Now or Never

Alina Cho attended the New Yorkers for Children reception on March 5, 2009 at Valentino. (Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/ Getty Images)

Artist Peter Max, left and Larry King, right, pose for a photograph Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009 at the Peter Max Studio in New York. The pop artist's work is on three floors of the museum part of the Clinton Presidential Center for a show that begins Monday and runs through May 25. (Photo credit: AP)

Jack Cafferty has a new book: Now or Never: Getting Down to the Business of Saving Our American Dream. Below is an excerpt from a recent interview from Fortune:

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- The American dream is in peril, and Jack Cafferty has something to say about it. In his new book, Now or Never: Getting Down to the Business of Saving Our Dream, CNN's irascible commentator takes on the economy, foreign policy, education, health care, immigration, energy, the Bush legacy and Obama's opportunity--nothing less than the future of the country. He even manages to tie in his life story, complete with a hardscrabble youth, alcoholism, and redemption in marriage and fatherhood. Fortune spoke with Cafferty about what he sees is wrong with the country--and what needs to be done about it. Below are excerpts from that discussion:

The title of your book says the American dream is in peril. Why is that?

Well, take a look around. Foreclosures, unemployment, debts and deficit, companies going out of business, bailouts. The evidence is pretty clear.

Who's to blame?

You can't assign blame to a person for the kind of cumulative gathering of storm clouds that we're dealing with right now, but mostly policies of not living within our means and in the case of Wall Street and the banks, a lack of proper supervision for these mortgage-backed securities and some of these other investment instruments that have led to the kind of horrific situation we've got in the financial sector. We've been running deficits and debt for years. George Bush doubled the national debt in the eight years he was in office. He accumulated more debt on his watch than all the previous U.S. Presidents before him combined.

The full interview is available here.

If you'd like to read an excerpt from the book, click here.

This video has also been made available from the book's publisher, Wiley:

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