|
|
| BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP TAKES ON A NOTED ECONOMIST AND A SEA OF TROUBLES (March 27, 10 AM)
In this long-awaited work containing Krugman's most influential columns, along with new commentary, he chronicles how the boom economy unraveled; how exuberance gave way to pessimism; how the age of corporate heroes gave way to corporate scandals; how fiscal responsibility collapsed. From his account of the secret history of the California energy crisis to his devastating dissections of dishonesty in the Bush administration, Krugman tells the uncomfortable truth about how the United States lost its way. And he gives us the road map we will need to follow if we are to get the country back on track. Steve Hall
|
| A galvanizing new work from America's leading economic critic—a book that will set the terms of the political debate for years to come.
No one has more authority to call the shots the way they really are than Paul Krugman, whose provocative New York Times columns are keenly followed by millions. One of the world's most respected economists, Krugman has been named America's most important columnist by the Washington Monthly and columnist of the year by Editor and Publisher magazine.
In this long-awaited work containing Krugman's most influential columns along with new commentary, he chronicles how the boom economy unraveled: how exuberance gave way to pessimism, how the age of corporate heroes gave way to corporate scandals, how fiscal responsibility collapsed. From his account of the secret history of the California energy crisis to his devastating dissections of dishonesty in the Bush administration, Krugman tells the uncomfortable truth about how the United States lost its way. And he gives us the road map we will need to follow if we are to get the country back on track.
|
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This selection of three years of New York Times op-eds by economist and Princeton professor Krugman document his opposition to the governance of George W. Bush and his "bad economics wrapped in the flag." In his introduction, Krugman asserts that Bush is a radical and that America's right wing is "a revolutionary power... a movement whose leaders do not accept the legitimacy of our current political system." The core of the book's 100-plus columns is dedicated to eviscerating Bush's fiscal policies, uncovering the administration's hidden agendas, as well as castigating the media for letting him get away with it. A handful of articles advocate the globalization of free trade. Much of the material will be familiar to Times readers, but reading the items together reveals Krugman's growing anger at the hubris he sees exhibited by the extreme right wing and its seeming defiance of logic. At first, Krugman is a numbers man, methodically parsing the data (demonstrating, for example, how the heartland is not, statistically, more committed to family than people on the coasts), but over time he arrives at the conclusion that "Yes, Virginia, there is a vast right-wing conspiracy" and "it works a lot like a special-interest lobby." Krugman is one of the few commentators able to sound both appalled and reasonable at the same time as he provides an alternate history of the last three years to that penned by conservative pundits. Many readers will find Krugman very persuasive as to how our present government has done us wrong. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Intervention Magazine: Review by Lawrence McNamee
Book Description
In this long-awaited work containing Krugman's most influential columns along with new commentary, he chronicles how the boom economy unraveled: how exuberance gave way to pessimism, how the age of corporate heroes gave way to corporate scandals, how fiscal responsibility collapsed. From his account of the secret history of the California energy crisis to his devastating dissections of dishonesty in the Bush administration, Krugman tells the uncomfortable truth about how the United States lost its way. And he gives us the road map we will need to follow if we are to get the country back on track.
About the Author
Paul Krugman writes a twice-weekly column for the New York Times. A winner of the John Bates Clark medal for the best American economist under forty, he teaches at Princeton University.
Customer Reviews
Reviewer from Canada
Those disturbed by intemperate language or emotionally-charged critiques of the Bush regime would do well to consider this excellent essay collection. Krugman's clear logic and firm analyses of economic, social and political policies are incisive and illuminating. Bush's rise to power and actions since achieving the presidency are a "conservative revolution". Krugman sees this regime as casting away long-held American ideals, fomenting class strife in a traditionally classless society and embarking on foreign policies disdainful of global reaction. Bush clearly holds the mass of American society in comtempt, showing favouritism to a limited group of the powerful. Using fear as a primary weapon, Bush's team has assaulted the financial structure, the environment and even American culture itself.
As an economic scholar, Krugman opens the series with essays on economic policies - banking, corporate greed and dollar politics. He examines the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s and draws vivid parallels with the path America is taking. He sidesteps the "everything will be all right - just trust us" mode of economic thinking. He probes into promises and the underlying realities with a surgeon's skill. What he exposes is equally stomach-churning. The American economy, notwithstanding the shrill declarations of the Bush administration, is teetering on the brink. Krugman's descriptive exposure of Bush mathematics ranges from "fuzzy" to "false". Not encouraging for the future.
The Bush fallacies, Krugman argues, lie on the backs and wallets of the American populace. And these deceptions go beyond purely economic issues. In the 1930s, another revolutionary's rise to power was greeted by many as a welcome relief from bombast. "He will be forced to temper his earlier pronouncements". Krugman shows how the Bush campaign and administration has foisted the same self-deception by the American public and media. Abetted by the WTC attacks, Bush has wrapped himself in the flag, insulating his declarations from criticism or complaint. The immense switch from a budget surplus to deficit was excused by the needs of the "war on terror". Krugman deftly dissects that argument, displaying the fallacies of logic and fact the public is expected to swallow. Rights are curtailed, monies diverted to special interests and presidential power is unconstitutionally enhanced. It is, Krugman stresses, a time of a "conservative" [read "reactionary"] revolution overthrowing long-standing American traditions. "Yes, Virginia", he says, "there is a right-wing conspiracy".
The 1930s revolutionary made ever increasing demands. "Compromise", was known even then as "appeasement". Krugman shows appeasement is a dangerous a policy. Failure to curtail unreasonable demands only leads to further demands. The greedy revolutionary cannot be satiated. In Hitler's day, the issue was "lebensraum" - the quest for more living space. Today, the issue is domestic power over the population, permitting adventurism abroad. Now it's not just "lebensraum" but "corporate lebensraum" - resources access and unlimited opportunity to exploit them with minimal return for the privilege. Then, the appeasers were the politicians of Western Europe. Today, to Krugman's dismay, it is America's media. Informing the public was once the traditional role of the media. Now it is the propaganda tool of corporations with control by only five corporations. AOLTimeWarnerGeneralElectricDisneyWestinghouseNewsCorp as Krugman deems it. This unity reflects the group's alliance as an administration voice. Dissent, a long American tradition, is now curtailed at the source. Bush's policies are excused, supported, even promulgated by a media sharing the exercise of power over the general population.
While it might seem an essay collection stretching back several years would strike a discordant chronological note, this is not the case here. By assembling a string of columns, Krugman offers reminders of events that affect us now. Topically arranged, this anthology provides continuity that might otherwise be lost unless you've taken the trouble to collect his work. Krugman is a serious thinker and he's seriously concerned with issues that have meaning to us all. As the world's most powerful nation, it is foolish to assume America's problems lie wholly within her borders. American policies have a distant reach and have already been implemented with military might. In line with any military environment, control of policies, resources and thought are part of the Bush agenda. Bush wants the world to be "like America", but if that model stands on shaky ground, its not a pattern other societies want to follow. Krugman has pointed out the problems, but declares that it's up to the American people to set things right themselves. These are not problems that will be overcome by a new version of "Crusade in Europe". [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Reviewer from Ohio
I first read this book several months ago, and have had time to think about it and to refer to it periodically. At first I was disappointed. I expected a book of analysis on what has happened to the country under the Bush presidency. Instead, I found a collection of Mr. Krugman's columns. Because I already read his op-ed pieces every Tuesday and Friday for free on line in the New York Times, I felt a little cheated. But Mr Krugman is an economist, and getting paid twice for the same work is very economical, I guess.
But as I read "The Great Unraveling" the technique grew on me, and I accepted the book for what it was. The introduction (pp 6-20) is truly compelling. Here Krugman introduces his readers to the concept of the "revolutionary power." He borrows the idea from Henry Kissinger's PHD dissertation "A World Reborn." He argues that the neocon movement the Bush Administration represents is such a power. These people do not play by established rules of conduct. Their values and goals differ from those of the established order. Krugman delineates the characteristics of such a movement from again borrowing from Kissinger's work. It was reminiscent of a conversation between Sean Connery as a streetwise Chicago cop and the idealistic Eliot Ness played by Kevin Costner. In the exchange the elder man tells Ness how he has to approach getting Capone
Also, Krugman writes as an economist and not as a journalist; he makes this point early in the book. Because of his training as an economist he did not buy into the Bush campaigns statements about how they would meet government obligations and offer huge tax cuts at the same time. His professional training would not allow him to buy the oft cited equation in the book that 2-1=4. His training as an economist allows him to spring board into a broader discussion about areas beyond pure economics.
An old friend of mine told me that though I was a complete failure that "I could always serve as a bad example." This is how Krugman studies economics, looking at bad examples, mistakes that have occurred in foreign economies so that he can predict what will happen in our country and in our economy.
The book begins with an examination of bubbles in the economy--how the exuberance they create works to undermine economies. He talks about the bubble in the Asain Rim and ultimately in American high tech stocks. He explains the Ponzi scheme and how it applies to contemporary economics and why the feeding frenzy that ensues is often so irrepressible. He rues the role of Alan Greenspan in perpetuating the irrational exuberance that the tech rallies fomented. In the following section he takes on the crony capitalists--that group of beneficiaries of greed at Enron, Global Crossing, Adelphia, etcetera, explaining the reasoning for why CEO's plunged their companies into the abyss as they did. It involves stock options and cooking the books.
The sections of the book are designed to follow different threads of this unraveling. In retrospect I realized that this was indeed the best way to watch something come apart--reports over time on a variety of topics. It is interesting to watch Krugman's thinking emerge.
Also, it is interesting to watch that thinking evolve away from just economics and into the things that economics impacts--which is everything. He discusses the impact on health care, the Iraq War, terrorism, the treatment of veterans and of little people. There is a compelling quote in the book where Krugman questions whether Dick Armey and Tom Delay really believe the draconian free market solutions they espouse or whether they just "hate poor people." He talks about injustice to veterans--how the Bush administration tries to conceal benefits from them.
Krugman, at bottom, is not an ideologue. He is interested in economic results. He attacks some of the arguments against globalization. He contrasts economists like Larry Summers and Larry Lindsay, showing how ideology can effect solutions. He states that sound economists, regardless of how they are labeled right or left, differ little in their assessments of conditions given sound information. He writes that the collapse of the Argentine economy had not so much to do with free market solutions as it did faulty monetary policy. Conversely, he shows that Sweden, while a highly taxed mixed economy, is doing very well--low unemployment and 4% growth.
Mr Krugman is an "honest broker" who believes that he should report according to the best evidence, measure results and not ideological purity. As he does report, he watches those who do believe in ideological solutions press on in their great unraveling. |
|
