A readable, useful economic text. Somewhere, John Maynard Keynes is smiling.
For the crash they failed to predict, for the Great Recession that followed and for the piddling recovery, a longtime economics journalist blames the wrongheaded theories of orthodox economists.
By “orthodox,” Harper’s columnist Madrick (Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present, 2011, etc.) means the right and center-left economists who’ve taken their cues for the past 40 years from Milton Friedman, “the godfather” of the laissez faire revolution. The author marvels at how Friedman and his disciples have escaped censure for policy recommendations accounting for our current mess and takes a stick to the profession for its insularity, trendiness and refusal to abandon theory in the face of stark, real-world facts. Their litany of error, Madrick insists, stems from reliance on Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand theory: that, without any outside interference, buyers and sellers will reach a just accommodation. This 18th-century insight, writes the author, was descriptive rather than prescriptive and surely an incomplete model of modern markets. Its simplicity encouraged the modern era’s move toward widespread deregulation. From the Freidmanites’ horror at the prospect of government intervention flowed other bad ideas: that “supply creates its own demand” and economies will self-adjust; that government is useful only for correcting occasional market failures; that targeting inflation is all that really matters; that markets are highly rational, unsusceptible to fashion or speculative bubbles; that globalization will somehow triumph, and free trade will lift all boats. Madrick hammers mainstream economists for their insistence that economics is a science rooted in mathematics, unaffected by political bias. We’d do better, he argues, to make room for sociology, psychology, history, philosophy and theology to better account for real-world uncertainties and ambiguities. Economics, he insists, “is a set of value judgments,” and notions of decency and community are every bit as relevant as “the special knowledge” held by the high priests.
A readable, useful economic text. Somewhere, John Maynard Keynes is smiling.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-307-96118-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
Less a sequel than an addendum, the book offers a close-up view of the Oval Office in its darkest hour.
Four decades after Watergate shook America, journalist Woodward (The Price of Politics, 2012, etc.) returns to the scandal to profile Alexander Butterfield, the Richard Nixon aide who revealed the existence of the Oval Office tapes and effectively toppled the presidency.
Of all the candidates to work in the White House, Butterfield was a bizarre choice. He was an Air Force colonel and wanted to serve in Vietnam. By happenstance, his colleague H.R. Haldeman helped Butterfield land a job in the Nixon administration. For three years, Butterfield worked closely with the president, taking on high-level tasks and even supervising the installation of Nixon’s infamous recording system. The writing here is pure Woodward: a visual, dialogue-heavy, blow-by-blow account of Butterfield’s tenure. The author uses his long interviews with Butterfield to re-create detailed scenes, which reveal the petty power plays of America’s most powerful men. Yet the book is a surprisingly funny read. Butterfield is passive, sensitive, and dutiful, the very opposite of Nixon, who lets loose a constant stream of curses, insults, and nonsensical bluster. Years later, Butterfield seems conflicted about his role in such an eccentric presidency. “I’m not trying to be a Boy Scout and tell you I did it because it was the right thing to do,” Butterfield concedes. It is curious to see Woodward revisit an affair that now feels distantly historical, but the author does his best to make the story feel urgent and suspenseful. When Butterfield admitted to the Senate Select Committee that he knew about the listening devices, he felt its significance. “It seemed to Butterfield there was absolute silence and no one moved,” writes Woodward. “They were still and quiet as if they were witnessing a hinge of history slowly swinging open….It was as if a bare 10,000 volt cable was running through the room, and suddenly everyone touched it at once.”
Less a sequel than an addendum, the book offers a close-up view of the Oval Office in its darkest hour.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1644-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2015
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