The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America

Agenda 21 is a nonbonding UN resolution about sustainable development that was passed in 1992. The Tea Party saw it as a Trojan horse for world government. In the book, it stands as a symbol for all of the Tea Party’s beliefs, and language about it even makes its way to the GOP platform in 2012.

The Blob was what Jeff Connaughton called the power structure of people who move between Wall Street and the federal government. He is a member of the Blob for a long time. After Wall Street crashes, he laments that the Blob is too big to be killed as the Obama administration ignores his calls to punish Wall Street executives.

Carriage Pointe was a “boomburg” community built in Gibsonton by somewhat fraudulent means. The developers had promised a community center and that 80% of homes would be occupied by the owner, rather than owned as investments. Mike Van Sickler visited Carriage Pointe and found a ghost town of sorts during the mortgage crisis and then houses occupied by renters years later. Carriage Pointe serves in the book as a representative of all the subdevelopments in Tampa built to feed the growth machine.