Cooler but still well above normal this week

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Every week, The Thread recommends a book that offers a fresh perspective on the news.

This week, I'm thinking about the usual campaign trail promises to protect the middle class. 

I think I've found a book that reveals why politicians — no matter what party they belong to — are no friend to middle-income Americans.

The book is called "Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class." Beware: It will raise your blood pressure! 

It's written by two political scientists, Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson. Here's why I like it:  Hacker and Pierson aren't buying the usual, well-worn tropes about globalization and new technology hollowing out the middle class.  

No, they turn the focus right back on Congress and make an unimpeachable case as to why policies like financial deregulation and tax cuts — those cheered for and supported by both parties, no less — help the rich and basically leave middle-income Americans high and dry.

"Step by step and debate by debate ... America's public officials have rewritten the rules of American politics and the American economy in ways that have benefitted the few at the expense of the many," they write in the introduction.

"Winner-Take-All Politics" is my must-read pick for the week, just in time for the primary and caucus season.

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A book on the decline of the middle class sheds new light on candidates' standard campaign trail promises.

A book that will raise your blood pressure: 'Winner-Take-All Politics'

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