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(Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents: The Decline of the Professional Middle Class
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$ 12.48
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| Item Number |
2209380 |
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Item Description...
Overview
An assessment of the particular challenges facing the current generation's educated middle class reveals increasing rates of middle-class bankruptcies in the wake of escalating fixed costs, from housing and child care to health insurance and taxes, that are not offset by today's stagnant wages. Reprint.
Publishers Description
Drawing on more than a hundred interviews with people all across America, (Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents explores how stagnant wages, debt, and escalating costs for tuition, health care, and home ownership are jeopardizing the finances and futures of today's educated middle class. Despite this sobering reality, Nan Mooney offers concrete ideas on how we can arrest this downward spiral.
Think it can't happen to you? Read Mooney's book . . . . then think again . . . An alarming and important book, which should bring readers out of ignorance, embarrassment or bewilderment and into harsh enlightenment.-—Barbara Lloyd McMichael, Seattle Times
"An excellent analysis of the problems facing the large and important professional middle class."—Booklist
"With great empathy and infectious alarm, Nan Mooney charts the travails of America's middle class in this important book."—Anya Kamenetz, author of Generation Debt
"If you're wondering why, in our age of plenty, the financial treadmill keeps moving faster and faster for America's increasingly educated-and increasingly insecure-middle class, you owe it to yourself to read this book. It's all here: the big trends, the compelling portraits, the ideas for personal and political change, and the call to arms we so desperately need." —Jacob S. Hacker, author of The Great Risk Shift
"We hear a lot about the runaway wealth of American professionals. In this important book, Nan Mooney reminds us that most have no such luck. Working in jobs they love provides a sense of moral worth but doesn't cover the bills for teachers, legal aid lawyers, practicing artists, and others. Something has gone wrong in America, and this book gives us a grip on the crisis." —Katherine Newman, coauthor of The Missing Class and the Forbes Class of 1941 Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton |
Item Specifications...
Pages 264
Dimensions: Length: 0.75" Width: 5.75" Height: 9"
Weight: 0.85 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date May 1, 2009
Publisher Beacon Press
ISBN 0807011398
EAN 9780807011393
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Availability 5 units.
Availability accurate as of May 26, 2012 07:25.
Usually ships within one to two business days from Momence, IL.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Eye-Opening & Very Informative Nov 16, 2008 |
| I was drawn to this book since I work in the collections business for a financial institution. I deal with people who are in debt every day. I read the book in three days and thought the book laid out the facts and pieced everything together very well. I didn't consider myself an expert on all the topics addressed but I don't think you need a high IQ to understand the issues discussed in the book. There were laid out plain and simple in black and white. After reading the book, I feel like I can understand a little bit better on how people can really get themselves in financial bind. Sure, some people have no one to blame but themselves but more and more, people are overextended because the cost of living is so high and they just don't make enough to make ends meet so they rely on credit. I think the author brings up some good social & political issues that our country should address. Everyone needs affordable healthcare and a sense of financial security to hopefully retire one day. Long gone are the days of pensions and in part because our gov't looks out for Corporate America more than its own citizens. I highly recommend this book and hopefully it will ignite some activism for social change in our country. | | |  | Excellent Discussion of the Problem But Government Is Not the Solution Sep 21, 2008 |
Nan Mooney has done an excellent job in "(Not) Keeping Up With Our Parents" of discussing the financial difficulties facing many of today's 20- and 30something college graduates. We are indeed being squeezed by the high costs of basics in many metropolitan areas in a way that our parents' generation were not.
Where I disagree with Ms. Mooney is her embrace of Big Government as the solution to the problem. She yearns for a European style welfare state with socialized medicine, government-run daycare & preschool, government-financed higher education, subsidized housing, and so on. What she fails to mention is the downside to these things- high unemployment (particularly among the young), rationing of and long waiting lists for medical treatment, a "brain drain" of the best & brightest, etc.
There's got to be a "middle way" between the current laissez-faire situation failing so many and the overly intrusive nanny state Ms. Mooney calls for in "(Not) Keeping Up With Our Parents". | | |  | Good Book But Focuses on the Wrong Problem Aug 23, 2008 |
I am older and clearly not the target audience for this book. I belong to the "parents" generation. But I feel it is important to provide feedback from my generation.
I respect Nan Mooney's research into clearly stating the current situation facing the next generation. This is not about dysfunctional people with poor decision making skills. It is not about lack of a work ethic. The situations she describes and the economic impact on those people are real and do not make for easy reading. Nor does she pretend there are easy answers to the problems she documents so well. Indeed, she recommends general improvements consisting of a mix of individual and social responsibility focusing on specific areas where challenges exist including health care, educational expenses, housing, and more while stating she has no absolute fixes for the problems these individuals are facing.
But I strongly believe the problems she is trying to fix are not the primary problem causing the situation. Thereis a growing world market and larger competition for the same middle class jobs. That is the reality I see as well and it is not discussed in this book. Perhaps, just perhaps, there are more people globally competing for the same jobs. If so, implementing the solutions suggested in this book only ease the pain but not address the root cause. Even if everything recommended in the book is implemented, we will continue to face increased global competition for middle class jobs. I would suggest use this book for understanding and appreciating the pain faced by so many struggling to live a middle class life today. However, I suggest looking for answers beyond what this book provides given I disagree on the real root cause. So, I recommend 3 out of 5 stars.
| | | | Must read this enlightening book Jun 18, 2008 |
| This is a really important book... I highly recommend it. It gives an enlightening perspective to our generation's career choices. Many of us struggle with our career choices. Should I choose a career path that I find socially responsible, creative, and fulfilling? Or should I choose a career that will provide my family financial stability and opportunities? It seems that our dream job should have all those aspects, but we often find ourselves having to make the choice. Nan's book analyzes how we got to the place we are at now. She uncovers all the uneasy topics and facts that we don't like to discuss at dinner table, much less barbecues or cocktail parties. I found the book to be very well rounded with thoughtful analysis with good practical recommendations for change. | | | | Strait forward and honest Jun 16, 2008 |
| I always like this author's books and this read was no exception. I was most surprised by what a fast read it is, considering my hesitancy to look at what my perceptions are about my finances vs their reality. Though the facts of the book are troubling, it's great to know I'm not alone as I try to build security in my life. | | | Write your own review about (Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents: The Decline of the Professional Middle Class
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