The Trap

by: Daniel Brook

Published by: Times Books, Henry Holt and Co

Reviewed by C. L. Rossman

Subtitled: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All America

— What happens when America’s college grads have to shelve their idealism and “sell out” to major corporations because they can’t make a living doing what they love?

— What happens when the ultra-rich float free of legal and tax controls and the middle has to pay for all social programs? And what happens when a two-income family cannot afford to pay their bills?

Journalist Daniel Brook tells you what he thinks is happening now, in his book, The Trap. America loses the best and the brightest to giant corporations who offer much higher salaries then the public sector can. And the middle class disappears in an America, dividing up into two separate and grossly unequal groups: the rich and the poor.

The United States, according to the author, is the worst of all Western countries in providing health care for its citizens, thanks to a huge pharmaceutical lobby interested in keeping costs up. And the right-wing extremists, whoever they are, who have exercised almost total control of the Federal government since 1980, go on cutting taxes for the rich and dumping the burden on the struggling middle class. They have cut student grants so severely that most young people have to take out loans, and end up deeply indebted. Social programs to help people stay afloat have been relentlessly slashed—and money does not “trickle down” from the rich. It stays on top. The author believes, in the end, American’s lose everything, including the “family values.”

The Trap is about what the author views as the biggest social crisis of our time. He believes America is becoming a third-world nation—and big money thinks that’s just fine.

Armchair Interviews says: This is one author’s perception of America.