Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power

Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power by linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky evaluates the rise of income inequality in the US over the last 40 years. It argues that the main consequence of neoliberalism, which has increased since the 1970s, is a dramatic concentration of wealth and power to the elite—at the expense of the lower and middle classes. Chomsky observes how rapid financialization since the 1940s, as banks and other institutions prioritize the “plutocracy” over the general population as their main clientele, shifted power to the wealthy. With the rising cost of running electoral campaigns and a broadening of corporate rights in the US, the extremely wealthy gained the means to affect political decisions for personal benefit and undermined the core principle of democracy.

First published in 2017 by Seven Stories Press, Requiem for the American Dream was a textual adaptation of the 2015 documentary by the same name, which was edited and directed by Peter Hutchinson, Kelly Nyks, and Jared P. Scott.

This summary refers to the 2017 eBook version of the work.

Summary

Requiem for the American Dream presents 10 thematic principles that reveal how US elites deliberately undermine democratic processes to maximize their power and control over the people.