The current economic crisis also resulted in a crisis of sorts, within the discipline of economics. The mainstream supply-side theories failed spectacularly to predict the crisis. This calls for alternative theoretical structures which would explain the causes of the same. This book is an attempt towards this very goal. The volume provides both a theoretical analysis along with a very convincing empirical substantiation, giving a novel perspective of the current and continuing crisis. It provides an alternative interpretation of the trend in growth that the United States has witnessed over the last three decades. The reasons for the crisis are traced in the real economy, instead of the financial. The volume examines, theoretically and empirically, whether increased income and wealth inequality contributed to instability in the US economy. The argument is that crisis in capitalism, including the very recent one, are not mere happenstance, but they are an inherent part of it. The book explains that the crisis is a result of two components, business cycles as well as the underlying trend. Thus, it explores the current crisis with respect to both these issues and places it in a historical context. This book is immensely relevant and topical.