No comments about The Warping of Government Work.

3 comments about The State of Working America, 2006/2007 (State of Working America).

1. If you can wade your way through the statistics, this book is enlightening and edifying, often sad. The commentary and interpretation help clarify the wealth of information. It graphically illustrates that nothing has changed after all these years of hope and promises for change: the rich keep getting richer, the poor keep getting poorer, poverty is endemic to our tired, unimaginative economic system, etc., etc., etc.
   
   This book caused me to re-read Kevin Phillips' book "The Politics of Rich and Poor," published in 1990. It provides statistical and anecdotal evidence of the negative effects of Reagan-omics on our social system, much as Bush-enomics has. I even went farther back and re-read Michael Harrington's "The Other America," the seminal, monumental book of its time in 1962 about poverty in America.
   
   These books along with so many others make you ask, as we've asked so many times, "When will it ever change?" I guess making people aware of the problem, although it's readily apparent in everyday life, is the place to start. These books, representing 45 years of rhetoric, make you agonizingly aware that things have gone nowhere but down. So, read all of them.



2. This book is exactly what I wanted. I'm a part-time journalist writing for a small town newspaper and I like numbers. Nothing is better than a percentage or a statistic to support your story. This book has them all and an explanation to support their accuracy or inaccuracy. It is a great tool. It is a must for anyone who wants to know "The State of Working America" - which I do.



3. Yes, a lot of pages in this book and plenty of tables.
   As title says--The state of working America-- and I am part of it I expect to see reflections of real life and this part is missing.
   All the authors talk is wages,wages and more wages.
   What is real life? Real life is prices,what is available, crime considerations, where to live etc.
   Authors take family as main entity which is far from reality; reality is 51% of american households are single not family and this is the trend.
   Mobility is second consideration as working people have to move to survive. Yes, my income define where I live and how crime affect my decisions and my income define what I eat and where and my income define why I am single. And, yes, we have 47 millions americans without health insurance and about 5 millions homeless which are part of working America. But this is not reflected in book.
   The main question of this type of book should be--why nothing changes and how to change.

No comments about Rooted in Dust: Surviving Drought and Depression in Southwestern Kansas (Rural America).

5 comments about The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity And What To Do About It.

1. I was drawn to this book because I was writing an article on how fears about population decline affect society's views on the importance of individual women's rights. In other words, at many times throughout history, hysteria about national population decline has often led to a weakening of society's support of women's rights to equal education and job opportunities as many argued that a woman's #1 duty to the state was to produce healthy offspring to fuel the economy and strengthen the military. This book addresses this issue as well as the connection between population decline and the rise of reactionary governments (fascism) and xenophobia. As the author seems to be coming from a somewhat "progressive" perspective, he warns that it is currently the more religiously conservative groups/cultures/nations that continue to reproduce at high levels whereas the more modernized, educated segments of society are having fewer and fewer children. This is a source of concern for the author as he prophesies a possible return to religious fundamentalism and ultra-conservative governments throughout the world. In its discussion of these issues, I found the book useful and interesting. I also like the fact that the author doesn't simply say that women need to return to their roles as housewives and have lots of babies. Rather, he suggests government policies that will make it easier for educated, working women to have children. While such suggestions will not sit well with conservatives, I personally think this is a preferable alternative (women like myself simply are not interested in giving up our financial well-being, careers and personal interests to become full-time housewives). And of course, not many men are making enough money to support a wife and children anyway. Traditionalists need to wake up to this reality.
   
   That said, I am a bit skeptical about some of the alarmist tendencies in this book. The biggest population decline is occurring in the industrialized nations. However, we consume a disproportionate share of the world's resources. There simply are not enough natural resources on the planet for everyone to live as well as we do. Also, future shortages in vital resources like water and oil are serious threats as they could lead to more armed conflict as nations try to secure their hold on these necessities. So, from an environmental perspective, I don't know that the future population decline is really such a dangerous thing.
   
   This debate over population decline is a very controversial issue since it touches on hot button issues such as the reproductive rights of women (i.e., birth control and abortion), immigration (fears that immigrant populations will surpass the "white" populations of the industrialized world), and environmental destruction. So, Mr. Longman could not have possibly suggested solutions that would please a vast segment of his potential readers. For one perspective on the situation, however, it is worth reading.



2. Since at least the publication of Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb, it has been accepted wisdom that overpopulation is a global crisis which threatens the existence of civilization. Recently, however, birthrates have fallen dramatically all around the world. The rates have fallen so much that populations have begun to decline in some nations, such as Russia and Japan, and population decline faces most nations, unless the trends change.
   
   A number of books have been written on this subject. Mark Steyn's America Alone dealis extensively with this issue, in Steyn's unique way. Ben Wattenberg's book Fewer is a very intelligent examination of the issue.
   
   This book, however, is the best on the subject. Longman has simply thought harder about this issue than anyone else. He has a tremendous amount to say, both about the issue itself and its various implications.
   
   Oddly, he deals more intelligently with the subject of religion than the other authors do. Longman is hostile to religion; he is a secular liberal. He is thus able to see what many others miss; strongly religious groups do NOT have falling birthrates. To Longman, this is a cause for tremendous concern. He sees a future in which Mormoms, evangelicals and other religious types take over the world through the simple fact that they still are having large families.



3. Longman's book portraits old Eugenic fears in modern times, and even worst, some old Eugenic "solutions" for the "Depopulation problem". Longman should read about Eugenics history and learn all the damage it caused to humankind. He can start learning by reading "Demography and Degeneration: Eugenics and the Declining Birthrate in Twentieth-Century Britain" by Richard A. Soloway.



4. I first became curious about "The Empty Cradle" when I was reading about Europe's demographic decline as a student of geopolitics in my last years at the University of Melbourne.
   
   Fearing the threat of a radically conservative religious takeover, I was curious as to what should be done, and I found "The Empty Cradle" by Phillip Longman and was curious. After buying the book, I have never been disappointed and have recommended this work to a great many people whom I know or have known.
   
   Phillip Longman, as not only this book but also his articles at the New America Foundation website demonstrate, is a brilliant writer who manages to transcend the boundaries of left and right without succumbing to predictable "wishy washy" centrism. In every section of "The Empty Cradle" he looks very clearly at every possible alternative and is remarkably effective at understanding how possible answers to declining birth rates are likely to be correct or incorrect. His illustration of essential issues like the present state of affairs in the most critically affected nations, the skyrocketing cost of children, the problems an aging society will face, and possible remedies that will avoid the problem of a state ruled by religious law and lack of freedom for women stands as masterful. He is, in fact, firmly principled and resolute in a way people seeking to bridge problematic political divides which both him and myself understand to relate to the issues mentioned above.
   
   Similarly, Longman's viewpoint (like many conservatives) of the utility of home-based economics actually resonates well with me even though I have never married or even dated - probably because so much of what I have learned was never taught to me at school. As I see it, Longman is right that the ability to combine work, family and education is a major step forward for more affordable families. Yet, Longman sees beyond the typical stereotypes of the Right with his remarkable assessment of how societal health problems like obesity could be solved - like how old railways could be redeveloped as cycling paths.
   
   Longman and his New America Foundation have been called "liberal" and "right wing" - in fact they are neither, and "The Empty Cradle" is a work of truly rare intelligence and logic. I strongly recommend it to all readers, despite the negative reviews.



5. This book is very interesting and insightful. It is very interesting to learn about the conditions that caused the world to have high birth rates in the first place and about the conditions that have caused birth rates to be so low in recent years. It is also good to see that there is a solution to the aging of the world's population, and to learn about the changes that need to be made in order to solve this problem. I really like books that offer solutions to major problems.

2 comments about Balance Sheet Recession: Japan's Struggle with Uncharted Economics and its Global Implications.

1. I can't say enough good things about this book. He gets to the root causes and potential solutions of our current economic conditions in a clear and concise way. He should get a Noble Prize for his work (whatever that's worth considering recent recipients).
   
   If you're an investor you'll make your money back many times over from his insight.
   
   Brilliant, simply brilliant.



2. A recount of the reasons and the monetary policy implications of the Japan experience after the 1990 asset bubble collapse. The interesting points are that many of the macro items discussed are eerily similar to what is happening in the US today. The bigger point of interest is where the Japanese system had a leveraged corporate debt issue, the US has both a corporate and a personal debt issue. Therefore, what are the implications when we as a society start to pay off on this debt? and when/if the Government changes their fiscal policy and starts to balance the budget? No matter, the markets will figure this out before most Americans realize what has hit them. All in, it was an interesting economic read both from a economic geek perspective and as many past government trade polices were detailed with colorful insights.

No comments about Politics in Hard Times: Comparative Responses to International Economic Crises (Cornell Studies in Political Economy).

No comments about The Battle for Welfare Rights: Politics and Poverty in Modern America (Politics and Culture in Modern America).

1 comments about Japan On The Upswing: Why the Bubble Burst and Japan's Economic Renewal.

1. This book is exceptional in that it employs an approach rarely used by foreign scholars on Japan who rely heavily on macroeconomic data. JAPAN ON THE UPSWING is backed by forty years of the author's experience in marketing as well as by his expertise in science and technology. It is an easy read, free from pretense and jargon. Iwamoto minces no words when discussing policy makers whose fiscal mismanagement and multimillion-dollar deals with mobsters brought about a decade of financial depression for Japan.
   
   American readers will learn how the bubble was created and why, after the bubble burst, many Japanese companies went belly-up. We also learn how Prime Minister Koizumi took over in 2002 and by getting tough helped in the recovery of such major companies as Sony, Panasonic, and Canon. Especially interesting, for example, is Panasonic's story of losing some $3.7 billions in 2002 and managing to report profits in 2005--net financial assets of over $6.5 billions.
   
   Richly documented with a host of intriguing anecdotes involving racketeers, corporations, and government officials, this is a must read for anyone interested in Japan and its economy.

No comments about North Carolina in the Connected Age: Challenges and Opportunities in a Globalizing Economy.

No comments about The Decline of Capitalism: Can the Self-Regulated Profits System Survive?.