Norbert Michel
Norbert Michel
In his newly released book, Crushing Capitalism: How Populist Policies Are Threatening The American Dream, Norbert Michel, Cato Vice President and Director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, details how Americans have been growing richer over the last 150 years and why the claim that the US can’t compete in a free market world is false. To the contrary, more government intervention on US economic freedom will kill the American dream, not save it, Michel documents with fact after fact. An excerpt of Crushing Capitalism is printed below. To buy a copy, click here, here, or here.
FOREWORD
In this book, I present empirical evidence showing that, contrary to recent narratives of stagnation and decline, Americans have been doing better, materially and income-wise, for many decades and continue to do so. Not just rich Americans, but most Americans, have been sharing in the nation’s increased prosperity for the full post–World War II period. None of this evidence suggests, however, that things couldn’t be even better. And none of this evidence suggests that it’s easy for anybody to consistently earn more money or make it to the top of the income distribution. In fact, I wish that more folks my age would tell younger people the simple truth—it takes an enormous amount of work, and some luck, even if you go to college!
I grew up the son of a mechanic. And my dad taught me many things; yet he constantly steered me away from a career where I would have to “pull wrenches.” I owe him a great deal, not just the fact that I don’t come home every day smelling of diesel fuel, parts cleaner, and sweat. But although I make more money than he ever did, I work even longer hours than he did. And job security is no more reliable in the white-collar workforce than in the blue-collar one—everyone can be replaced, » Read More
https://www.cato.org/blog/crushing-capitalism-how-populist-policies-are-threatening-american-dreama-new-cato-book