How the Poor Can Save Capitalism: Rebuilding the Path to the Middle Class

In his encouraging book, Operation HOPE founder and businessman Bryant argues that the mechanisms that enable upward mobility are simple and straightforward: education and guidance in personal finance, banking, and credit score management. With these tools, Bryant believes that the poor and working class can make great entrepreneurs, not in spite of their struggles, but because of them. “Youth from low-wealth communities,” he writes, “are forced to have much stronger coping skills, to deal with difficult people and difficult situations.... Just as loss creates leaders, so too does this sort of sustained adversity management create and cultivate a personality that better manages less-than-perfect circumstances.” Having grown up “in a diverse neighborhood of striving and struggling families,” Bryant writes from a place of authority. However, his ideas about improving financial literacy and expanding opportunity are actionable rather than groundbreaking; the book serves as an effective package for his programmatic plans and a manifesto for his organization. With luck, it will provide the needed instruction to boost working-class communities. (June)