I want to highly recommend a book by a friend of mine, Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and a frequent contributor to The American Prospect. In a nutshell, it's an argument, based on a devastating critique of the historically dismal performance of the currently dominant economic models in the US, to revitalize an economics that enriches the commonwealth for the benefit of all, not just the few. This is the kind of economics all Democrats should embrace (and one they probably already do, without knowing it).
Here's a description of the book from its publishers:
http://www.bkconnection.com/ProdDetails.asp?ID=9781576753873&PG=1&Type=RLMa&PCS=BKPSummary
* Exposes the destructive consequences of the 'you're on your own" approach to dealing with pressing societal problems
* Shows how a more collaborative 'we're all in this together" strategy can better resolve these problems and ensure that risks and benefits are shared equitably
* Details specific alternatives to current policies in areas like globalization, health care, and employment
Description
Synopsis
As the new century unfolds, we face a host of economic and social challenges--jobs lost to "offshoring," a huge and growing number of Americans without health insurance coverage, an expanding gap between rich and poor, stagnant wages, decaying public schools, and many others. These are difficult and complex problems, but our government's strategy for dealing with them has been essentially not to deal with them at all. Over and over, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, we're told that we're on our own--"Here's a tax cut and a private account; now go fend for yourself."
As Jared Bernstein points out, this approach doesn't make any sense as a strategy for solving the enormous systemic problems we face. It's just a way of shifting economic risk from those most able to bear it--the government and the nation's corporations--to those least able: individuals and families. The result has been greater wealth for the top 1 percent of Americans and stagnant living standards and increasing insecurity for the vast majority.
In All Together Now, Bernstein outlines a new strategy, one that applauds individual initiative but recognizes that the problems we face as a nation can be solved only if we take a more collaborative approach. The message is simple: we're all in this together.
Bernstein draws on recent and historic events to explore how the proponents of what he dubs the YOYO (you're-on-your-own) approach have sold the idea, exposing the fallacies and ulterior motives in their arguments as well as the disasterous consequences of their policies. More importantly, he details practical WITT (we're-in-this-together) initiatives in specific areas like globalization, health care, and employment that could improve the lives of millions of Americans without increasing overall national spending. And he offers advice on how to overcome objections to the WITT agenda and bring the country together so that both risks and benefits are shared more fairly.
While the prevailing philosophy insists that all we can do is cope with massive social forces, each of us on our own, Bernstein argues that we can unite and shape these forces to meet our needs. The optimistic message of All Together Now is that the economic challenges we face are not insoluble; we can wield the tools of government to meet them in such a way as to build a more just and equitable society.
Endorsements
"Jared Bernstein is to most economic writers what Red Bull is to decaf latte. In All Together Now he makes such a rousing case for mutual responsibility and shared risk that you'll leap out of your chair and into action. Everyone in the sub-billionaire class needs to read this book and send a gift copy to his or her elected officials."
--Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch
"This vitally important and readable book couldn't have arrived at a better time. With common sense and common decency, Bernstein shows where we've gone off course and how to find our way back."
--Robert B. Reich, Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley, and former U.S. Secretary of Labor 'Jared Bernstein is a passionate economist who provides hard data to describe the world as it is, and ideas to make the world more just. All Together Now should be read and debated by all who know that the status quo is failing us and seek a daring and bracing examination of the reasons for our discontent.
--E. J. Dionne, syndicated columnist, author of Why Americans Hate Politics and Stand Up Fight Back, and Professor, Georgetown University
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