Rating: 
Summary: I agree
Review: I don't read the NY Times (the NY LIBERAL Times I guess the detractors of this book would say) regularly, so I reacted to the anti-Krugman factor and bought this book because of them. If you read only the introduction and preface, which apparently have not been printed in the ultra-liberal press, you still would see that we have a lot to worry about in this wonderful country. Why is it that so many people want to quash the truth that is reported by the various government agencies every day? Why do people have to say that Mr. Krugman is a proponent of bin-Laden to make people hate him? Why can't intelligent readers take a look at the content of this book alongside the anti-Clinton faction and decide for themselves? Isn't that what democracy is all about? I realize that democracy is so very close to demon-cracy, and maybe that's the real issue.
Rating:
Summary: Thanks
Review: The bleating of right-wing reviewers was enough to make this book worth buying. Reading it makes one understand why they're so apopleptic. Krugman confirms what many of us have long suspected about the Bush agenda, backing his conclusions with clear logic and indisputable facts. It's no wonder the neocon response is largely limited to screaming "liberal liar." Of course, Krugman isn't really a liberal, but he disagrees with the right, so he earns its all-purpose epithet for dissent. Ignore it. If you're undecided about which way Bush is taking the United States, buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Yet another Leftist Liar
Review: Anyone who trusts or believes what Paul Krugman says simply needs to go to NationalReview online and look for the "Krugman Truth Squad", who's chief author is Donald Luskin. If he doesn't have a current article - and he usually has to do one long one per week to correct the misquotes, statistical errors (usually misstatements, actually), contradictions and outright lies by Krugman - look for 'Luskin' under "Find an Author" if you don't see a current article. It's always revealing and often hilarious. These are not disagreements about a degree of economic policy - these are clear revelations of outright lies and deceptions.Conservatives will see the extent to which Krugman constantly lies, while liberals won't even bother to look for the truth. He's as big a liar as are Michael Moorer and that twerp Al Franken. See for yourself and then decide for yourself. Or stick your head back in the sand. A truly revealing moment was when Krugman was being interviewed by Tim Russert who asked him about some of his misstatements and about the people who had to correct him constantly online. After about a 30 second pause and grimace, he whined about how his every word is being evaluated - which if he was honest, wouldn't be a problem. He even responds to SOME of the refutations on his website (which of course leads to a whole new round of corrections), but never corrects the admitted "misstatements" in the New York Times - which obviously doesn't have a problem with lies on the front page or on the editorial page. He's completely dishonest.
Rating:
Summary: Krugman's Shrill Diatribe
Review: How conveniently Krugman manages to lay virtually every problem in this country squarely on George Bush and how conveniently he also manages to totally ignore everything the Clintons and their administration did to get us where we are. Too bad there's not a 0-star rating. I wouldn't line my birdcage with paper from this book.
Rating:
Summary: If you hate George W. read this book
Review: Otherwise don't bother. Former economist Krugman sees what he wants to see and little else. One need not be a conservative to find Krugman's opinions absurd. [I don't hate George W., but then I didn't hate Bill Clinton either.]
Rating: 
Summary: Read Preface and Introduction, Skip the Rest
Review:
The book is worth buying for the Preface and Introduction alone. The rest of the book is a somewhat irritating replay of every column the author has ever written, and not nearly as well done or as riveting as, say, Tom Friedman's replays in "Longitudes & Attitudes". However, if you have not read the author's columns, his bite-size descriptions of irrational exuberance, crony capitalism, the failure of the Federal Reserve, fuzzy math, how markets go bad, and global spoilage, then they are all certainly worth browsing.
The Preface has three core ideas: 1) the elites are ruling badly and not beneficially for the majority of the population including all the voters and most of the stockholders; 2) politicians and corporation chiefs are getting away with blatant lies to the public because of a media that avoids critical inquiry; and 3) open sources of information--all that lies in the public domain--are more than adequate for anyone to get a grip on reality. The Introduction is a bit scarier and more pointed. The author joins Mark Hertsgaard, author of "The Eagle's Shadow: Why America Fascinates and Infuriates the World" in suggesting that the radical right is creating nothing less than a Reichstag in America. In the author's view, and he quotes Kissinger in chilling terms, the radical right is a revolutionary power that is very deliberately and with malice at all times, rejecting and undermining the democratic rules of the game. In the author's words, the radical right is "a movement whose leaders do not accept the legitimacy of our current political system." The author goes so far as to suggest that the radical right considers elections as "only a formality" and that they will do anything--including subversion of the Constitution--to "win" those elections and reap the domestic and foreign "looting rights." Disclosure: I used to be a conservative Republican and used to think such ideas were simply over the top. I have been radicalized by the last 200 books I have read (and reviewed on Amazon) and I have to say, while the third of the nation that is close-minded and ideologically-blindered on the right may give the author short shrift, the other two thirds--the drop-outs and splinter parties, and the failing Democrats--they should take Krugman very seriously. He is an economist, teaching at Princeton, not a journalist nor a sensationalist, and in my view, when one combines his book with that of Clyde Prestowitz, a Presbyterian elder and solid Reagan Republican and fiscal conservative ("Rogue Nation"), with that of William Greider, writing on the immorality and social costs of capitalism as we practice it today ("Soul of Capitalism"), one can only conclude that the Republic, and that for which it stands, have been hijacked, are being looted, and the American Democratic experiment is on very thin ice. The index to this book is helpful in running down specific individuals, corporation, and organizations that have committed crimes against the Nation that the author has addressed in his many columns for the New York Times, as repeated in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Truth before an administration of liars
Review: Rich white men are putting billions in their pockets and charging it on your and my credit cards in the form of their several trillion in deficits. To help their cause, they're killing our children in Iraq to make us think there's a real war on so we won't pay attention to the remnants of what used to be an economy. Krugman should be sainted for having the courage to tell it like it is as he fearlessly does, with empirical proof in evidence, in this captivating and devastatingly frightening book. As Krugman points out, the Bush/Cheney crew wages war so it can pick our pockets, and attacks as traitorously anti-American any citizen who points it out. And many of us unthinking Americans fall for it and vote for him and his right-wing cronies, as we pick up our food stamps, pore through the "help-wanted"s in a futile effort to find a good job, just praying we don't get sick, because health insurance for us is as impossibly unaffordable as Arnold's Hummer. This is a vitally important political and economic book because it tells the truth about this, the most sinister president and administration in anyone's memory. Krugman demonstrates, indeed proves with numbers found in Bush's own reports how Cheney/Grover Norquist's vision will decimate Social Security, Medicare, education, health care and any hope for the dreams of little guy in America. Even more frightening, he shows how this has been the administration's explicit plan all along: starve the government away by taking the money and running. As Bush's key behind-the-scenes conservative strategist, Norquist explains "My goal is to to get the government down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." It sounds hyperbolic and almost ridiculous, but a quick visit to Norquist's website will confirm everything Krugman reveals. And unbelievably, even as irretrievably destructive as their vision is to 99% of the population, so many of us Americans are falling for it, hook, line and sinker, as these guys raise a false flag to hide their actions and put our soldiers out to take bullets and give the nightly news something to talk about. Krugman is the most highly qualified and, in this Bush/Rumsfeld world where "if you don't see it our way, you must be a terrorist", certainly the most courageous patriot to tell it like it is, and fortunately for us all has the intellect to show what it means for our country, and to demonstrate what little will be left of the good ol' US when these domestically elected evil-doers have had their way. Because as Krugman shows, the terrorists ain't got nothin' on the Bush/Cheney Klan when it comes to doing damage to America. And as no one can deny, the news and the economy prove Krugman's prescient statements every day.
Rating:
Summary: Let's be unlike the White House and tell the truth
Review: If I had time I would refute the ridiculous lies and distortions in the multitude of one-star reviews below mine, strangely enough mostly from New York. Just to start, the excellent NY Times Magazine article Mr. Krugman wrote recently was NOT an excerpt from this book but a long, beautifully reasoned examination of the devastating impact of Mr. Bush's previous and upcoming tax cuts. Other comments are rife with mistakes as well, but they were obviously placed on this forum to keep the American taxpayer and voter from knowing the truth. If many of them weren't out looking for the 2.6 million jobs that have been lost since Mr. Bush's last tax cut, perhaps they would have time to write their own comments about the broken promises of the president and his cabinet ministers. Mr. Krugman tells the truth based on the depressing data of the administration itself. His critics have sadly forgotten what that looks like.
Rating:
Summary: The Great Unraveling
Review: Clealy written by a truth twisting low life liberal. One who is surely in bed with Bill and Hillary Clinton and part of their propaganda slime and spin machine.
Rating:
Summary: Be aware of the American Taliban
Review: Krugman exposes the Talibanization of American politics by the ultra right wing money-chasers who occupy the white house presently. Some of the right wing reviewers have obviously put a negative spin on Krugman's book, so I will just take one of them and unspin it for you. One of these reviewers makes four points as follows. Let me take them one at a time. The reviewer says, quote,
"1. Krugman argues that the series of Bush tax cuts decimated the 'Clinton Surplus', and sparked the 2000-2003 recession. But the recession started in the last quarter of 2000, well before Bush was inaugurated. Similarly, the stock market began to plunge in March of 2000." Yes, that is true, but what exactly did Bush do to deal with the recession. The credit goes all to Alan Greenspan who with a series of (about a dozen )rate cuts spurred home buying and investment, like never before in the history of FOMC. Bush had many options including a tax cut for middle class (but Bush gave most of it to the top 1% rich, who are least likely to "increase" spending), short term stimulus (but Bush gave a long term stimulus through tax cuts to rich that will become effective years from now), and stimulus through aid to majority of the states in deficit (but Bush chose spending those hundreds of billions in Iraq instead, a war that will create more terrorism instead of curing it).
The reviwer goes on, quote.
"2) Krugman is nominally a Keynesian, but only if a Democrat is in the White House. Keynesian theory argues that in a recession, loose monetary policy is called for---cut taxes and spend like crazy. Yet in the face of a recession made worse by the 9/11 attacks, Krugman would have the President's economic team *raise* taxes and *cut* spending, a recipe that would have curtailed investment and tightened the money supply. In other words, Krugman criticizes Bush for doing the very things that a good Keynsian (the Keynesian Krugman used to be) would do to stave off a recession." The reviewer reveals his ignorance - he is talking about FISCAL POLICY, but calls it monetary policy. Monetary policy is doing just fine in the hands of Alan Greenspan. Regarding fiscal policy, lets be clear that Krugman has never opposed short term stimulus consistent with Keynesian economics. But what Bush is giving is LONG TERM stimulus to his rich buddies - a recepie not called for right now. Also, see the comment above for the right appraoch to shorter term fiscal stimulus. The reviewer continues, quote,
"3) Krugman blasts the Bush Administration for currying favor with big business---like Enron---by pushing for business-friendly loopholes. He's right to call for corporate governance reform, but it's hard to take his tirade on Bush's Enron connection seriously, given that in 1998 he was a paid Enron consultant (taking in more than USD 50,000 per year from the firm) and a member of Enron's Outside Advisory Board of Directors. Moreover, contrary to Krugman's analysis, for all Enron's political donations, the Bush White House did nothing to save the firm." Krugman was not an "elected politician" who was involved in getting favors (Bush and his buddies were). Enron was a huge company with many sides (energy, derivatives, etc.) and one cannot blame every one of the hundreds of consultants and clients for what Enron's top brass did by getting favors from Bush's team. PLus, Krugman did not continue his consultancy with Enron after 1998. And, why would Bush save this sinking ship anyway? You think Bush would have liked to go down with Enron? Grow up, your arguments border on being silly. Finally, the reviewer says, quote,
"4) Finally, with year-to-year growth in 2003 projected at 5.7%, unemployment falling (at its worst we flirted with 6%, half that of most Western European countries), profit margins at their highest (13.7%) level since 1997, and stock markets roaring again (as of this writing, the NYSE is up 33% since April and the Nasdaq up 70% since October 2002), it's obvious that Krugman is just whistling in the wind." The reviewer likes to make up the numbers it seems. The economy is not growing at 5.7% rate - go check your numbers, Mr. reviewer. And, go back to 1929 and see how many bear traps the market went through before it hit bottom. Unemployment is not falling - every indication is that this is a jobless recovery. It is just that discouraged workers who "stop looking for work" do not count in the official calculations of the unemployment rate. You are dreaming - profit margins are not 13.7% on average. Are you talking about margins before interest etc.? Nasdaq is selling at a p/E multiple of more than 50. Watch this bubble pop within a few more months. U.S. stocks are expensive even now, by any historical measure - ask Warren Buffett or Bill Gross, the two all time gurus of stocks and bonds. The reviewer ends by saying, quote,
"Krugman's book is that most dangerous of works, a disingenuous political broadside masquerading as economics. To those who want to read the book as an inside account of a once fine economist's fall from grace, fine; but to those who want to learn about how the country's economy works, and how government can be used to stave off both inflation and recession, "The Great Unraveling" is worse than useless." This reviewer confuses monetary policy for fiscal policy - so obviously he has no business of judging one of the finest minds in American economic/political landscape. And who said that Krugman must only write economics - as a columnist he writes as much politics as economics. Bush has not helped at all because he failed miserably in providing the big short term stimulus the economy needed. Instead he wasted the hard earned money on giving tax cuts to his rich buddies (who do not stimulate the economy, because they put that extra money in savings, and not consumption) and on a costly war that has all the potential of becoming a national nightmare sooner or later.
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