This edition is a penetrating and urgent study of the increasing levels of income inequality in the United States and the world. The erosion of the middle class poses a threat to worldwide economic and political stability, as consumers and their children slowly disappear into growing rates of poverty, crime, and violence. Braun examines the economic plight of all people including those in developing nations where a tiny minority controls much of the wealth, and links this inequality to relationships between Third World nations and multinational corporations. This second edition includes new information on the working poor, Mexico and NAFTA, cross-country perceptions of inequality, mass media and political manipulation, and corporations and their overpaid CEOs.