Winner-take-all Politics: How Washington Made T... -

This political muscle led to deregulated financial markets, tax cuts for the hyper-wealthy, and a system where "banks are organized; their customers are not".

In their book , political scientists Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson present a "detective story" that investigates why American economic inequality has skyrocketed since the late 1970s. The Central Mystery: Who Stole the Middle-Class Dream? Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made t...

The authors found that economic growth didn't just favor the "educated"—it favored the , and even more so the top 0.1% . This political muscle led to deregulated financial markets,

For decades, Americans were told that rising inequality was an inevitable result of —the idea that computers and globalization naturally reward the highly educated while leaving others behind. However, the authors argue that this "suspect" has an alibi. If technology were the only cause, we would see similar inequality spikes in all advanced nations, yet the U.S. remains a stark outlier. The Investigation: The "Yachts vs. Dinghies" Economy The Central Mystery: Who Stole the Middle-Class Dream