Dream Hoarders

The book analyzes America's upper middle class – what Reeves defines as the top quintile, or top 20% of America's economic class as a whole. In the book's analysis, Reeves makes the case that the biggest beneficiary of income inequality in the United States is not actually the top 1% of wealthy Americans. Rather, preferential college admissions such as legacy admissions, as well as favors retaining protectionist housing policy such as zoning practices, are mostly kept in place by the top 20% earners in the USA, and that these same individuals lobby for policies that prevent the social mobility of lower- and middle-class persons. Reeves argues that this top 20% group is effectively keeping many beneficial social program benefits for themselves at the expense of the bottom 80%, and thereby "hoarding" the American Dream.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}