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Angel 's Reviews > Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future
Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future
by Robert B. Reich
by Robert B. Reich
Angel 's review
bookshelves: business-and-economics, current-affairs, politics-and-political-science
Mar 28, 11
bookshelves: business-and-economics, current-affairs, politics-and-political-science
Read in March, 2011, read count: 1
Readers can tell that Robert Reich is a college teacher; it shows in this book. He is very good at explaining exactly what happened to the economy in this current climate and why it happened. More importantly, he outlines very well what will happen unless this nation and its people decide on some serious, substantial, meaningful changes. And yet, this is a short book, which makes it pretty easy to read. What I found fascinating is that what is happening is not really new for one. We faced a lot of this during the Great Depression. In some ways, the situation is the same, but the names and players have changed, so to speak.
The problem is not one of Americans simply having spent past their means, which they did. This is not to be denied. The real problem is their wages have not kept up with the times, and employers and the wealthy have broken the social contract where we all pay fairly and gain benefit from shared prosperity. When you have billionaires like Warren Buffet actually saying that he should be taxed a lot more, that is a hint of Professor Reich's argument. I found myself making a lot of little notes, which you can see in my reading updates for this book for the book offers some good points and a lot to think about. The potential scenario of an "Independence Party" candidate winning the White House along with Congress should scare the daylights out of people not matter what side of the political spectrum you are in. And yet, we get a very good explanation of how it will happen if things keep going at the same pace as well as how to avoid, which is the option that will take work. Many passages in this book caught my eye, but I think the one I want to share with readers right away is this one:
On page 145: "If nothing is done to counter present trends, the major fault line in American politics will no longer be between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. It will be between the 'establishment'--political insiders, power brokers, the heads of American business, Wall Street, and the mainstream media--and an increasingly mad-as-hell populace determined to 'take back America' from them."
Now, take a guess who is going to "win" if the current crop of greedy, hate-and-fear mongering powers manage to keep on manipulating the angry and willfully ignorant. It does not look good, and maybe that is why I did not give this book five stars. I don't necessarily share Dr. Reich's optimism at the end of the book. However, overall, this is one book worth reading.
The problem is not one of Americans simply having spent past their means, which they did. This is not to be denied. The real problem is their wages have not kept up with the times, and employers and the wealthy have broken the social contract where we all pay fairly and gain benefit from shared prosperity. When you have billionaires like Warren Buffet actually saying that he should be taxed a lot more, that is a hint of Professor Reich's argument. I found myself making a lot of little notes, which you can see in my reading updates for this book for the book offers some good points and a lot to think about. The potential scenario of an "Independence Party" candidate winning the White House along with Congress should scare the daylights out of people not matter what side of the political spectrum you are in. And yet, we get a very good explanation of how it will happen if things keep going at the same pace as well as how to avoid, which is the option that will take work. Many passages in this book caught my eye, but I think the one I want to share with readers right away is this one:
On page 145: "If nothing is done to counter present trends, the major fault line in American politics will no longer be between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. It will be between the 'establishment'--political insiders, power brokers, the heads of American business, Wall Street, and the mainstream media--and an increasingly mad-as-hell populace determined to 'take back America' from them."
Now, take a guess who is going to "win" if the current crop of greedy, hate-and-fear mongering powers manage to keep on manipulating the angry and willfully ignorant. It does not look good, and maybe that is why I did not give this book five stars. I don't necessarily share Dr. Reich's optimism at the end of the book. However, overall, this is one book worth reading.
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Reading Progress
| 03/11/2011 | page 3 |
|
2.0% | ""The problem was not that Americans spent beyond their means but that their means had not kept up with what the larger economy could and should have been able to provide them." This needs to be addressed, or we risk upheaval or worse." |
| 03/14/2011 | page 18 |
|
9.0% | "Reading about Eccles, you get the feeling people have learned about how to handle recessions before. The problem is not too much spending. The problem is the top honchos hoarding up money and depriving everyone else of purchasing power. Well, that is one big problem. Deja vu much?" |
| 03/15/2011 | page 19 |
|
10.0% | ""But we did not learn the larger lesson of the 1930s: that when the distribution of income gets too far out of whack, the economy needs to be reorganized so the broad middle class has enough buying power to rejuvenate the economy over the long term."" |
| 03/15/2011 | page 28 |
|
15.0% | "On Ford paying more to his workers: He "understood the basic economic bargain that lay at the heart of a modern, highly productive economy. Workers are also consumers. Their earnings are continuously recycled to buy the goods and services other workers produce." Sounds pretty basic, yet so many now seem to miss it (or rail against paying workers decent wages)." |
| 03/15/2011 | page 39 |
|
20.0% | ""Wall Street is a casino in which high-stakes wagers are placed within a limited number of betting houses that keep a percentage of the wins for themselves and fob off losses on others, including tax payers."" |
| 03/15/2011 | page 54 |
|
28.0% | "Granted not all job losses can't be blamed on automation and globalization. However, does not address that globalization did make that "sucking sound," that those foreign goods cheaper meant they dumped their stuff here while US could not really send as much over there, and the low paying new jobs resulting here. I hope this question gets addressed further, since it seems a flaw in otherwise good argument." |
| 03/15/2011 | page 55 |
|
29.0% | "An answer: The government failed to enforce the bargain. When it went on the privatizing and deregulation spree it did following the 70s, set up stage for heck to break loose and the mess we have now." |
| 03/18/2011 | page 65 |
|
34.0% | ""The fundamental economic challenge ahead is to lift the means of middle-class Americans and reconstitute the basic bargain linking wages to overall improvements--providing the vast American middle class with a share of economic gains sufficient to allow them to purchase more of what the economy can produce." Given gov. has pretty much abandoned the middle class, not likely to happen anytime soon." |
| 03/18/2011 | page 68 |
|
35.0% | ""Government can fill the gap for a time, but government cannot continue indefinitely to stimulate the economy with deficit spending or by printing money."" |
| 03/21/2011 | page 97 |
|
51.0% | "Food for thought: "The inhabitants of poorer countries with more equal incomes are sometimes healthier, on average, than are the citizens of richer countries whose incomes are more unequal."" |
| 03/21/2011 | page 97 |
|
56.0% | "Main reason we won't see a big revolution in the U.S., even though we need one. People are too asshat in aspiring to join ranks of the oligarchs who exploit them. "Given the chance, most members of the middle class want to join the ranks of the rich and gain all the perks that come with great wealth." A great frustration, feeling the dice are loaded, would it be enough to explode?" |
| 03/21/2011 | page 97 |
|
56.0% | ""Why didn't politicians do more? [after the econ. collapse] It may have to do with Wall Street's money. The Street is where the money is, and money buys campaign commercials on television. It is difficult to hold people accountable for bad behavior while simultaneously asking them for money." Makes you think of George Carlin and why he would not vote. Bought and paid for." |
| 03/21/2011 | page 111 |
|
64.0% | "Disturbing, and a statement of the obvious: "In order to be enacted, almost all major legislation now requires payoffs to powerful corporations and industries."" |
| 03/22/2011 | page 145 |
|
83.0% | ""If nothing is done to counter present trends, the major fault line in American politics will no longer be between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. It will be between the 'establishment'--political insiders, power brokers, the heads of American business, Wall Street, and the mainstream media--and an increasingly mad-as-hell populace determined to 'take back America' from them." Guess who wins." |
