Saving the American Dream

About the Book

Saving the American Dream is a provocative and thoughtful account of how our nation’s ideals of equality and the pursuit of happiness emerged as an inspiration and a beacon of hope for the entire world, and how politicians, Wall Street and our own sense of entitlement have gradually eroded this Dream to the point of endangering America’s preeminence.

In this fascinating and informative book, Louis Hernandez, Jr. explores the origins, evolution and economic underpinnings of the American Dream, detailing how key government policies over-facilitated the Dream’s attainment, weakened the will of the American people and drove us inexorably toward the 2007 financial crisis. He shows how policies put in place after the crisis not only failed to address the core problems America faces, but created a growing disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street that has made things far worse.

The book examines how our myopic political focus on “Too Big to Fail” institutions has threatened the most crucial pillars of the American Dream – our small businesses, and the community banks and credit unions that support them – and sabotaged their ability to support job growth and responsible financial services for families and local communities.

About the Author

Louis Hernandez, Jr. is an author, award-winning entrepreneur, policy advisor and highly respected business executive who currently serves as teh Chariman and CEO of Open Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise-wide enabling technologies for financial institutions. He sits on the board of several major corporations, including HSBC North America Holdings Inc., Avid Technology Inc., and ScoreBIg Inc. Mr. Hernandez published his first book, "Too Small to Fail," in 2010, urging the leaders of community-based financial institutions to recapture their position at the center of national economic growth-one community at a time. A sought-after keynote speaker, he has been published in leading business and financial journals, and appeared on ABC News Now, Bloomberg TV, CNBC and Fox Business News to share his views on technology, economics, strategic planning and globalization. As an entrepreneur, Mr. Hernandez has founded and led several successful, high-growth businesses, and received numerous innovation and leadership awards. As a policy advisor, he served as a vice chair of the Connecticut Governor's Council on Economic Competitiveness and Technology, and chaired the Council's Technology Transfer Advisory board. He also served as vice char of the Commission for Educational Technology in Connecticut. Active in his community, Mr. Hernandez is a member of the board of trustees of the Connecticut Center for Science and Exploration; a board member of the Connecticut Children's Medical Center; and founder of the Hope Fund, a charitable organization supporting child and adult health-care issues as well as youth development opportuinties. He is an avid soccer player, a licensed premier and travel club youth soccer coach, and was a founding owner of the Boston Breakers, New England's premier professional women's soccer team. Mr. Hernandez lives with his family in Glastonbury, Ct.