A convincing, data-driven argument for dividing the economic pie more fairly.
Crunching the numbers behind the income gap reveals effects more profound than previously thought.
For Jeanes, America’s economic ills today and during the Great Depression share a similar cause: lopsided distribution of income and wealth. In both cases, his far-ranging analysis of historical data shows that the bottom 60 percent of the population received about 25 percent of the national income—that’s below the worldwide historical median of 33 percent. A few percentage points may seem trivial, but Jeanes argues that maldistribution skewed toward the upper classes undermines capitalism. Consumption is hurt when money is removed from the lower classes since their propensity to consume is supposedly higher than that of the wealthy. Maldistribution also makes the economy more prone to booms and busts, while diminishing the efficacy of monetary policy as a corrective instrument. The heart of the book contrasts two worlds: one where the majority gets 25 percent of the income, the other, 33 percent. Jeanes theorizes that, besides being more economically vibrant, the world where the majority receives 33 percent of the income will produce better government and business leaders because intelligence—rather than income and other “not-IQ components”—will be the key factor of success. Despite his criticism of the status quo, Jeanes remains a free market advocate who rejects extreme redistribution. He suggests “adaptive taxation” as a means to prevent overtaxing the rich while ensuring that the elite are motivated to serve national interests, not just their own. Economists and other numerophiles will appreciate the author’s quest for more precise metrics on income distribution, and an accompanying website contains spreadsheets for readers to scrutinize the data themselves. Those with only a general interest, however, may find this unabridged edition a big bite to chew. Intriguing extensions on the thesis and sections on population growth and workweek length add to the book’s hefty girth, yet chapters stuffed with graphs and statistics include no executive summaries. Still, Jeanes deserves credit for putting a hot-button issue under a microscope in hopes of finding an equitable solution.
A convincing, data-driven argument for dividing the economic pie more fairly.Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0985665623
Page Count: 242
Publisher: Dilives Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An emotional, captivating Christian story in verse.
Heidish (A Misplaced Woman, 2016, etc.) presents an account of St. Francis of Assisi’s life, as told from his father’s perspective in poetic form.
St. Francis is known as a saint who believed in living the Gospel, gave sermons to birds, and tamed a wolf. Over the course of 84 poems, Heidish tells her own fictionalized version of the saint’s journey. In his youth, Francesco is an apprentice of his father, Pietro Bernardone, a fabric importer. The boy is a sensitive dreamer and nature lover who sees “natural holiness in every living thing.” As an adult, Francesco decides to pursue knighthood, but God warns him to “Go back, child / Serve the master.” He joins the Church of San Damiano, steals his father’s storeroom stock, and sells it to rebuild the church. His furious father chains him in the cellar, and the bishop orders Francesco to repay the debt. Afterward, father and son stop speaking to each other; Francesco becomes a healer of the sick and a proficient preacher. After failing to broker a peace agreement during wartime, Francesco falls into depression and resigns his church position. He retreats to the mountains and eventually dies; it’s only then that Pietro becomes a true follower of St. Francis: “You are the father now and I the son / learning still what it means to be a saint,” he says. Heidish’s decision to tell this story from Pietro’s perspective is what makes this oft-told legend seem fresh again. She uses superb similes and metaphors; for example, at different points, she writes that St. Francis had eyes like “lit wicks” and a spirit that “shone like a clean copper pot.” In another instance, she describes the Church of San Damiano as a place in which “walls crumbled / like stale dry bread.” Following the poems, the author also offers a thorough and engaging historical summary of the real life of St. Francis, which only adds further context and depth to the tale.
An emotional, captivating Christian story in verse.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9905262-1-6
Page Count: 146
Publisher: Dolan & Associates
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A poignant collection by a talented poet still in search of one defining voice.
A debut volume of poetry explores love and war.
Divided into four sections, Osaki’s book covers vast emotional territories. Section 1, entitled “Walking Back the Cat,” is a reflection on youthful relationships both familial and romantic. “Dying Arts,” the second part, is an examination of war and its brutal consequences. But sections three and four, named “Tradecraft” and “Best Evidence” respectively, do not appear to group poems by theme. The collection opens with “My Father Holding Squash,” one of Osaki’s strongest poems. It introduces the poet’s preoccupation with ephemera—particularly old photographs and letters. Here he describes a photo that is “several years old” of his father in his garden. Osaki muses that an invisible caption reads: “Look at this, you poetry-writing / jackass. Not everything I raise is useless!” The squash is described as “bearable fruit,” wryly hinting that the poet son is considered somewhat less bearable in his father’s eyes. Again, in the poem “Photograph,” Osaki is at his best, sensuously describing a shot of a young woman and the fleeting nature of that moment spent with her: “I know only that I was with her / in a room years ago, and that the sun filtering / into that room faded instantly upon striking the floor.” Wistful nostalgia gives way to violence in “Dying Arts.” Poems such as “Preserve” present a battleground dystopia: “Upturned graves and craters / to swim in when it rains. / Small children shake skulls / like rattles, while older ones carve rifles / out of bone.” Meanwhile, “Silver Star” considers the act of escorting the coffin of a dead soldier home, and “Gun Song” ruminates on owning a weapon to protect against home invasion. The language is more jagged here but powerfully unsettling nonetheless. The collection boasts a range of promising poetic voices, but they do not speak to one another, a common pitfall found in debuts. “Walking Back the Cat” is outstanding in its refined attention to detail; the sections following it read as though they have been produced by two or more other poets. Nevertheless, this is thoughtful, timely writing that demands further attention.
A poignant collection by a talented poet still in search of one defining voice.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-984198-32-7
Page Count: 66
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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