America: What Went Wrong?

Rating:
Summary: Exposure of Real Criminals
Review: I read this book in hindsight of course, but the facts were already obvious to those paying attention, and more than their fair share of the tax burden. Everything is on schedule, and the worse is yet to come. If others are unable to see our National demise, then they choose to do so regardless of data. Economists always choose the figures that make their point, so they make sure that only True Criminals ever make it into the Whitehouse, or Congress. We would be better off to put our Government out to the highest bidder, and fire everyone in Washington. Putting out a "hit list" on the big bankers would be a good start as well. These people have murdered citizens of other Countries, without remorse, so it is only justifiable retaliation. Just ask the Panamanians, and the Columbians. Drugs are now our greatest Government assest, and we plant new fields each year throughout the world. Read and learn, then observe the real American Business attitude. When our Nation is attacked, who will care whether it stands or falls, certainly not I. I am working for the Foreign powers anyway.

Rating:
Summary: What really went wrong?
Review: I recall, when Regan's "simplified" 3-tier federal income tax code took effect, conducting a simple experiment: I calculated the tax on several incomes, from poverty level to over $200000, both before and after the change. Although the gross tax dropped, the percentage paid by the lower incomes increased, while the upper decreased. This, I remember thinking, does not look good.

Barlet and Steele's book gave substance to my suspicion, and helped to form my current understanding of US government, which is, I believe, increasingly under the sway of a wealthy elite.

Particularly interesting were the parallel the book drew between the early '1920s and the '80s.

While the book does well in illuminating the problems faced by our republic, it does less well in suggesting a cure, though, in its defense, this is a less easy task.

I recommend this book to every serious, thinking person I meet.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, Still Highly Relevant, Accurate Predictor
Review: If you're convinced that we'd have been better off as a socialist state with wealth redistribution run thought government instead of the private sector, this is for you.

If you like to pretend that your lot in life is a result of the victimization of the masses at the hands of the wealthy, be my guest.

If, however, have any knowledge of how market forces shape the world, forget this laughable bit of tripe from two Pulitzer Prize winners who must be waiting eagerly for the collapse of Western civilization -- right next to the guy with the "Repent Now, Ye Sinners" sign. It's essentially radical leftist propaganda of the funniest order.

Rating:
Summary: Sensationalistic "journalism" at its worst.
Review: One of the worst thought out books I ever read. Makes excessive use of case study, focussing on the story of a single individual, without attempting to dig into the more general experience of the population. It's section on the deregulation of the airlines was especially dishonest, as it examined one route where prices went up, without ever refuting or even discussing the broad evidence (that now should be apparent to everyone) that ticket prices fell with deregulation. This is classic doomster writing, and an excellent case in point for the position that economics should be left up to economists.

Rating:
Summary: A worthless political diatribe
Review: This book is a worthless diatribe written from a Maoist/Leninist/Marxist perspective. No one would argue that there are excesses in American business, but these guys are so biased in their writing that the end result looks like it was published in the old Soviet Union. Save your money and your time by avoiding this book.

Rating:
Summary: What really went wrong?
Review: This book is really an eye opener. It cuts through all the bull that we normally get in the press or from politicians. It suddenly puts everything in focus and you realize why things are the way they are now, especially if you were around in the 50's as a pre-baby boomer or a baby-boomer. I think it's even more important that people born in the 70's read it so they can get a grasp on where this country is headed. Intelligent, clear, well documented writing, it should be included in every school curriculum as required reading.

Rating:
Summary: EYE OPENER
Review: This book was bought as one of the text books I needed for my college civics class. Of all the text books I have bought, this is the only one that I read from cover to cover. This book will make you angry with what is allowed to happen to the average American. Most of the incidents that are talked about are not general public knowledge. I don't feel that it is a fatalistic book as other reviewers have indicated. It does bring out some disturbing issues that should not have happened or allowed to happen.

Rating:
Summary: Still highly relevant
Review: This is a book that really helps ordinary Americans understand what is happening to the economy. Though somewhat dated by being written before our so-called period of prosperity, the trends emphasized in the book not only continue, but in some instances have accelerated. In that important sense, B's & S's work remains as topical today as it was yesterday. It's also an excellent companion to Kevin Phillip's more recent *Politics of the Rich and Poor*, though the former aims at a more popular audience. Many of the statistical comparisons of Phillip's book were originated here: the junk bond plunder of healthy companies, the massive export of high-wage jobs, the decline of pension funds and health care, et.al. And a sorry, sorry tale it is.

Several pressing topics not included in Phillip's book are discussed here. "Net operating loss" is perhaps the most egregious method of transferring wealth upward. This highly biased tax allowance allows struggling companies to write off last year's net operating loss on this year's tax bill, forcing taxpayers to pay for operating losses incurred by private sector firms. Similarly, Chapter 11 bankruptcies allow indigent firms to continue operating with present management but immune from creditors. The net effect of both measures is to lessen risk and encourage reckless speculation, thereby undermining long-term market health. Included in the book are other degenerate measures deriving largely from the 1980's: Deduction of interest from corporate borrowing, Tax-free government bonds (deriving from early 1900's), Untaxed stock transactions, et.al. The overall result is to transfer the tax burden from wealthy categories to middle-cass brackets. For more far-sighted conservatives, this amounts to an alarming social and political development.

Though much the same ground has now been trod in other books, the story can stand multiple retellings, since middle-class decline is perhaps the most important domestic trend of our time. What distinguishes this book's original telling are the vivid personal profiles amidst the welter of relevant statistics. These cameos have the crucial effect of reminding the reader that behind the abstractions are real people whose lives are shaped by tax legislation, wealth transfers, and job export. The result is a little like Studs Turkel meets the tax collector.

Recommended for those interested in the social contours of the future.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, Still Highly Relevant, Accurate Predictor
Review: Tis a usually natural reaction to want to lash out at the bearer of bad news, this book defines the limitations and restrictions that various pressure groups have inflicted on that dysfunctional corporation known as the United States.

"America: What Went Wrong" is just as important and relevant today as it was when initally released. America's overall economic situation is much worse today than it was when this book was initially published. This book accurately forecasts the problems America has as it loses its manufacturing base and became a service-oriented society (Wal-Mart supposedly has 700 Chinese factories of its own). Now the multi-national's factories are fleeing Mexico in 2002 for the slave-like workers of China.Unsettling for sure, I challenge you to read this book and don't be surprised if you re-read parts of it as the late 1990s Clinton/Greenspan artificial economic bubble unwinds into a 1930s style worldwide economic depression.