Jared Bernstein

Crunch (eBook, ePUB)

Why Do I Feel So Squeezed? (and Other Unsolved Economic Mysteries)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Is Social Security really going bust, and what does that mean to me? If I hire an immigrant, am I hurting a native-born worker? Why does the stock market go up when employment declines? Should I give that homeless guy a buck? What's a "living wage"? How much can presidents really affect economic outcomes? What does the Federal Reserve Bank really do? And even when some pundits say the economy's sound, why do I still feel so squeezed? If you'd like some straight answers, premier economist Jared Bernstein is here to help. In Crunch he responds to dozens of questions he has fielded from working Americans, questions that directly relate to the bottom-line, dollars-and-cents concerns of real people. Chances are if there's a stumper you've always wanted to ask an economist, it's solved in this book. Bernstein is fed up with "Darth Vaders with PhDs" who use their supposed expertise to intimidate average citizens and turn economics into a tool for the rich and powerful. In the pages of Crunch, Bernstein lays bare the dark secret of economics: it's not an objective scientific discipline. It's a set of decisions about the best way to organize our society to produce and distribute resources and opportunities. And we all can, and must, participate in these decisions. "America is a democracy," he writes. "And in a democracy all of us, not just the elites and their scholarly shock troops, get to weigh in on biggies like this." To not weigh in, Bernstein insists, is a profoundly political act, one with damaging consequences. Our economy will be only as fair as we can make it. In this lively and irreverent tour through everyday economic mysteries, Bernstein helps us decode economic "analysis," navigate through murky ethical quandaries, and make sound economicdecisions that reflect our deepest aspirations for ourselves, our families, and our country.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Seitenzahl: 288
• Erscheinungstermin: 14. März 2008
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781605095356
• Artikelnr.: 38329081

Autorenporträt

Jared Bernstein is a senior economist and director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. He is the coauthor of the last seven editions of The State of Working America as well as The Benefits of Full Employment: When Markets Work for People. He writes a regular column for the American Prospect online, and his op-eds have appeared in the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Inhaltsangabe

Preface
Introduction: So What Is Economics, Anyway?
Chapter 1--The Big Squeeze
If the Economy s Doing So Well, Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?
Econ-Noir
All Is Not As It Appears: Measuring Economic Outcomes
Whatever Happened to the Cleavers?
The Health Care Squeeze
The Medical Industrial Complex
Health Care Reform
Poverty Amid Plenty: The Whats
Poverty Amid Plenty: The Whys
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
The ABCs of Worker Pay
What s So Bad About Inequality?
All Education, All the Time
Chapter 2--Don t Know Much About GDP
Gross Domestic Product
Unemployment: Wall Street vs. Main Street
Underemployment
Making Better Doughnuts
Inflation
What s a Recession?
Blowing Bubbles
The Night of the Living Wage (and Other Scary Stories)
Your Textbook Got It Wrong
Chapter 3--Political Economy 202
Social Insecurity
Economists in Chief
The Fed
The Budget Deficit (Part 1)
The Budget Deficit (Part 2, in Which a Nobelist Agrees with Me)
The Economy and the Military
Guns or Butter
A New WPA?
Please Remain on the Line
Chapter 4--The World Ain t Flat As All That
What s Right and Wrong About Globalization?
Outsourcing
The Conscience of a Shopper
World Trade
Globalization and Greed
How the Capitalists Killed Capitalism
Undocumented Workers
The Not-So-Great Immigration Debate
What s So Bad About a Labor Shortage?
The Mighty Dollar
Can Economists Save the Planet?
Chapter 5--The Reconnection Agenda
Easing the Squeeze
Health Care
Immigration
Education
Globalization
What s Left?
Conclusion: The Lesson of the Rink
Notes
Acknowledgments
About the Author

Rezensionen

Jared Bernstein the rare economist who writes lucid English has a gift for making difficult topics easy to grasp without dumbing them down. Bernstein s latest superbly timed book, Crunch, is a must-read guide to the economy's current slide and its effect on us all."
Robert Kuttner, Founding Co-Editor, The American Prospect

Jared Bernstein s new book is a must-read for everyone who cares about restoring economic fairness in an America with the greatest income inequality since the Great Depression. Drawing on everyday examples, Crunch is an accessible explanation of economic principles presented with equal parts of insight, humor, and stimulation. In the process, Bernstein explains how we got to where we are, what to do to fix it, and why fighting for a fair society is so important
Senator John Edwards

The sprightliest writer working in the dismal science since the heyday of John Kenneth Galbraith.
Harold Meyerson, Washington Post columnist

Jared Bernstein has written a fun, user-friendly primer that tells you everything you need to know about the economy. I liked it, you ll like it, and if you read it you can stop feeling guilty that you forgot everything you learned in that freshman econ course.
Jonathan Chait, Senior Editor, The New Republic, and author of The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics

Crunch is a dangerous book. Anyone who reads it will be armed with new ideas to start kicking back at the false economic theories that have ensnared this country. The book is witty, irreverent, and easy to read, but don t let that fool you. It s powerful.
Elizabeth Warren, Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and coauthor of All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan