- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Allen Lane (25 Sep 2003)
- ISBN-10: 0713997729
- ISBN-13: 978-0713997729
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Product Description
Independent, October 1, 2003 (by Diane Coyle)
"Despite its alarming message, this book is a pleasure to read."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Times, September 27, 2003 (by Richard Lambert)
"Krugman is an outstanding economist, at his most impressive when picking his way through fiscal and social policy."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
I like the theory of efficient financial markets as much as anyone. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I like the theory of efficient financial markets as much as anyone. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There aren't many economics books that could be described as rib-ticklers, but this is one of them - though the events he deals with are too serious to cause too much hilarity. Nevertheless, his sardonic wit does rather sweeten the bitter pill that is the farcical descent of American politics into plutocratic oligarchy. It's hard to stay too aloof, because the effects of the hegemony of the New Right (which Krugman suspects aren't really concerned with neoliberalism per se, scary though that is in itself, but with the securing of the interests of a political and economic elite - whatever it takes) are not confined to that side of the Atlantic.
One statistic will suffice: while the income of those in the middle of US income distribution tables rose by 9% between 1975 and 1997 ($41,000-$45,100), that of the top 1% rose by 140% ($420,000-$1.016m)!
You don't have to be a socialist to see that this accelerating inequality (and things have been speeding up just lately) is going to have a payback.
This is less a book than a series of columns and, as a result, there is quite a bit of repetition - but maybe that's what's needed when trying to understand Bush's tax 'policy' ('more for us, less for you') or his Mickey Mouse accounting over Social Security (i.e. pensions) - because it's pretty hard to fathom how he's got away with it (largely a combination of mass ignorance and a supine media). Then you begin to understand how he made his money in the first place and all becomes clear - the world of corporate governance has passed through the looking glass - and it's getting curiouser and curiouser.
A realisation of the grip that the super rich have on political leadership in the US could be quite depressing, but Krugman has a winning way of leavening complex ideas with some clever analogies and comic asides.
One statistic will suffice: while the income of those in the middle of US income distribution tables rose by 9% between 1975 and 1997 ($41,000-$45,100), that of the top 1% rose by 140% ($420,000-$1.016m)!
You don't have to be a socialist to see that this accelerating inequality (and things have been speeding up just lately) is going to have a payback.
This is less a book than a series of columns and, as a result, there is quite a bit of repetition - but maybe that's what's needed when trying to understand Bush's tax 'policy' ('more for us, less for you') or his Mickey Mouse accounting over Social Security (i.e. pensions) - because it's pretty hard to fathom how he's got away with it (largely a combination of mass ignorance and a supine media). Then you begin to understand how he made his money in the first place and all becomes clear - the world of corporate governance has passed through the looking glass - and it's getting curiouser and curiouser.
A realisation of the grip that the super rich have on political leadership in the US could be quite depressing, but Krugman has a winning way of leavening complex ideas with some clever analogies and comic asides.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court', Mark Twain characterizes the relationship between the privileged class and the rest of the population in King Arthur's times as follows: 'sweat blood for them, starve that they might be fed, work that they might play, go naked that they might wear silk and jewels, pay taxes that they might be spared from paying them.' In other words, starve the beast.
In his very revealing and clearcut comments, Paul Krugman exposes mightily the hidden agenda and the vast rightwing conspiracy of those actually at the helm in the US: cut taxes for the super-wealthy (even in the face of war), deprive the government of the revenue it needs, then use the deficits as an excuse to cut popular social programs. It is not less than a crusade against the Welfare State.
The results are that more than 40 million US citizens have no health insurance, that US life expectancy is lower and child mortality higher than in most of the advanced nations.
From his analyses, Paul Krugman draws the chilling conclusion that the actual US administration does hot accept the current political system. They want a one-party State, in which elections are only a formality. He poses rightly the ultimate question: 'What will happen to our democracy?'
He also exposes rawly the hypocrisy of the Bush administration with 'its pattern of neglect, of refusal to take crucial action to protect the US against terrorism', its deceptive accountancy, its military spending, its big budget deficits and its intolerance for dissent.
Internationally, he denounces the US foreign policy as 'conquest followed by malign neglect' (Afghanistan). The actual administration refused to provide the relatively modest funds needed for fighting infectious diseases. He scoffs at the pre-war supposition that the cost of the Iraqi war would be defrayed out of oil revenue!
This hard-hitting and provocative book presents a most welcome independent and modern Doremus Jessup amid the actually shamelessly partisan and gagged media herd, paralyzed by autocensure.
We need Paul Krugman's loud and clear voice.
A must read.
In his very revealing and clearcut comments, Paul Krugman exposes mightily the hidden agenda and the vast rightwing conspiracy of those actually at the helm in the US: cut taxes for the super-wealthy (even in the face of war), deprive the government of the revenue it needs, then use the deficits as an excuse to cut popular social programs. It is not less than a crusade against the Welfare State.
The results are that more than 40 million US citizens have no health insurance, that US life expectancy is lower and child mortality higher than in most of the advanced nations.
From his analyses, Paul Krugman draws the chilling conclusion that the actual US administration does hot accept the current political system. They want a one-party State, in which elections are only a formality. He poses rightly the ultimate question: 'What will happen to our democracy?'
He also exposes rawly the hypocrisy of the Bush administration with 'its pattern of neglect, of refusal to take crucial action to protect the US against terrorism', its deceptive accountancy, its military spending, its big budget deficits and its intolerance for dissent.
Internationally, he denounces the US foreign policy as 'conquest followed by malign neglect' (Afghanistan). The actual administration refused to provide the relatively modest funds needed for fighting infectious diseases. He scoffs at the pre-war supposition that the cost of the Iraqi war would be defrayed out of oil revenue!
This hard-hitting and provocative book presents a most welcome independent and modern Doremus Jessup amid the actually shamelessly partisan and gagged media herd, paralyzed by autocensure.
We need Paul Krugman's loud and clear voice.
A must read.
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