America’s Two Economies: Unpacking the Divide, Policies, and a Path Forward This episode reviews the concluding chapter of American economist and economic historian Peter Temin’s The Vanishing Middle Class. Temin argues that the United States functions as a dual economy, where a high-wage, highly educated FTE (finance, technology, and electronics) sector serves its own interests while neglecting the much larger low-wage sector. He shows how this neglect is reinforced by policies such as mass incarceration, housing segregation, and underfunded public education—often justified through racecraft—even though the low-wage sector is predominantly white. To address these entrenched inequalities, Temin proposes five key recommendations: restore and expand public education, shift resources from repression to investment in human capital, repair infrastructure and forgive debts, move toward a truly democratic government, and embrace America’s diversity. Together, these steps aim to dismantle the dual economy and create a more equitable and inclusive society by ensuring equal opportunities for all citizens. Temin concludes that while such changes will require time, the first step is to stop deepening the existing divides.