Thom Hartmann on his new book: “Who Killed the American Dream? The Greatest Political Crime Ever Told

Who Killed the American Dream?: The Greatest Political Crime Ever Told is Thom Hartmann’s sharp and aggressive investigation into what he argues is the legal and political origin of modern corporate power in the United States.

Hartmann traces today’s economic inequality, weakened labor protections, political spending, and shrinking access to housing and health care to the disputed treatment of corporations as constitutional “persons,” beginning with an 1886 Supreme Court case, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company. He contends that a misleading case headnote—not the Court’s actual ruling—became a foundation for expanding corporate rights, culminating in decisions such as Citizens United.

The book also calls for reform, including efforts to limit corporate influence and restore democratic power to ordinary citizens.