The Conscience of a Liberal | Paul Krugman

The Conscience of a Liberal | Paul Krugman | Highly recommended for all Americans, liberal or otherwise

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The Conscience of ...

	The Conscience of a Liberal Paul Krugman W. W. Norton, 2007 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 81 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This wholly original new work by the best-selling author of The Great Unraveling challenges America to reclaim the values that made it great.

With this major new volume, Paul Krugman, today's most widely read economist, studies the past eighty years of American history, from the reforms that tamed the harsh inequality of the Gilded Age to the unraveling of that achievement and the reemergence of immense economic and political inequality since the 1970s. Seeking to understand both what happened to middle-class America and what it will take to achieve a "new New Deal," Krugman has created his finest book to date, a work that weaves together a nuanced account of three generations of history with sharp political, social, and economic analysis. This book, written with Krugman's trademark ability to explain complex issues simply, will transform the debate about American social policy in much the same way as did John Kenneth Galbraith's deeply influential book, The Affluent Society.

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Congratulations!

I merely wish to congratulate the Swedish committee-members on having the good sense to award the 2008 Nobel Prize for Economics to Paul Krugman. That's almost enough to redeem the Swedes for their egregious error of awarding a previous prize to Milton Friedman, whose unfettered hollow-government capitalism has received its proper thrashing from the current world economic crisis.

And of course CONGRATULATIONS to Paul Krugman himself. The title of this book is enough in itself to win the Giordano Bruno Prize for forthright integrity. Paul Krugman is the successor to John Rawls as the spokesperson for attention to economic justice. My near-namesake Gordon Brown, whose quick and intelligent resonse to the credit meltdown Krugman has praised, may have to do the honors of inviting the new Nobel laureate for a state dinner, since George W Bush is indisposed.

Oh, by the way, I HAVE read the book. Krugman's analysis of the New Deal, in terms of its long-term structural impact on the society that creates the economy of the USA, is the best on the bookshelf.

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Highly recommended for all Americans, liberal or otherwise

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!

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Finally some good news!

I pretty much read only non-fiction, which is usually very informative but highly depressing. Krugman somehow manages to cover the modern American political state of affairs without depressing me. In fact this book is very hopeful in specific ways and overall quite uplifting.

In modern American political discourse, it seems common for any statistic that supports an ideological position to be used to further that point of view. Krugman takes the opposite tack: citing relevant and logically coherent information to describe in context where we are and how we got here. He then uses the same reasonable approach to outline achievable solutions to the problems of inequality that we face. It's nice to see the fixes as well as the problems.

I just hope Barak read this too.

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Krugman Liberal Views

This book is a good read, but to many would appear to be just a very long version of many an article Mr. Krugman has written for the New York Times. If you like his op-eds, you will likely be a fan of the book. If you are less enthused by his writings, this is probably not the book for you.

A decent history of the New Deal in practice

Economist Paul Krugman offers an 8 chapter history of the New Deal with the remaining chapters amounting to a "to do" list for a coming progressive majority in Congress and the White House.

I certainly enjoyed his stories of growing up with the relative income equality of the 50s and 60s. Interestingly, the New Deal was a product of global economic recession, and - with no global economic shock appearing on the horizon - I'm not sure that his dream of a liberal renaissance can be realized.

Krugman prefers to isolate racism and not religious conservatism as the reason for America's reluctance to go as far as other advanced countries in its adoption of a social safety net. To some extent, the next few national elections will either substantiate or refute this premise.

Krugman also tends to demonize those he calls "Movement Conservatives" a bit. But, if you enjoy politics and economics, I think you will enjoy this book.

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