Book: All Together Now, Common Sense for a Fair Economy

Bernstein: All Together Now, Common Sense for a Fair Economy

In “All Together Now, Common Sense for a Fair Economy”, Jared Bernstein lays out a comprehensive economic philosophy to direct progressive economic policy making ... and shows how to apply it in key areas, of globalizatoin, pensions, healthcare, macro-economic policy, etc.  He provides a comprehensive contrast between conservative “You’re On Your Own” (YOYO) free-market fundamentalism and progressive “We’re In This Together” (WITT) models, as he calls them (and which extend beyond economics, but the economic world is what he focuses on). 

An engaging read, he avoids the progressive tendency to get so caught up in the litany of anecdotal horrors of the conservative economy as to forget to offer a complete alternative.

Instead, he shows at each step of the way how the core conservative philosophy is itself responsible for the problems -- the rapidly growing economic insecurity, failures to provide healthcare for much of the population, declining real disposable income for the middle class, etc. -- isn’t “incompetence” or an accident or fate but the inevitable, predictable  result of the conservative philosophy of an extreme Socail Darwinism that harkens back to the hard-hearted Dickensian Victorian England era of exploitation and to the Robber Baron era of rapious greed and inequality in America.

At the same time, he shows the progressive approach: founded on working together in our common interest (as I put it), and of returning to America’s roots of using government to tackle new challeges to ensuring broad-based prosperity. 

One of the key philosophical differences is in how progressives and conservatives see the role of government.  He eloquenty makes the point that when the cause of economic challenges is systemic (such as globalization commoditizing work, lack of healthare for 40 million Americans, etc.), we need a systemic, national response and not the conservative approach of leaving each of us to take it on ourselves to try and struggle against the tide and bear the burden of the consequences.

Highly recommended.

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