The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Krugman
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Book Reviews of The Conscience of a Liberal
Book Review: seminal book - a must read in a decisive historical moment
Summary: 5 Stars
For a decade I have been reading Krugman's texts that he published as social commentator and columnist. I've always admired his writing - his insights made on the basis of his expert economic knowledge combined with clear and concise style - but I wondered about his extremely critical assessments that, in comparison to conventional wisdom of the past decade, often sounded way too bleak. He warned about housing bubble years in advance and he correctly evaluated the future consequences of Bush's disastrous neoconservative policies. In comparison to complacent judgments of commentariat in the American media he sometimes made an impression of an extreme doomsayer out of touch with reality. A retrospective glance from the the beginning of 2009 at the moment of raging crisis validates his views as prophetic. I've just read new edition of his Depression economics and A Conscience of a Liberal - both superb and superior works. Especially Conscience of a Liberal seems to be a seminal work that represents a turning point for popular understanding of political economy. The neoconservative push for free markets, deregulation and deconstruction of welfare state, an ideology that was dominant in politics and among mainstream media pundits for at least since Reagan's reign, seems to be at an end and Krugman has pretty good explanation why. It's important to note that Krugman is not a Marxist but a prominent Keynesian economist of centrist bent that offers radically different view of the last half century. I believe that his new narrative of recent political and economic history will be validated again and again by historical developments and will in the end prevail.Book Review: The Continued Decline of Krugman
Summary: 2 Stars
It's been fascinating watching the devolution of Paul Krugman from solid mainstream economist to a shrill talking head. Maybe having a prominent piece space on the pages of NYT will do that to you (it did it to Dowd).
Krugman does a fairly good job of describing some of the policy issues we face in the coming years. I doubt even conservatives would dissent that these need to be on the table for discussion. But where the book falls flat is when Krugman fails to use his substantial intellectual gifts in proposing policy fixes for what ails us. It is here that he takes off his learned economist hat and put on his political hack cap.
One small example, Krugman wails about the rise in inequality since the 70s, but fails to acknowledge the way our economy was structured in the 70s brought incredible pain to the middle class. The rising tide has lifted all boats (some more than others). Could we have achieved the last 30 years of growth without the structural adjustments we made...and the resulting growth in income among the wealthy? Unfortunately, Krugman falls back on the 'Rich get richer, poor get poorer' rhetoric that is more fitting in a freshman PoliSci 101 class than in a major treatise by a prominent public figure.
Despite the title, this is not Ying to Goldwater's 1964 Yang. I doubt this will have effective long lasting clout even among the hard core left. Reason is that it is too much Shrill and not enough Principle.
Book Review: Krugman's Conscience ...
Summary: 4 Stars
Krugman's 'Conscience of a Liberal' is a well-written analysis of the causes of inequality in the US. It concludes that the main causes of inequality have been political: the creation of the rather equal society of the 1940s through to the early 1970s is traced to the New Deal and wartime policies; its destruction to the politics of the US New Right, dating back to Goldwater but implemented under Reagan. He stresses the importance of the Trade Unions, given a positive role when political conditions were correct, and then actively taken out by various measures taken by the Right, some of them illegal. It is a good read.
What Krugma alludes to is perhaps even more interesting than this powerful historical account. This is that 'Economics 101', which dominates not only Economics teaching but also undergraduate Commerce and related majors, ignores this account, arguing that inequality is the product of economic factors, rather than the political. Krugman reports that he himself assumed that this was the case, until he started to think about it in preparation for writing his book. This is truly frightening, pointing to a massive process of self-delusion and willing co-option, especially given the social costs of the politics he convincingly analyses. To see somebody of Krugman's abilities remark that 'we could have known if we had wanted to', is scary. The Conscience of a Liberal
Book Review: Must read before the next elections
Summary: 5 Stars
This book describes how the Republican policies of the last 40 years have contributed to rising inequalities in America, and how the middle and lower class have been hurting from the attempts by the Republican administrations to shrink the social safety net - e.g. attempts by G.W. Bush to privatize social security - and to favor the very rich. Will the next president achieve as much as FDR did, make America a middle-class nation again, and be able to implement universal health care?
As a foreign-born (French) reader, one interesting aspect was the comparison of the social benefits in the US versus all other "developed" countries. The US are the only "advanced" country not to have universal healthcare, have by far the least benefits for the poor, the unemployed or the sick, and correspondingly have the most income inequality.
I believe that the US deserve better than what they have today. Most Americans are compassionate but keep electing presidents and congressmen that are not. It's striking to witness how politicians whose policies benefit the top 1% of the society can convince a majority of people to vote for them, mainly by distracting the voters from their own economic interest (Krugman explains this very well). If you are an independent, I strongly suggest to read this book before the next elections. I must say I have become somewhat of a Krugman fan lately - I highly recommend his NY Times columns as well as his blog. Krugman for President :-)
Book Review: Almost as disappointing as his preference for Hillary over Obama
Summary: 3 Stars
I read a review of this book by Michael Tomasky before readng it. I was looking forward to reading this book. I read Krugman's columns. I liked his columns that were critical of Republicans, although I think his recent columns questioning Obama have been missing the point.
I thought this book was not all that well written. He constantly brings up a point only to say "we will get to that later". To do that once or twice is okay but to do it constantly throughout the book is too repetitious. And also he says things that have been said before, there's really nothing new.
I found the book kind of a dull read.
I also think he doesn't fully understand the medicare system. It's not just for seniors it's also for the disabled. It doesn't cover as much as medicaid does. I would like to see someone talk about a comparison of medicaid and medicare and if there is a political rationale for why the two systems are different. I think there may be some motivation to make the elderly blame the poor.I used to work in hospitals as a social worker and most patients know full well that medicaid covers social services and medicare does not.
I would recommend reading this book, but with reservations.
I read his column in the NY Times and I see that he praises Hillary but not Obama.
This is also a disappointment to me.