Guessing Mr. Reich has been talking about inequity and such for so long he had decided long before then that being angry enough to write in harsher terms is neither good for him nor helps him get his message across.
" It will be between a majority of Americans who have been losing ground, and an economic elite that refuses to recognize or respond to its growing distress"
Guess he could have written there, "...an economic elite that knows full well the the majority is losing ground, yet refuses to recognize or respond to its growing distress."
He is probably also appealing to the economic elite. As you know there are some as Nick Hanauer and others who recognize and respond to the problem...