Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Everyone should read this book.
  • Time for updated edition
  • This book is fantastic (and that's bad)
  • great bookclub discussion
  • How did this become a best seller?
 Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
Peter G. Peterson
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374252874

Book Description

When Bush came to office in 2001, the 10-year budget balance was officially projected to be at a surplus of $5.6 trillion. But after three big tax cuts, the bursting of the stock-market bubble, and the devastating effects of 9/11on the economy, the surplus has evaporated, and the deficit is expected to grow to $ 5-trillion over the next decade. The domestic deficit is only the half of it. Given our $500 billion trade deficit and our anemic savings rate, we depend on an unprecedented $2 billion of foreign capital every working day. If foreign confidence were to wane, this could lead to the dreaded hard landing.

Peter G. Peterson--a lifelong Republican, chairman of the Blackstone Group, and former secretary of commerce under Nixon--shatters the myths with hard facts and a harrowing view of the twin deficit's real impact. Republicans and Democrats alike have mortgaged America's future through reckless tax cuts, out-of-control spending and Enron-style accounting in Congress. And the situation will only get worse as the Baby Boom generation begins to retire, making unprecedented demands on entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. Despite what Bush says, we are on a path that could end in economic meltdown, and we simply cannot grow out of the deficit.

In Running On Empty, Peterson sounds the warning bell and prescribes a set of detailed solutions which, if implemented early, will prevent the need for draconian measures later. He takes us behind the politicians' smoke-and-mirror games, and forcefully explains what we must do to rescue the future of our country.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Everyone should read this book........2007-09-01

Although Peterson is a Republican, his explanation about the legacy of debt we are passing on to our children is bipartisan. Peterson realizes that there is ample blame to spread between both parties! Our country's lack of fiscal responsibility and logical fiscal thinking will cost our country its future if something radical is not done soon. While attacking Social Security is unspeakable, we are rapidly approaching a time when we will have to apply a needs test to receiving benefits. Our current form of patchwork health care is costing us far more money in the long run than creating an intelligent form of universal health care ever could. The war in Iraq is also destroying our economic future as is the cost of a college education. Although as someone noted, Peterson's solutions were far too brief, his willingness to address these issues with clarity will hopefully serve the purpose of driving partisan discussions and creating a desire to reform the systems that will financially destroy our country.

5 out of 5 stars Time for updated edition.......2007-08-07

This is another essential book in the runup to 2008 primaries and elections (* three others are listed below), as it confronts the economic elephant in America's room that threatens our futures and those of our children and grandchildren.

While the book is nearly three years old and ready for an update, the conclusion today is overwhelming: We are facing a crisis, and whoever wins the presidency in 2008 must create a coalition government beholden to no political theology. This government must divorce itself from Republican and Democratic orthodoxies. The parties have fed on each other in a destructive way. The Republicans tax too little and the Democrats spend too much, and they have borrowed the worst from each other and corrupted responsible governance in countless ways. The bill is past due, and the evidence is inescapable.

It is not pretty reading, damns both parties in equal measure, and points toward solutions, particularly a fairer tax system on corporate profits and urgent rethinking of entitlements.


Pete Peterson brings serious credibility to the discussion, not only as a University of Chicago-schooled fiscal conservative, but as co-founder of the Blackstone Group, chair of the Council on Foreign Relations and a principal in the Concord Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to fiscal responsibility at www.concordcoalition.org.

This book kept a small group of us awake in early 2005 after we heard and met Mr. Peterson at a conference at the United Nations, read the book and compared notes. Revisiting this book today, the message is more urgent than ever, and the paperback edition is in sore need of an update, at the very least in the introduction and postscript. The evidence is doubtless more dire than it was, but we need to hear it, particularly as our credit markets wobble.

In the current environment, neither party's candidates show real signs of confronting Peterson's formidable evidence. While the Democrats at least show early signs of grappling with issues, they deserve further prodding.

The Republican party is deep into its decadent phase, with Bush-Cheney-Rove the agents of its moral and intellectual bankruptcy. Ron Paul is at least providing some coherent ideas amid the poseurs of the moment and John McCain knows better, but neither is swaying anything.

Since 1980, when Republican congressional candidates drew the Laffer curve on napkins to demonstrate their mastery of economic quackery, the party has grown increasingly faith-based, denying evidence in the fervor of a theological belief in tax cuts.

Those cuts made proven sense after Reagan cut marginal tax rates from 71 to 50 percent, but no sense at all as Bush cuts into the bone in the low 30s and tries to make it permanent as bridges, highways, our military and trust funds go wanting and as we borrow more from the Chinese to fund our spendthrift ways.

The first step toward recovery of our bearings is facing what is. Every candidate in 2008 should be closely questioned about the evidence from Peterson and the COncord Coalition. One prays that the winner of the next election would look beyond our short-term, infotainment-driven culture of the moment, and just Do The Right Thing to keep our country strong and free at this late hour.

* P.S.: The other three books: Tragic Legacy by Glenn Greenwald (the best book on the consequences of the Bush regime's mindset); Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency by Lou Dubose and Jake Bernstein, and Second Chance by Zbigniew Brzrezinski (a powerful foreign policy primer on the last three administrations, with some roadmaps of solutions).

5 out of 5 stars This book is fantastic (and that's bad).......2007-05-23

It is critically important that every voting adult read this book. It explains: 1) Why deficits are bad, 2) How we created such large deficits 3) Who's responsible (hint: both democrats and republicans) 4) What we can do to fix the problem, 5) what could happen if we don't. It is as unbiased a politcal book as can be written. It has an entire chapter devoted each to destroying the democratic and republican myths that keep us in deficits. This is a book that I personally recommend to everyone I speak to about books or politics.

4 out of 5 stars great bookclub discussion.......2007-03-24

Our book club had a great discussion after reading this book. He writes a compelling story of our situation. I thought he could have been stronger on possible solutions.

Heaven help us--our politicians will continue being politicians (both Ds and Rs) until we all go down together on this Titanic earthen voyage.

1 out of 5 stars How did this become a best seller?.......2007-01-31

This book is an emotional appeal that will leave you 'empty'

The author does not cite sources. It is sadly true, there is no bibliography. No one in the academic community could get away with this.
Do not waste your time reading someone's opinion that is not legitimately cited.
Taxes, Spending, and the U.S. Government's March Towards Bankruptcy
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    		Taxes, Spending, and the U.S. Government's March Towards Bankruptcy
    Daniel N. Shaviro
    Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

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    What's in a word? Plenty, when it's a word such as “taxes,” “spending,” or “deficits” that pervades Washington political debate despite lacking coherent economic content. The United States is moving toward a possible catastrophic fiscal collapse. The country may not get there, but the risk is unmistakable and growing. The “fiscal language” of taxes, spending, and deficits has played a huge and underappreciated role in the decisions that have pushed the nation in this dangerous direction. This book proposes a better fiscal language for U.S. budgetary policy, rooted in economic fundamentals such as wealth distribution and resource allocation in lieu of “taxes” and “spending” and in the use of multiple measures (such as the fiscal gap and generational accounting) to replace misguided reliance on annual budget deficits.
    Deficit Politics: The Search for Balance in American Politics (Longman Classics Series), Second Edition
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      		Deficit Politics: The Search for Balance in American Politics (Longman Classics Series), Second Edition
      Donald F. Kettl
      Manufacturer: Longman
      ProductGroup: Book
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      Deficit Hysteria: A Common Sense Look at America's Rush to Balance the Budget
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        		Deficit Hysteria: A Common Sense Look at America's Rush to Balance the Budget
        Arthur Benavie
        Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

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        ASIN: 027596308X

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        The political consensus in the United States today is that the nation avoid deficit spending. But as virtuous and unassailable as that goal sounds, it has fallacies and dangers. In a lucid, nontechnical writing style, Benavie shows that deficits can be either good or bad and explains how to tell the difference. Deficits, or government borrowing, can be beneficial or harmful depending on what the government does with the money. Preventing such borrowing, Benavie points out, would be comparable to preventing one's family from borrowing money to buy a house or to put a child through college. Deficits can be beneficial to the nation's economic health in three main ways. When the economy slumps, a deficit, which is automatically created, helps to reduce the severity of the recession. When the economy is seriously depressed, boosting the deficit may be the only cure. Finally, deficits to support such investments as basic research, cleaning up toxic waste, and rebuilding inner cities are crucial to the economic health of future generations.
        Passing The Buck: Congress, The Budget, And Deficits
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          		Passing The Buck: Congress, The Budget, And Deficits
          Jasmine Farrier
          Manufacturer: University Press of Kentucky
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Hardcover

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          ASIN: 0813123356

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          In the past thirty years, Congress has dramatically changed its response to unpopular deficit spending. While the landmark Congressional Budget Act of 1974 tried to increase congressional budgeting powers, new budget processes created in the 1980s and 1990s were all explicitly designed to weaken member, majority, and institutional budgeting prerogatives. These later reforms shared the premise that Congress cannot naturally forge balanced budgets without new automatic mechanisms and enhanced presidential oversight. So Democratic majorities in Congress gave new budgeting powers to Presidents Reagan and Bush, and then Republicans did the same for President Clinton.

          Passing the Buck examines how Congress is increasing delegation of a wide variety of powers to the president in recent years. Jasmine Farrier assesses why institutional ambition in the early 1970s turned into institutional ambivalence about whether Congress is equipped to handle its constitutional duties.
          The Coming Economic Earthquake: Revised and Expanded for the Clinton Agenda
          Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
          • Wholly Unoriginal Work by A False Prophet
          • A Future Warning
          • Interesting information - Good read!
          • Economics solid, Timing off
          		 The Coming Economic Earthquake: Revised and Expanded for the Clinton Agenda
          Larry Burkett
          Manufacturer: Moody Pr
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback

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          Customer Reviews:

          1 out of 5 stars Wholly Unoriginal Work by A False Prophet.......2007-07-11

          In the old testament when a prophet made a prediction that didn't come true they were exposed as a false prophet, taken out and stoned to death. I'm certainly not recommending it- just putting some perspective on our extreme tolerance for people that are consistently WRONG in their predictions. Only God knows what's going to happen, and it's GOD not government, or even we ourselves that provides for us. Burkett and a whole host of "Christian financial advisors" put WAAAAYYYYY too much stock in "planning and preparation". I don't discount it, but they do it and recommend it to the point of pride and idolitary. Do what YOU are supposed to do, and let God do the rest. Quit WORRYING (as worry is a sin) and trying to predict the future and get on with your life!!!

          4 out of 5 stars A Future Warning.......2006-09-19

          Those some of his predictions (such as 2000) about an economic earthquake hasn't happened yet nor are we that close even with the largest deficit in history. Although it's hard to predict such things...But Larry Burkett makes valid warnings about huge goverment and public deficits and it's impact on the economic that normally leads to hyper-inflation. My impression from the data contained in the book and history thereafter, the government deficit will not have a negative impact such as hyper-inflation till most of the baby boomers are retired. I wish Larry would have updated this topic! The book is still worth buying as it has valuable information, it's super cheap...

          4 out of 5 stars Interesting information - Good read!.......1999-10-26

          The revised edition of The Coming Economic Earthquake has some interesting information. For a somewhat different view you should check out "The Christian Financial Crisis" by James L. Paris.

          4 out of 5 stars Economics solid, Timing off.......1999-07-08

          While Mr. Burkett's timing for the economic collapse is off the principals remain solid. Our economy will collapse and his book fortells how and why, while still offering hope. Much thought to chew on.
          Restoring Fiscal Sanity: How to Balance the Budget (Restoring Fiscal Sanity)
          Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
          • A vital, well-researched and aptly presented compilation
          		 Restoring Fiscal Sanity: How to Balance the Budget (Restoring Fiscal Sanity)

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          In Restoring Fiscal Sanity, scholars with high-level government experience provide an overview of the country's likely medium- and long-term spending needs and the resources available to pay for them. They propose three alternative fiscal paths that are more responsible than the current path.

          Customer Reviews:

          5 out of 5 stars A vital, well-researched and aptly presented compilation.......2004-08-08

          Restoring Fiscal Sanity: How To Balance The Budget is an anthology of essays by expert economists addressing the problems of managing America's finances in the grand scale. Essays address the issues of why growing deficits are too important to ignore, the sweeping impact of America's aging population, three viable alternative plans to get the budget to balance, and much more. A vital, well-researched and aptly presented compilation.
          America the Broke: How the Reckless Spending of The White House and Congress are Bankrupting Our Country and Destroying Our Children's Future
          Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
          • facts and fear
          • He is right, but it is too late
          • Great introduction to the HUGE problem we face
          • A must read, but how are we to fix it?
          • This book tells you what you can do help protect your future
          		 America the Broke: How the Reckless Spending of The White House and Congress are Bankrupting Our Country and Destroying Our Children's Future
          Gerald J. Swanson
          Manufacturer: Currency
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Hardcover

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          5. The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel

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          Release Date: 2004-08-03

          Book Description

          “One day soon, our government will suddenly run out of cash, unable to meet its payments, leaving the United States as bankrupt as any banana republic. We are far more vulnerable than most Americans realize. . . With a debt of $7.3 trillion, if interest rates were to hit the levels we saw 20 years ago, it would take every nickel collected in income taxes just to pay the interest on our existing debt. There would be no money left for defense, or homeland security, or education, or Social Security.

          This scenario is hardly fiction. That the United States of America can literally go broke is no longer a fantasy but likelihood—unless we stop the train now speeding us to Armageddon. If we do not get our financial house in order, and soon, our great nation will collapse under the weight of its financial obligations.

          I believe we can prevent the catastrophe. But time is short. In the final reckoning, it’s up to us to do what’s needed to save America’s future.”—from America the Broke

          The dirty little secret that neither George W. Bush nor Congress are willing to confront—that America’s reckless spending, disastrous deficits, and exploding debt are speeding our great nation to financial ruin.

          Imagine a world in which you lose your job because your company goes under, your retirement money disappears, the value of your home tumbles overnight, your bank stops allowing cash withdrawals, and your ATM card is canceled. The price of groceries has risen so fast that you don’t have the money to pay for them at the check-out counter . . . and the country is bankrupt.

          That is exactly the future that economist Gerald J. Swanson sees America hurtling toward—unless we rein in our country’s reckless spending. In America the Broke, Swanson, coauthor of the runaway New York Times bestseller Bankruptcy 1995, argues that the United States is on the brink of financial collapse. Thanks to George W. Bush’s two tax cuts, the White House and Congress’ escalation of domestic spending, two wars, and an economic recession, what was a $200 billion annual surplus three years ago under Bill Clinton has become a river of red ink. The White House’s official projected deficit for 2004 is $521 billion—the largest deficit in U.S. history. With a national debt spiraling upward of $7.3 trillion, a huge trade deficit, and personal debt at an all-time high, we are standing at the edge of a financial abyss that could undermine the financial security of our families and our children’s children.

          “Deficits don’t matter,” claim Vice President Dick Cheney and other members of the Bush Administration. But the facts revealed in America the Broke paint an alarming picture.

          Next year’s projected deficit will exceed the amount all our cities spend on police, fire protection, medical care, and every other civil service in an entire year. It is more than we could save from abolishing Medicare and Medicaid completely.
          The real deficit—the deficit the government doesn’t want you to know about—including the hidden funds we “borrow” from Social Security is nearly $1 trillion.
          Rising interest rates alone could trigger staggering payments on our skyrocketing debt, soaking up every dollar the government takes in, leaving America bankrupt.

          What does this mean for you and me? If the dollar goes into free fall, banks could close, businesses go bankrupt, real estate values crumble, and middle-class families could lose everything they own.

          But there is hope. We can save ourselves—if we demand that our political leaders act now to eliminate the deficit and reduce the debt. In a year of deficit denial, America the Broke is a critical wake-up call regarding our government’s reckless deficit spending—as well as a blueprint for rescuing our economy and saving our country.

          Customer Reviews:

          4 out of 5 stars facts and fear.......2006-06-15

          The U.S. is obviosly not a closed economy. Right now, the U.S. debt held by foreigners is so great that it is not in their interest to see the dollar fall, nor would it be good for their exports-the 2001 recession wreaked havoc on their exports. The U.S. if it were to go down, would drag much of the world down with it and makes the issue very complex. As of now interest rates are still low, but rising, and the government will not raise interest rates as high as the early 80's because that will throw the economy into recession and burst the housing bubble. Housing prices have never declined in nominal terms and the government knows that high interest rates would kill the mortgage market, dragging down the banks and thus the economy as well. There is a delicate balance to say the least. This book does a good job of presenting the situation, but the scenario will not be so grim. Germany and Japan recovered quickly after they destroyed themselves and the world in WW2, and the U.S. has not gone nearly that far or will it ever.

          5 out of 5 stars He is right, but it is too late.......2006-03-24

          This book is very informative and easy reading. Yes, our government has led this country to a brink of bankrupcy. But what will the people do? Will they really write letters to their congressman and join google and yahoo groups and spend their energy to fix our country? No. Most people will just go on complaining and do nothing. Yes, some people will take civil responsibility and do all the right things as the book suggests, but it is too late. I am just being realistic. Like the author says, every great empire comes to death, and a new one begins. America had it's moment of glory and it got too fat. My point is, just as the politicians are corrupt, most people are also corrupt. No one was forced to use credit cards and get into irresponsible debt. We have only ourselves to blame.

          5 out of 5 stars Great introduction to the HUGE problem we face.......2005-12-07

          I asked my husband what he thought the most important political issue was, and he said "the deficit." He's a pretty smart guy, and even though I was surprised he didn't say something more "exciting" like abortion, the war, or the environment, I thought I would look into it anyway. I got Swanson's book from the library and just couldn't put it down. Swanson succeeded in enfuriating me with this topic. He writes in a very conversational way that is clear to understand for the beginner. And proved for me that, once again, my husband was right! :)

          4 out of 5 stars A must read, but how are we to fix it?.......2004-11-15

          The author does an excellent job of alerting us to America's fiscal problems, and for those who need a better understanding of them, this is a must read. It is well written and provides realistic scenarios if we fail to fix the system.

          But Gerald Swanson describes only the symptom, and like other economists he overlooks the disease (our moneyed political system) and the real cure (public funding of political campaigns). To expect "honesty, responsibility and good government to return to government" is a pipe dream when the fat cats who fund our political elections are paying for just the opposite. What part of "he who pays the piper calls the tune" do we not understand?

          Swanson also favors privatizing some of our government functions, and I would agree if we could get private campaign money out of our public electoral system. Private companies can give campaign contributions to control the outcome of their investment; government entities cannot. One need only look at the "privatized" rebuilding of Iraq under Halliburton for evidence of the affects it would have on U.S. taxpayers.

          On the health care cost crisis, the author offers only four choices: Raise taxes, reduce benefits, change eligibility guidelines, or continue borrowing to finance Medicare and Medicaid. But there's a fifth and needed action: control the spiraling health care costs which are increasing at double-digit rates! We struggle to find ways of "paying" for health care but continue to allow the medical community to run open loop while building unneeded hospitals, buying excessive numbers of high-tech scanners and ordering medical procedures that are not needed. Physician self referrals have run amok. A single payor health care system is long overdue, but both sides of the isle have been AWOL on the issue and will remain so until the $100 million per year that is given by the medical and pharmaceutical industries is replaced with public funding of campaigns.

          That said, this is still a must-read book. But the author and his colleagues must now address the common denominator; the dollar bill. Congressmen are bought and paid for by special interests and they will continue putting them ahead of public interests until the funding of elections is paid for by the taxpayers. For $15 per taxpayer per year we could fund both state and federal elections and eliminate over $2000 per taxpayer per year in government giveaways. Only then will we see balanced budgets, reasonable government spending and a fair tax system. That's a bargain at a hundred times the price.

          5 out of 5 stars This book tells you what you can do help protect your future.......2004-09-28

          America the Broke is one of the most important books I have ever read. Its conclusions are very disturbing because they are founded on a detailed and systematic analysis of existing facts. Swanson's logic is irrefutable.

          In clear, honest and straight-forward language Swanson shows how politicians in their hunger to be reelected have deceived you and me. They have run up over 7.3 Trillion Dollars in Debt. To put this in perspective it would take over thirty one thousand years spending one dollar a second to reach a Trillion Dollars.

          He explains specifically the accounting scams that have been used to intentionally hide the truth from us and how seriously we have already been harmed.

          Swanson's step by step analysis reveals why you and I may soon be forced to say good bye to our jobs, our businesses, our homes, our savings, our retirement, and our future.

          He offers us a solution to this awful mess. He sets forth the specific action each of us can take to force our political leaders to tell the truth and stop spending America into bankruptcy.

          Please buy and read America the Broke immediately. Let's take action before it is too late.
          Balanced Budgets and American Politics
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            		Balanced Budgets and American Politics
            James D. Savage
            Manufacturer: Cornell Univ Pr
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Hardcover

            MacroeconomicsMacroeconomics | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            Public FinancePublic Finance | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            Federal GovernmentFederal Government | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
            Public AdministrationPublic Administration | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
            ASIN: 0801420474

            Book Description

            Winner of the Harold D. Lasswell Award from the American Political Science Association A Choice Outstanding Academic Book for 1988-89

            "The ideology of a balanced federal budget has maintained a remarkable hold over American politics. No generation has been free from pitched battles over national debt. In this lively and well-written book, James D. Savage contends that the federal deficit must be understood as a primarily political, not an economic, phenomenon whose symbolism has shaped more than two hundred years of American economic policy."--Journal of Politics
            Great American Deception: What Politicians Won't Tell You About Our Economy and Your Future
            Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
            • this may be batra's best book -- and they're all good!
            • The Little Man's Economist
            • Incisive analysis of what ails America
            		 Great American Deception: What Politicians Won't Tell You About Our Economy and Your Future
            Ravi Batra
            Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Inc
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Hardcover

            GeneralGeneral | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            TheoryTheory | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            FinanceFinance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books | Banks & Banking | Corporate Finance | Foreign Exchange | Inflation | Interest
            GeneralGeneral | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
            Federal GovernmentFederal Government | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
            Similar Items:
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            2. The Myth of Free Trade: The Pooring of America The Myth of Free Trade: The Pooring of America
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            ASIN: 0471165565

            Customer Reviews:

            5 out of 5 stars this may be batra's best book -- and they're all good!.......1999-02-26

            Batra explains why free trade and regressive taxation have not led us to the nirvana of universal prosperity promised by establishment democrat and republican politicos. He presents an overwhelming mass of evidence to bolster his conclusions. Dr. Batra is a brilliant and incisive thinker who really is concerned with the welfare of the little person. To read this man is to know that the elites in the media, financial, and political spheres are lying, self-serving tyrants. Read this book -- and learn the reality of modern American economic history, a reality that is intentionally obscured from our view by the powers-that-be.

            5 out of 5 stars The Little Man's Economist.......1999-02-17

            The author tackles the big economic thinkers and ideas, one by one. He has done amazing historical research in order to debunk all the popular myths about the economy, myths he feels are perpetrated by economists beholden to rich clients. He takes no prisoners in his attack on regressive taxes and free trade (you know, the money goes out but it doesn't come back). Better than a boxing match.

            5 out of 5 stars Incisive analysis of what ails America.......1997-11-12

            Dr. Ravi Batra has, since the late 1970s, been offering some of the most thought provoking analysis of economic developments in the US and the world at large. In 1984, he suggested that increasing concentration of wealth was behind the speculative bubble in asset markets (The Great Depression of 1990). In 1990, the Federal Reserve proved successful in infusing the economy with money (and low interest rates), thereby saving the banking system from collapse, while ensuring a repeat run-up in stock prices. While this action by the Fed helped stave off Batra's prediction of an economic collapse -- he may very well still turn out to be right -- just witness the unfolding crisis in Asian stock and currency markets. In the 1990s, he has also warned about the effect that free trade in goods (and a free flow of investment) are having on manufacturing employment as laid-off manufacturing workers are re-employed in the services sector at, typically, a much lower wage, thus explaining the drop in real household incomes of American families since the early 1970s (The Myth of Free Trade). In The Great American Deception he warns us about the unfair shift of the tax burden from corporations to individuals in recent decades and its likely effect on the economy. One could say that he confirms Oswald Spengler's insight that when big money calls the shots the sole purpose of commercial laws and regulations is to accommodate the desire of the large moneyed interests to accumulate more wealth, no matter its effect on society at large. Dr. Batra is a great thinker with vision and the courage to state necessary truths, no matter how controversial. Indeed, if it weren't for thinkers like him we would be at the mercy of CNN and Business Week to understand what's really going on in the world. This is a book that shines the light on complex problems, but with simplicity of exposition and plenty of factual substantiation. A must read for concerned citizens.

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