AUTHOR’S NOTE
I wrote this book for the many people who’ve never recovered from the Great Recession. The unemployed get much of the media’s attention—and sympathy—but the unemployment rate tells only part of the story. Millions more of us struggle with other nasty problems that have come to define this sorry, no-growth economy. I’m thinking of the dads who may have found part-time work, but can’t nail down a full-time gig with benefits. There are also the newly minted college grads living in basement apartments, shell-shocked that their massive investment in education has failed to pay off. Then, there’re the retirees facing savings diminished by a decade’s worth of Federal Reserve easy money policy. And, don’t forget the families who thought Obamacare would protect them from the high cost of healthcare but now struggle to pay unaffordable premiums for coverage they are forced by the government to buy.
Yes, this recession has posed entirely new problems and created new stresses on our wallets. But Americans are a can-do lot. And when things go wrong, many of us take it on our own shoulders. We say we should have done better. We should have planned better. We blame ourselves. Many of those unemployed dads and struggling college grads think they somehow came up short. I don’t believe that’s true.
What’s going on with our middle class today is different. Truth is, the heated rhetoric emanating from Washington, D.C., isn’t helping you take care of your family and plan your future. Instead of helping, the liberal policies that have defined the last six years are flattening the middle class. As I write, the Social Security Administration has just issued a report revealing that more than half of Americans earn $30,000 or less a year. That’s just $5,750 above the poverty line. That’s a tragedy!
I believe it’s time we do better. We must end the liberal, so-called “progressive” policies that are driving our middle class into extinction, and encourage the self-starters and entrepreneurs who can drive employment and growth. Wealth has been demonized by the Left in this country, but the reality is that financial success is necessary to raising up our children and their children. Rich is not a four-letter word. Moving ahead and moving up is something we’ve always been about. Financial success is a laudable goal!
If you want more for your family, this is a book worth picking up. I trace the roots of the problems for the middle class and offer solutions and shortcuts for people who want to make it on their own. Because I think you can still make it in this country under your own steam. The blame game is a waste of time and energy that can best be used on more productive pursuits.
How can I be so sure that your problems can be overcome? I’ve seen the struggle firsthand and witnessed it being overcome. As a coal miner’s granddaughter, I witnessed my family in western North Carolina struggle with poverty and the shame that goes with it. Some had no indoor plumbing. Others received government handouts. But many, my father included, built successful lives that provided for their kin. It took grit and a willingness to try new things to succeed. But it proved to me that financial success is possible in this country even for those who must start from scratch. That’s how I know you can achieve financial success, and I want to help you do it!