Politico’s Laurie Werner gives a mixed review to Daniel Brook’s new book chronicling the foreclosure of idealism for Generation X.

The Trap paints an America hijacked by corporatist and short-sighted economic policies that now prohibit its youth from landing the meaningful occupations they crave.

Even a post-industrial American dream still needs matériel to survive.  

So aspiring world-changers, are we all screwed? Is this anything new? And what can be done?

From Werner’s review:

Brook, a 2000 Yale graduate, writes he awoke to socioeconomic inequality in the U.S. when joining a student protest against the denial of benefits to hotel employees. Against that personal backdrop, he details the downfall of the American dream, but his careful analysis makes a reader wince every time he brings in a voice of the new generation as an object of sympathy.

…

In the description of how this crisis evolved, both political parties take a hit. The Republicans are primarily responsible, starting with the "greed is good" decade of social redesign, moving on to the winner-take-all Bushes and their party organizers, corporate pals and lobbyists.

But the Democrats don't emerge unscathed, due to Bill Clinton's refusal to reduce taxes on the middle class and the party's inaction against Republican policies. (In the midst of the presidential campaign, Hillary Rodham Clinton also won't be pleased with the reminder that although she talked Bill into vetoing a credit card bill that made it harder for the burdened middle class to declare bankruptcy, she voted for a similar bill as a senator, credit card companies being good sources of campaign funds.)