Conservatives thinking about class and economic inequality will be attracted to Joel Kotkin’s latest book. There’s much to like in it, especially its description of how the leading elements of the upper-class Left inherently favor economic policies that enrich themselves at the expense of the average American. Ultimately, though, Kotkin’s work falls short precisely because he focuses his talents almost exclusively on the Left. The truth is that elites on both the right and the left have more in common with each other than with their nominal political allies, and it is their tacit alliance that is creating an economic system that threatens to unmoor America from its heritage.
Kotkin starts by drawing attention to the most important, yet overlooked, political problem facing America: the dimming economic future for non-college-educated, native-born Americans. This group, which he labels the Yeomanry, was not benefiting from recent economic gains even prior to the Great Recession. Kotkin chronicles their stagnant incomes and their declining economic opportunities, to great effect.
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