YES, IT'S CLASS WARFARE ... AND IT'S BEEN GOING ON FOR SOME TIME NOW

Have Americans become less politically progressive and dumber than was the case fifty years ago? Think about it. We all know about increasing wage gaps, declining purchasing power, increased debt loads, our skewed reward system, economic uncertainty, and the growing wealth divide in America. It's worse today than it was fifty years ago. And it's far worse if we think about our kids' future and social mobility.

So why have Americans stood by and watched as wealth and wage gaps have increased while social mobility has declined?

With things going to hell in a handbasket for America's middle-class we have to ask ourselves, What's happened to the energy behind the social and political demands made by women, labor, and people of color throughout the 1950s and 1960s? Are Americans simply less progressive, or has apathy and the dumbing down of America's working class become the new norm?

If you've asked yourself about these and other questions then you're going to love "Class War and the College Crisis: The 'Crisis of Democracy' and the Attack on Education."

In a few words, "Class War ..." makes it clear that not only have things gotten more difficult for America's middle class but the challenges todays middle-class face today are the result of a very deliberate strategy. Here's the interesting part. It's been orchestrated by those with money and wealth since the 1970s.

The key behind the strategy lies in depriving the public sector of the cash that it needs to fund public goods, which includes making access to higher education more difficult financially. The tool for reducing the states capacity to provide public goods has been to deprive it of funds by granting tax breaks that are both unnecessary and skewed to benefit people who don't actually need the break.

That it makes the wealthy even richer, while keeping the middle-class in their place, is just gravy on their tax cut gravy train.

There's more to the story, but you get the point. You might like to think that you're working your way up to that champagne lifestyle but, unfortunately, the deck is steadily being stacked against you. And it's been going on for some time now.

- Mark