Saving America: Using Democratic Capitalism to Rescue the Nation from Economic Folly - Tapa blanda

Reseña del editor

The book examines national economic problems and offers solutions in a non-economic style, clear and sharp, without obscure jargon. By tracing the political history of taxing and government spending, the author arrives at the conclusion we should never look to the political right to solve any of our problems. The right causes those problems. The nation has historically looked to the left – i.e. progressives – to solve problems, beginning with the Revolutionary War. The author advises to look leftward again, and to stop electing those whose political ideology caused the problems in the first place. Americans had a chance to cut short the massive federal debt—only to ignore the warnings. George H. W. Bush told the American public in 1980 that the economic proposals of Ronald Reagan amounted to “Voodoo economics”. Walter Mondale said in the 1984 campaign that the growing debt was a danger that should be addressed with taxes. President Reagan, who campaigned “to stay the course,” offered what at best could be termed a fairy tale. Americans voted overwhelmingly for the fantasy while at the same time claiming they were not responsible for the looming problem. But politicians will always give what it appears the people want, and the people spoke loud and clear for more fiscal recklessness which future generations may have to pay for. There is a way to a new-and-improved America that may not be as painful or require as much sacrifice as some mainstream pundits believe, but it will require much more than many politicians claim or most Americans want. Politicians on the right continue to tell Americans all will be okay and an economic paradise will bloom if taxes—usually their taxes—are lowered and government simply spends less, except for the military, and to pay interest to those persons and institutions which spent years loading up on Treasury bills, notes and bonds. That is the most-irresponsible position any person can take. The solution, this book intends to show, is to reject the desire to return to the robber-baron past—fundamentalist capitalism—and to recommit the nation to a path toward Democratic Capitalism begun under Franklin D. Roosevelt to combat the Great Depression, but which has been under attack since the days of the Vietnam Conflict. This book offers possible solutions to several problems, but this requires changes in all areas. Attempts to resolve the nation’s problems by tinkering with taxes and the spending of the federal government defy economic logic. There also needs to be changes in commercial thinking and operations, business’s relationship to the nation and government, changes in employee relations, and changes in how individuals and businesses are taxed. Government needs to take on more responsibilities in some areas—if that eases the burden on the nation’s corporations and small businesses and enhances quality of life for citizens—while government needs to be kept out of other areas. But government must be used; it cannot be dismissed, as many on the unrealistic right seem to want. This book tries to show that equality of rights can be accomplished without diminishing the position of those who view themselves as society’s elite. It also will debunk the right’s claim that it wants more freedom and less government or that the left wants more government and less freedom. The reliance on only government to solve society’s problems is likewise dismissed; the book shows that government should create conditions for solutions through its rules. Then it is up to America’s citizens and businesses to actually do what is needed to solve problems.