Ships from: san francisco, CA
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Martinez, CA
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Lynn, MA
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: La Grange, IL
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Troy, NY
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Geneva, IL
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: acton, MA
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Want a NOOK? Explore Now
Stiglitz submits that although politicians often wrongly claim credit for positive economic developments that occur on their watch, their actions do in some instances make a difference. He lauds Clinton's efforts to reduce the deficit and predicts that Bush's tax cuts will produce budget shortfalls that plague the country for many years. He goes on to argue that the mantra of free markets has been accepted far too uncritically by policymakers, as was evident in the flawed deregulation of the energy, telecommunications, and financial industries. He emphasizes, accordingly, the importance of timely, accurate information for both policymakers and the informed public — and the corresponding need to be aware of the incentives that motivate decision-makers, especially businesspeople and their close advisers. Stiglitz's arguments are well written, cogent, and nontechnical and will likely make their way into electoral debate.
| Preface | ||
| Acknowledgments | ||
| Ch. 1 | Boom and Bust: Seeds of Destruction | 3 |
| Ch. 2 | Miracleworkers, or Lucky Mistakes? | 29 |
| Ch. 3 | The All-Powerful Fed and Its Role in Inflating the Bubble | 56 |
| Ch. 4 | Deregulation Run Amok | 87 |
| Ch. 5 | Creative Accounting | 115 |
| Ch. 6 | The Banks and the Bubble | 140 |
| Ch. 7 | Tax Cuts: Feeding the Frenzy | 170 |
| Ch. 8 | Making Risk a Way of Life | 180 |
| Ch. 9 | Globalization: Early Forays | 202 |
| Ch. 10 | Enron | 241 |
| Ch. 11 | Debunking the Myths | 269 |
| Ch. 12 | Toward a New Democratic Idealism: Vision and Values | 281 |
| Epilogue: Further Lessons on How to Mismanage the Economy | 320 | |
| Notes | 337 | |
| Index | 359 |
Joseph Stiglitz, formerly Chief Economist at the World Bank, has written a fierce attack on finance capital. He warns, ¿what was good for Wall Street might not be ¿ and often was not ¿ good for the country. ¿ The captains of industry ¿ the leaders to whom all Americans were told to look up to [sic], those who served as the aspiration [sic] for others ¿ have, it turns out, acted in ways which benefited themselves at the expense of others. ¿ The market system had provided incentives in which by doing well for themselves they did not benefit others, but rather their gains were at the expense of those they were supposed to be working for.¿ <BR/><BR/>As he points out, ¿In spite of the confidence that is so often expressed in how well markets work, there is a huge body of research suggesting that many investors are simply not rational, and if that is the case, then the prices that emerge in the market may not provide good `directions¿ for what to invest in.¿ This refutes capitalism¿s main claim, that only the market can produce a rational price system. So the market system is neither fair nor efficient.<BR/><BR/>Yet the US state tries to force all other states along the same path, using the IMF, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. Stiglitz notes, ¿While we talked about democracy, we did everything we could to maintain our control of the global economic system, and to make sure that it worked for our interests, or more accurately, for the financial and corporate interests that dominated this part of our national life.¿<BR/><BR/>He sums up the US record, ¿the treaties that we had hailed so proudly were seen as unbalanced, [and] trade liberalization as a new way in which the rich and powerful could exploit the weak and the poor. Just as the market economy had not delivered what it had promised to the countries of the former Soviet Union ¿ it brought unprecedented poverty, not unprecedented prosperity - trade liberalization did not deliver what it had promised. ¿ What a peculiar world, in which the poor countries are in effect subsidizing the richest.¿ <BR/><BR/>The nineties, like the 1920s, led to a crash. The bubble was bigger, and so was the crash. For 200 years of capitalism, boom has led to bust and as inevitably to liberal promises to create `a gentler, more humane capitalism¿. As Stiglitz admits, ¿rather than attacking the premises, the ideology, we accepted the terms of the debate as they had been framed.¿ We do not need reforms of this failed, destructive system; we need a new and better system.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 2, 2005
Only a Nobel Prize-winning economist could disguise a political broadside against conservatives and the George W. Bush administration inside a Trojan horse mea culpa of the Bill Clinton White House. No one could argue with Joseph Stiglitz¿s assertion that an effective modern economy must strike a reasonable balance between free markets and government oversight - but what is reasonable? Stiglitz regrets what is arguably the shining achievement of the Clinton Administration, namely, its success in balancing the U.S. budget. Credit him for consistency: he opposed Clinton¿s tax cut, just as he opposed George W. Bush¿s. Stiglitz¿s academic and professional chops are beyond question, and his insights into corporate welfare and inefficient markets are quite valuable if somewhat short of profound. We find that this volume provides strong insights into the inner workings of the American economic juggernaut. Your reaction will depend whether you agree or disagree with the author¿s contentions that the Clinton Administration was not liberal enough and that the present Bush Administration believes in small government.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 28, 2004
I leave it to the professional reviewers to describe the contents of the book. I am not an economist, but a business person, and found the varied explorations, analysis and recommendations to be clear, readable and interesting¿and all encompassing
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Overview