The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Krugman
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Book Reviews of The Conscience of a Liberal
Book Review: O.K. Social History from.....an Economist?
Summary: 3 Stars
I have to say, I was dissapointed with this book. The central thesis of the book is that markets never created the middle class lifestyle prevalent in the 1950's and 1960's but that this came about as a result of policies instituted as part of the New Deal. With the rise of the movement conservativism since the 1970's these policies have deteriorated and so has the middle class they created. Krugman believes it is possible to return to a more egalitarian distribution of wealth (and correspondingly for most, a higher quality of life than we currently enjoy) through a resurrection of New Deal values particularly an emphasis on strong unions. Krugman describes vaguely policies of the New Deal, guesses at their social/economic ramifications and spends quite a bit of time on the rise of Movement Conservativism. Krugman's idea is interesting and timely but he really doesn't do a very good job in supporting his argument. I was dissapointed in the lack of detail examining New Deal policies and their economic consequences and most of the social history Krugman covers is somewhat vague. As Krugman is an economist I was really expecting the book to involve substantial quantitative analysis, but I don't recall running across one statistic in the whole book and most of his conclusions seem like he is making a good guess. The whole book seems as through it was more of a first draft where he is fleshing out his basic ideas but still has as yet to go back and do the tedious work of substantiating them with....fact. In a nutshell, compelling idea but very poor on follow-through. Particularly dissapointing because the idea itself is really worth writing about. Also, the title really seems to market itself to an audience that identifies itself as "liberal" when in reality citizens of any political persuasion would benefit from this read.Book Review: A Much Needed Vision
Summary: 5 Stars
Paul Krugman has become one of the most important spokesmen in the US on political/economic matters. Throughout the woeful years of the Bush Administration he has been an articulate, concerned, voice for those Americans whose needs W. and his henchmen have ignored, i.e. everyone except the ultra-wealthy. In The Conscience of a Liberal, Krugman hopes to help jump-start the beginning of a new liberal progressive era which can rebuild the country and repair the damage of the last seven years.
Krugman often appears to be a professional contrarian, but that is because he is not afraid to challenge what has come to be perceived wisdom, revealing that that "wisdom" is nothing more than propaganda based on distorted reasoning and perverted statistics. Krugman tells the story of the Great Compression, the creation of a middle class America with lessening inequalities and increasing opportunities beginning in the 1930s and 1940s. He then reveals how what he calls "movement conservatives" who favor financial and social inequalities and the restriction of opportunity seized control, first of the Republican Party and then of the country, and how they have been implementing their goals ever since. Next Krugman predicts the ultimate failure of these so-called conservatives (who are actually right wing radicals) and the rise of a new liberal/progressive era, which will be heralded by legislation allowing the US to join the ranks of every other industrialized, capitalist nation by providing decent, affordable health care to all of its citizens.
The Conscience of a Liberal fills me with optimism for the future of our country for the first time since the coup d'etat of 2000. I trust Paul Krugman's immense talents will be employed by a new Democratic Administration and Democratic Congress after the next elections.
Book Review: Conscience of someone who doesn't let facts get in the way of things
Summary: 1 Stars
Paul Krugman continues to spin dubious conclusions from fuzzy thinking. First of all, Krugman should be discredited simply because he buys into the idea that the government has shrunk in the last few years. Anyone who thinks that George W. Bush has been an exemplar of limited government has obviously been living underneath a rock for the last eight years. The War on Terror has been a mammoth by itself, but Bush's appointment of inflation-happy Fed chief Ben Bernanke, the Medicare Prescription plan, "No Child Left Behind", etc. and compassionate "conservatism" in general have been every bit as welfare statist as a liberal like Krugman. Also Krugman falls for a whole lot of historical nonsense like many. For instance, he talks about the huge gap between rich and poor during the Industrial Revolution, completely ignoring the role that high tariffs, the National Banking Act, and government subsidies for numerous industries such as railroads had in the whole way. Not to mention new laws that were passed during the Industrial Revolution which exempted many industries from punishment for violating other people's property with pollution. He claims that the New Deal is what created the Middle Class in the 50's. Apparently someone forgot to tell him that after FDR died and WWII ended, most New Deal programs were abolished (Social Security might still be with us, but it's headed for a collapse) and federal spending was cut by over a trillion dollars. Plus, the prospects of peace really helped out the Stock Market. Much of this and more was covered in the far more scholarly "Depression, War, and Cold War" by Robert Higgs, someone who's far more of an economist than Paul Krugman with his discredited Keynesian ideology is.Book Review: Hope For the Progressive Cause
Summary: 5 Stars
Can Liberalism finally overcome the momentum of the "movement conservatives", and again advance the cause of the progressive movement? Paul Krugman argues, persuasively, that it can, and will.
Krugman explains that what he calls "The Long Gilded Age" ended with the onset of the Great Depression, and that FDR's New Deal advanced the policies of the Progressive Movement. While Truman was not able to accomplish universal health care, by the end of the Truman years, conservatives were reconciled to the New Deal, and for a generation, after World War II, the U. S. was a middle class society, in which the wealthy did not live appreciably better than the middle class. The wealthy owned and lived in bigger houses, while the middle class lived in smaller houses, but houses they owned. The wealthy drove Cadillacs, the middle class Chevrolets.
With the enactment of civil rights legislation, "movement conservatives" were able to capitalize on a "southern strategy" and by using coded messages (like the bogus story of the Cadillac driving "well-fare queen") get middle class southern whites, to vote against their economic interest by voting for a new brand of radical Republicans who ushered in a "New Gilded Age".
But America, North and South is becoming a more tolerant society less vulnerable to the use of race as a wedge issue. Further, George W. Bush overplayed his hand, in his attempt to privatize social security, and demonstrated the incompetence of government by "movement conservatives" in his mishandling of the Katrina disaster. Krugman argues that the American public is ready for a return to competent progressive government, that will address and seek to solve problems.
Book Review: Highly recommended for all Americans, liberal or otherwise
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a must-read book for all Americans. Of course it's for liberals who are looking for a deeper understanding of their causes -- the last chapter is essentially a manifesto and call to arms -- but also, perhaps surprisingly, it would be a worthwhile read for moderate Republicans who have been left wondering what the heck happened to their party. I have some conservative-leaning friends who have lamented the way the term "Republican" has become a badge of shame, stating that their families have always been Republican and that they're good people. The history Krugman presents in this book may provide an oddly soothing answer to people in such a situation -- while also, no doubt, making them even angrier than their Democratic friends!
Finally, it would be a good read for people who do still consider themselves conservatives or Republicans and who think liberals are wrong but can't pinpoint why -- perhaps, again, just because they've just been raised to think badly of "liberalism." Maybe I'm hopelessly optimistic, but I like to think that at least some of those people would change their mind after reading this, because I do believe a majority of Americans share these core "liberal" values.
The highlights of this book for me were its excellent, easy-to-follow presentation of a history, its strong, sensible arguments in favor of universal health care, its great articulation of the core liberal belief of limiting the extremes of poverty and (to do so) of over-the-top wealth -- made especially powerful in light of Wall Street's latest disaster -- and, finally, the way he addresses the role of partisanship in today's society. Very, very good stuff. Highly recommended!