The U.S. Economy in Crisis: Adjusting to the New Realities

(Hardback)

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Description

This timely and important book takes a serious view of our current economic situation. The author's conclusions differ from the conventional wisdom, which suggests that the manufacturing sector is regaining much of its dominance as a result of the declining dollar, that exports will take over as a major source of economic growth, that a recession is unlikely, and that a depression is no longer possible. Indeed, she outlines many similarities between the excesses of the 1980s and those of the 1920s which led to the Great Depression. The author provides convincing evidence that the recent economic recovery may only have provided a smokescreen for the continued deterioration of the U.S. economy.

Reviews

Kamer treats the problems of deindustrialization' occuring in the US because of the restructuring of jobs within manufacturing and the shift of jobs to the service industries. He makes challengeable arguments concerning the growing inability of the US to compete in global markets (though exports are booming); and the country's inattention to the impact of other countries' economic growth as a factor in the US trade deficit. Kamer asserts a decline of the middle class and a shift to low-paying service industries (while neglecting the role of educational attainment in this process and the decline in manufacturing jobs such as textiles, apparel, and elsewhere, which also are low paid). The author decries the efficacy of macro-policy solutions in favor of national planning for selected industries (that is, making appointed public committees, not markets, the allocators of economic resources). . . . The style of this book is journalistic and frequently derivative, citing many related studies. Good summary of issues; useful presentation of many statistical tables. For informed general readers and students of economics.-Choice
"Kamer treats the problems of deindustrialization' occuring in the US because of the restructuring of jobs within manufacturing and the shift of jobs to the service industries. He makes challengeable arguments concerning the growing inability of the US to compete in global markets (though exports are booming); and the country's inattention to the impact of other countries' economic growth as a factor in the US trade deficit. Kamer asserts a decline of the middle class and a shift to low-paying service industries (while neglecting the role of educational attainment in this process and the decline in manufacturing jobs such as textiles, apparel, and elsewhere, which also are low paid). The author decries the efficacy of macro-policy solutions in favor of national planning for selected industries (that is, making appointed public committees, not markets, the allocators of economic resources). . . . The style of this book is journalistic and frequently derivative, citing many related studies. Good summary of issues; useful presentation of many statistical tables. For informed general readers and students of economics."-Choice

Author Bio

PEARL M. KAMER is Chief Economist of the Long Island Regional Planning Board.