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Title: The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century by Paul Krugman ISBN: 0-393-32605-5 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: August, 2004 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.79 (180 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Three stars for raising the issues
Comment: The Great Unraveling, like Greg Palast's book, "The Best Democracy Money can Buy," may be flawed in places and written from a left-wing perspective but it does provide important information regarding how our country is abandoning its principles and ultimately its people. My only complaint is that Krugman, like so many others these days, is an ideologue; as a result, he still believes there is a difference between left and right, Republican and Democrat. Although he may not see it this way, his book discusses the ways in which a global, corporate Sovietization of America is quickly subverting families, communities and ultimately the country. Though Palast's book is better, Krugman does provide information which so-called conservatives don't ever address. Unfortunately, Americans are being deceived into accepting the absurd idea that the leaders of our two parties are men of vision and principle with actual political philosophies they seek to implement - as if Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton were similar in stature to a Pericles, Cicero, or Bismarck. If the company you work for has sent jobs offshore, increased your copays, engaged in regular, year-end layoffs; if your HR department has engaged in Skinner-like behavior modification programs by showing you the absolutely ridiculous "Fish" program and talking endlessly about valuing its employees while rolling back benefits and increasing your amount of work; if you no longer trust your child's teacher; if you wonder why low-paying service sector jobs grow like weeds while white collar jobs disappear; if you know more and more people who have to declare bankruptcy even though they are a two-income family; if you know more and more people in their early to mid fifties who are being laid off not because of job performance but because their job has been "eliminated;" if you wonder why the pirates at Enron could go free while Martha Stewart is rounded-up; if you wonder why our government is bombing various countries for vague and/or indefinite reasons that mention "pre-emption" or "stabilization in the region" while our government kow-tows to human rights abuser Red China; if you wonder why more and more illegal aliens keep flooding the country - perhaps cooking the food you eat at fast-food and higher end restaurants, or working for the company that has agreed to put a new roof on your house; if crime seems to be a problem in your city, though you have been told crime it is at an all-time low; and, if you wonder why so-called conservatives talk endlessly about reducing the size of government yet support a president who is deficit-spending like crazy and expanding the role of the federal government, then read Krugman's book for clues - though not necessarily answers.
Rating: 5
Summary: Recycling history?
Comment: 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]
Rating: 5
Summary: Much-Needed Wakeup Call
Comment: Krugman has been a beacon of truth in some very dark days in American politics. Because he is an economist rather than a journalist, Krugman can expose the Bush administration's deceptions by doing the math and checking the sources. It's a rare talent these days, when most news reporting consists of little more than printing a quote from side A and an opposing quote from side B ("balance" accomplished!), with no regard for the objective truth of these claims.
While the book is essentially a collection of Krugman's New York Times columns, I found it very valuable for seeing how various stories unfolded, from the growing awareness that California's energy crisis was in fact engineered by Enron traders "gaming" the system to the deceitful manner in which the Bush adminstration lured the country into the misguided and tragic war in Iraq.
But more than anything, this book is not to be missed because of Krugman's excellent introduction, in which he explains how the Bush administration constitutes (in Henry Kissinger's term) a "revolutionary power" that will brook no compromise and will do anything (issue bogus terror alerts, out CIA agents, knowingly lie to the American public, etc.) to maintain and extend its power and ram its extremist agenda down our throats.
The Great Unraveling is a much-needed wakeup call for the American public and an urgent and timely warning of the dangers the Bush administration poses to our cherished democracy.
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Title: Bushwhacked : Life in George W. Bush's America by MOLLY IVINS, LOU DUBOSE ISBN: 0375507523 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 23 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill by Ron Suskind ISBN: 0743255453 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 13 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken ISBN: 0525947647 Publisher: Dutton Books Pub. Date: 29 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror by Richard A. Clarke ISBN: 0743260244 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 22 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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Title: American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips ISBN: 0670032646 Publisher: Viking Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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