In Requiem for the American Dream, Noam Chomsky discusses the problems with the American Dream as of 2016 or so. There are ten basic tactics used to supplant the American Dream with something more acceptable to the rich and privileged. They are as follows:

(1. Reduce Democracy

(2. Shape Ideology

(3. Redesign the Economy

(4. Shift the Burden

(5. Attack Solidarity

(6. Run the Regulators

(7. Engineer Elections

(8. Keep the Rabble in Line

(9. Manufacture Consent

(10. Marginalize the Population



As scary as all

In Requiem for the American Dream, Noam Chomsky discusses the problems with the American Dream as of 2016 or so. There are ten basic tactics used to supplant the American Dream with something more acceptable to the rich and privileged. They are as follows:

(1. Reduce Democracy

(2. Shape Ideology

(3. Redesign the Economy

(4. Shift the Burden

(5. Attack Solidarity

(6. Run the Regulators

(7. Engineer Elections

(8. Keep the Rabble in Line

(9. Manufacture Consent

(10. Marginalize the Population



As scary as all of this looks and sounds it goes much deeper than that since this is built into the Constitution. Democracy and its ideals should work as the common man overseeing everything and running the government, but when has that actually been the case in the History of the United States? Even George Washington was a rich, privileged, landowner from Virginia.



The basic idea of the first tactic is that Democracy equals equality to all. This is unacceptable because many landed gentry and other rich people worked to get where they are or inherited their money and don’t want the filthy, unwashed masses to have it. Therefore, they mess with the elections, making them so expensive that no one can afford to run for office. When did one of the factors of being President or a Senator become having millions of dollars? Not to mention the class struggles throughout the History of the US between us and them. The Women’s Rights movement, freeing the slaves, the Black Power movement of the 1960s, Counterculture and its effects and so on.



The second edict is Shape Ideology. This basically talks about how in the 1970s a lot of rich people felt threatened by “raging leftists,” most notably Ralph Nader. Control takes a number of forms. Chomsky presents the idea of College Architecture as one example. Prior to the 1970s, you could find large areas where students could congregate. Now they are rarely included in floor plans. Also, tuition levels have skyrocketed since then, allowing only a select few to even attend college. A student that comes out of college with $100,000 in debt is trapped until they can pay off that debt. It’s not like you can file for Bankruptcy or anything either since they just garnish your wages. Even in the lower grades, we see instances of this. Creativity is undermined, rote learning and mechanical skills are championed. Then we use drugs to “help” the children we feel aren’t up to the task of learning. Chomsky finishes this part by ruminating on the matter of being called “anti-American.” The notion of being called against your country in such a manner is used in Totalitarian Regimes, which I find rather interesting.



The third idea is to Redesign the Economy. Back before the Housing Bubble of 2008, financial institutions had 40% of corporate profits. Before this, back in the 1950s say, our economy was focused mainly on production and manufacturing. Nowadays the “masters of mankind” don’t want manufacturing jobs to return to the US because it is cheaper for them to manufacture things in China or Vietnam, where the Environmental Constraints are lower and the labor is super cheap. This leads to greater profits. Another point Chomsky makes is Worker Insecurity. If you can keep workers insecure, they will be happy to accept whatever scraps are tossed their way, as long as they have their jobs. So Chomsky reiterates that the major problems of wealth concentration are offshoring and financialization.



The fourth idea is Shift the Burden. The American Dream was partly symbolic but partly real. In the 1950s and 1960s was the Golden Age of the American Dream. When manufacturing jobs were here, one could get a job at an auto plant, buy a home, get a car, have their children go to school and so on. In the present, it is not as easy, since the economy is worldwide. Also, the only people that matter are the massive concentrations of wealth dubbed the Plutonomy. Everyone else is worthless and what happens to them doesn’t matter.



The fifth principle is Attack Solidarity. This means congregations of people like the unions or even the Social Security system. The masters hate the Social Security system because it benefits the General Public. So they have attempted to defund it. Then people get angry and want something else. The principle of Solidarity says “I pay taxes so the little child across the street can get a public education.” Since the 1950s and 1960s, with skyrocketing tuition costs, the student now bears the brunt of the burden. Let’s say you want to be a public interest lawyer, but with all the debt you have, you have to go into a corporate law firm to pay them off. Take other countries like Mexico or Germany. How much do you pay to go to school? Virtually nothing.



The sixth is to Run the Regulators. If the business controls the institution meant to control it, what you have is a “Who watches the Watchmen” situation.



I don’t really feel like typing much more, but you get the gist, right? The concentration of wealth leads to a concentration of power, and those in power want to keep it by any means necessary. So this book was pretty good, and it packed a ton of info into such a small package. When I first saw the font size I thought this was going to be an easy read, but I suppose I was wrong in that sense.