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Much has been made of the declining American middle class in this election cycle. Each presidential candidate is vowing to bring back the middle class. But how did we get to the point in which the middle class needs rescuing? Who’s to blame for the collapse of the middle class and what can be done about?

Investigative reporters Donald Bartlett and James Steele have written a disturbing and heartbreaking answer to these questions. Their new book, THE BETRAYAL OF THE AMERICAN DREAM [Public Affairs, 2012], chronicles how, “for more than thirty years, government and big business have conspired to roll back the American Dream.” Using clear and indisputable data, Bartlett and Steele craft a narrative of how the economic elite have co-opted the legislative process, manipulated the tax code and used outsourcing and globalization to destroy the American dream for millions of Americans.

James B. Steele and Donald L. Barlett are one of the most widely acclaimed investigative reporting teams in American journalism. They are the only reporting team ever to have received two Pulitzer Prizes for newspaper reporting and two National Magazine Awards for magazine work. This is their eighth book together.

Drew Adamek spoke to James Steele about the decline of the American middle class, who is responsible for it and what, if any, choice voters have in the next election.