A capitalist cheerleader wrote the US’s hottest new self-help book. Surprised? | Adam H Johnson and David Sirota

Arthur Brooks spent years advocating cuts to the social safety net. Now, with the help of Oprah, NPR and the Atlantic, he's teaching Americans to be happy

As economic misery in the US persists, the country's self-help industry has become a multibillion-dollar bonanza. If one reads enough of that industry's happiness catechism - including its latest bestseller, Build the Life You Want - one realizes that all of the advice revolves around a core set of directives: focus on the self rather than the collective, redeploy hours to different priorities, spend less time at work, build deeper personal relationships - and, by implication, buy more self-help books.

But if time is money", then in America's survival-of-the-richest form of capitalism, time-intensive remedies are mostly for the affluent - that is, those with a big enough savings account to de-risk career changes; those with enough income to afford gym memberships, hobbies and excursions; those with enough paid leave and cash to enjoy the best vacations; those with enough resources to employ personal aides to do paperwork, chores and cleaning; those with enough workplace leverage to secure more hours off for introspection, friend time and outdoor adventures.