Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future

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Vintage Books, 2011 - Business & Economics - 174 pages

Updated for paperback publication, Aftershock is a brilliant reading of the causes of our current economic crisis, with a plan for dealing with its challenging aftermath.

When the nation's economy foundered in 2008, blame was directed almost universally at Wall Street bankers. But Robert B. Reich, one of our most experienced and trusted voices on public policy, suggests another reason for the meltdown. Our real problem, he argues, lies in the increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of the richest Americans, while stagnant wages and rising costs have forced the middle class to go deep into debt. Reich's thoughtful and detailed account of where we are headed over the next decades--and how we can fix our economic system--is a practical, humane, and much-needed blueprint for restoring America's economy and rebuilding our society.

 

Contents

The Pendulum
1
PART I
9
Eccless Insight
11
Parallels
18
The Basic Bargain
28
How Concentrated Income at the Top Hurts the Economy
32
Why Policymakers Obsess About the Financial Economy Instead of About the Real
38
19471975
43
The Politics of Economics 20102020
83
The Pain of Economic Loss
89
Outrage at a Rigged Game
101
The Politics of Anger
114
A New Deal
127
How It Could Get Done
141
Acknowledgments
147
38
151

How We Got Ourselves into the Same Mess Again
50
The Three Coping Mechanisms
60
The Future Without Coping Mechanisms
64
Why China Wont Save
69
No Return to Normal
75
42
163
50
165
88
166
69
168
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About the author (2011)

Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including "The Work of Nations, " which has been translated into twenty-two languages, and the best seller "Supercapitalism." His articles have appeared in "The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, " and "The Wall Street Journal." He is also cofounding editor of "The American Prospect" magazine and provides weekly commentaries on public radio's "Marketplace." He lives in Berkeley and blogs at www.robertreich.org.

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