Summary

Jeff Martinelli had been married and divorced twice and was a widower once. He had a son who raised his grandson. Jeff’s factory job had catapulted him into the middle class. However, when he lost that job and could find no work, he realized that the fate of the workingman without a college degree in the 21st century was a dismal one. His son, Caleb, also has no degree and since high school has gone through a series of six nowhere jobs. The middle class of yesterday has collapsed.

Due to globalization, the American economy has lost six million jobs over the last 30 years. The market value of these unemployed workers has greatly declined. Even those employees who had worked their way up to management in manufacturing companies without a degree had little value to corporations who were looking for employees with...