Part I. Losing our economic bearings. Is our economy fundamentally sound? -- What went wrong? -- Part II. Six cataclysmic events. Depression and war -- Suburbanization -- The Cold War -- Globalization and global warming -- Part III. The deindustrialization of America. The rise and fall of American industrial power -- Innovation, infrastructure, and industrial policy -- Part IV. Jobs, wages, and the job shortage. Jobs and wages -- The job shortage -- Part V. Wasting our resources by using them inefficiently. Our wasteful transportation system -- Our failing public schools -- Our sick healthcare system -- Part VI. Wasting our resources by overproducing. The military-industrial complex -- The criminal justice establishment -- Our bloated financial sector -- Part VII. Wasting our resources by producing useless goods and services. The Internal Revenue Code and the tax preparation industry -- Telemarketers, ambulance chasers, and other make-work occupations -- Part VIII. The economic, social, and political consequences of wasting our resources. The economic consequences of wasting our resources -- Our twin deficits -- Our unraveling social contract -- Growing income inequality and the shrinking middle class -- Poverty and the growing permanent underclass -- Part IX. Restoring the American economy. How we are wasting our resources : the big picture -- Solving our economic problems and saving the American economy -- The great job switch : placing tens of millions of Americans in useful jobs -- A long-term strategy to save the American economy.