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Requiem for the American dream : the 10 principles of concentration of wealth & power / Noam Chomsky ; created and edited by Peter Hutchinson, Kelly Nyks & Jared P. Scott.

by Chomsky, Noam, author.

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New York : Seven Stories Press, c2017.

Income distribution -- United States.

Power (Social sciences) -- United States.

American Dream.

9781609807368 (paperback)

1609807367 (paperback)

xv, 172 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 23 cm

A Seven Stories Press First edition.

A note on the American dream -- Principle #1: Reduce democracy: Secret proceeding and debates of the Convention assembled at Philadelphia, in the year 1787, and other sources -- Principle #2: Shape ideology: Powell memorandum, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., 1971, and other sources -- Principle #3: Redesign the economy: "An end to the focus on short term urged," Wall Street Journal, Justin Lahart, September 9, 2009, and other sources -- Principle #4: Shift the burden: Henry Ford on why he doubled the minimum wage he paid his employees, and other sources -- Principle #5: Attack solidarity: The theory of moral sentiments, Adam Smith, 1759, and other sources -- Principle #6: Run the regulators: Prosperity economics: Building an economy for all, Jacob S. Hacker and Nate Loewentheil, 2012, and other sources -- Principle #7: Engineer elections: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, Supreme Court of the United States, January 21, 2010, and other sources -- Principle #8: Keep the rabble in line: "Ford men beat and rout Lewis union organizers; 80,000 out in steel strike; 16 hurt in battle," New York Times, May 26, 1937, and other sources -- Principle #9: Manufacture consent: Essays, moral, political, literary, David Hume, 1741, and other sources -- Principle #10: Marginalize the population: "Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens," Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, 2014, and other sources.

In his first major book on the subject of income inequality, Noam Chomsky skewers the fundamental tenets of neoliberalism and casts an eye on the economic facts of life. What are the ten principles of concentration of wealth and power at work in America today? They're simple enough: reduce democracy, shape ideology, redesign the economy, shift the burden onto the poor and middle classes, attack the solidarity of the people, let special interests run the regulators, engineer election results, use fear and the power of the state to keep the rabble in line, manufacture consent, marginalize the population. In Requiem for the American Dream, Chomsky devotes a chapter to each of these ten principles, and adds readings from some of the core texts that have influenced his thinking to bolster his argument. Chomsky and his editors, the filmmakers Peter Hutchison, Kelly Nyks, and Jared P. Scott, spent countless hours together over the course of five years, from 2011 to 2016. After the release of the film version, Chomsky and the editors returned to the many hours of tape and transcript and created a document that included three times as much text as was used in the film.

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