Monday, August 06, 2012

AWARD-WINNING INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS DONALD BARTLETT AND JAMES STEELE EXPLAIN HOW AMERICA'S MIDDLE CLASS HAS BEEN DECIMATED OVER THE YEARS DUE TO POLICIES GOVERNING NOT ONLY TAXES BUT ALSO BANK REGULATIONS, TRADE DEFICITS, AND PENSION FUNDS.












MONDAY, JULY 30, 2012 

Pulitzer-Winning Reporting Duo Don Barlett and James Steele on "The Betrayal of the American Dream" (Part 1) 

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/7/30/pulitzer_winning_reporting_duo_don_barlett

The famed award-winning investigative reporting team of Donald Barlett and James Steele have just published a new book, "The Betrayal of the American Dream," a followup to their landmark bestseller, "America: What Went Wrong?" As Republicans and Democrats continue disputing who should bear the brunt of the tax burden, Barlett and Steele argue that America’s middle class has been decimated over the years due to policies governing not only taxes but also bank regulations, trade deficits and pension funds. Their book chronicles how the American middle class has been systematically impoverished and its prospects thwarted in favor of a new ruling elite. Barlett and Steele have worked together for more than 40 years, sharing two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine Awards. The duo join us for the hour to discuss the assault on the middle class, the great tax heist, deregulation, the outsourcing of U.S. jobs by companies like Boeing and Apple, and the end of retirement. "People are going to have to work forever, and yet what are those jobs going to be? What are they going to pay? And it also puts pressure then on people coming into the workforce. How are they going to get a job if people are having to work between 65 and 75 years old?," Steele says. The duo also discuss their past reporting on the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, headed by the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, and note he headed "an Olympic committee where that entire operation raided the federal Treasury like no other Olympics in history." Click here to see part two of this interview. [Original includes rush transcript]

Guests:
James Steele, contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Steele and his reporting partner Donald Barlett have won virtually every major national journalism award, including two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine Awards. Their latest book is The Betrayal of the American Dream.

Donald Barlett, contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Barlett and his reporting partner James Steele have won virtually every major national journalism award, including two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine Awards. Their latest book is The Betrayal of the American Dream.

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