{"product_id":"book-c7xp","title":"The Vanishing Middle Class","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe United States is becoming a  nation of rich and poor, with few families in the middle. In this book,  MIT economist Peter Temin offers an illuminating way to look at the  vanishing middle class. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTemin argues that American history and politics,  particularly slavery and its aftermath, play an important part in the  widening gap between rich and poor. Temin employs a well-known, simple  model of a dual economy to examine the dynamics of the rich-poor divide  in America and outlines ways to work toward greater equality so that  America will no longer have one economy for the rich and one for the  poor.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany poorer Americans live in conditions resembling those of  a developing country: substandard education, dilapidated housing, and  few stable employment opportunities. And although almost half of black  Americans are poor, most poor people are not black. Conservative white  politicians still appeal to the racism of poor white voters to get  support for policies that harm low-income people as a whole, casting  recipients of social programs as the other-black, Latino, not like  \"us.\" Moreover, politicians use mass incarceration as a tool to keep  black and Latino Americans from participating fully in society. Money  goes to a vast entrenched prison system rather than to education. In the  dual justice system, the rich pay fines and the poor go to jail.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49294908260656,"sku":"BDc7xp","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49294908293424,"sku":"ZEc7xp","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio MP3-CD","offer_id":49294908326192,"sku":"ZMc7xp","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/c7xp-Square-cover.jpg?v=1775827868","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-c7xp","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}