Savings and Loan Corporation (FSLIC)

Ferneau, Mark

Financial Services Modernization Act

Fink, Richard

First Sale Coalition

Fischbach Corporation

Flanagan, Kevin

Flanagan, Tom

Florida Gulf Coast University

Forbes

foreclosures

401(k)s

Ford, Gerald R.

Ford Motor Company

Fort Huachuca (Arizona)

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Fortune

Fountain, Colorado

Foxconn Suicide Express

Foxconn Technology Group

free trade

flaws in U.S. policy of

labor costs and

multinationals benefit from

as practiced by U.S.

theory of

violations of

See also
trade policy, U.S.

Freeland, Chrystia

Fremont, California

Freescale

Friedman, Thomas

Fulton, New York

furniture industry

G

Gates, Bill

General Electric Company

General Motors

Gentner, Lisa

George Mason University

Germany

GI Bill

Gilinger, Robin

Gilleran, James

Gingrich, Newt

Glass-Steagall Act

global economy

Golden Gate Bridge

Goldman Sachs

Gomory, Ralph

Google

Gotbaum, Joshua

Graf, Donald

Gramm, Phil

Gramm, Wendy

Great Depression

Greenpeace

Griffiths, Brian

Guenther, Ken

Guernsey (Channel Islands)

H

Hallmark Cards

Hamlisch, Marvin

Harbinger Capital Partners

Harvard Business Review

Hatch, Orrin

health care

Heritage Foundation

Hewlett-Packard

Hickman, Tom

high-technology industry

U.S. losing edge in

Hitler, Adolph

Hoffman, Deb (Cuddles)

Holmes, Shona

Home Depot

Horton, Frank

Hudson River

Hussein, Saddam

H & R Block

Hufbauer, Gary Clyde

I

imports

Congress’ response to

jobs and industries eliminated by

See also
trade policy, U.S.

IBM

Independent Community Bankers of America

India

government finances software industry in

outsourcing industry of

IndyMac

Inequality.
See
wealth gap

Information Week

Institute for Policy Studies

Invest in America’s Veterans Foundation of Cape Coral

Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University

Iraq

Ireland

Isle of Man

Israel

Italy

J

Jacobs, Paul

Japan

Jersey (Channel Islands)

Jiangsu, China

jobs

corporations export of

domestic industries and

foreign governments and

information technology and

infrastructure and

lack of, for young workers

in manufacturing

minimum wage and

offshore promotion of, by U.S. government

private equity companies and

in service industry

See also
Congress; education and training; free trade; and trade policy, U.S.

Jobs, Steve

Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003

John Birch Society

Johnson, David

Johnson, Nancy

Johnson Controls

Johnston, Bennett

Journal of Commerce

JPMorgan Chase

K

Kapur, Ajay

Kasco

Kennedy, Edward

Key Tronic Corp.

Kimberly-Clark

Kirkegaard, Jacob

Knight-Ridder

Koch, Charles

Koch, David

Koch, Fred

Koch Industries

Kolbe, Jim

Korean War

KPMG

Kra, Ethan

Kraft Foods

Kuwait, Iraq

L

LaBelle, Patti

Land Line

Lazio, Rick

Legatus