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The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century
"Paul Krugman is a hero of mine. Read his book."―Al Franken No one has more authority to call the shots the way they really are than award-winning economist Paul Krugman, whose provocative New York Times columns are keenly followed by millions. One of the world's most respected economists, Krugman has been named America's most important columnist by the Washington Monthly and columnist of the year by Editor and Publisher magazine.
A major bestseller, this influential and wide-ranging book has been praised by BusinessWeek as Krugman's "most provocative and compelling effort yet," the New York Review of Books as "refreshing," and Library Journal as "thought-provoking...even funny." The American Prospect put it in vivid terms: "In a time when too few tell it like it is...[Krugman] has taken on the battle of our time."
Built from Paul Krugman's influential Op-Ed columns for the New York Times , this book galvanized the reading public. With wit, passion, and a unique ability to explain complex issues in plain English, Krugman describes how the nation has been misled by a dishonest administration.
In this long-awaited work containing Krugman's most influential columns along with new commentary, he chronicles how the boom economy unraveled: how exuberance gave way to pessimism, how the age of corporate heroes gave way to corporate scandals, how fiscal responsibility collapsed. From his account of the secret history of the California energy crisis to his devastating dissections of dishonesty in the Bush administration, from the war in Iraq to the looting of California to the false pretenses used to sell an economic policy that benefits only a small elite, Krugman tells the uncomfortable truth like no one else. And he gives us the road map we will need to follow if we are to get the country back on track.
The paperback edition features a new introduction as well as new writings.
A major bestseller, this influential and wide-ranging book has been praised by BusinessWeek as Krugman's "most provocative and compelling effort yet," the New York Review of Books as "refreshing," and Library Journal as "thought-provoking...even funny." The American Prospect put it in vivid terms: "In a time when too few tell it like it is...[Krugman] has taken on the battle of our time."
Built from Paul Krugman's influential Op-Ed columns for the New York Times , this book galvanized the reading public. With wit, passion, and a unique ability to explain complex issues in plain English, Krugman describes how the nation has been misled by a dishonest administration.
In this long-awaited work containing Krugman's most influential columns along with new commentary, he chronicles how the boom economy unraveled: how exuberance gave way to pessimism, how the age of corporate heroes gave way to corporate scandals, how fiscal responsibility collapsed. From his account of the secret history of the California energy crisis to his devastating dissections of dishonesty in the Bush administration, from the war in Iraq to the looting of California to the false pretenses used to sell an economic policy that benefits only a small elite, Krugman tells the uncomfortable truth like no one else. And he gives us the road map we will need to follow if we are to get the country back on track.
The paperback edition features a new introduction as well as new writings.
560 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Paul Krugman
329 books1,514 followersPaul Robin Krugman is an American economist, liberal columnist and author. He is Professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. In 2008, Krugman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his contributions to New Trade Theory and New Economic Geography.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
April 6, 2017
For those of you who don't believe that history repeats itself, I defy you to read this book and not draw parallels between the current administration and the last Republican presidential shenanigans, which is when this collection of Paul Krugman's columns was originally written. At certain points, I'm sure that Krugman could easily change the names of the players and simply submit the column again. This, of course, makes this a somewhat depressing, though eye-opening read, particularly if you share my particular political bent. Frustrating to say the least as we live through this nonsense.
December 28, 2007
I tend to be very cautious when reading anything current about politics... especially when it comes from a writer who shares my feelings and views (e.g. Dick Cheney eats babies for breakfast). Krugman is an economist and Op Ed columnist for The New York Times who approaches the state of our country without the hysteria of a Fox News host or any number of Vanity Fair contributors. Occasionally confessing where his theories and forecasts on the economy have gone wrong, he earns points for an open mind and humility. That being said, his portrait of the Bush administration (including the inheretance of eight years of Clinton) is terrifying. The greater evil that has taken place may not be the misguided war abroad, but the total disregard for the law here in this country. George Bush may be the figurehead, but his cronies in government and corporate America are just as terrifying as any terrorist with a pilots license and a sack of cash.
November 17, 2020
A collection of Paul Krugman’s NYT articles from 2001-2003. Mostly criticizing President Bush. Since these are articles of the current news, the reading these articles 10 years later allows for a historical look, but the issues and particular details of the article are lost in current memory. Mr. Krugman views President Bush and his administration as a ‘revolutionary’ power that normal reasoning cannot be used to argue against. A revolutionary power in Krugman’s view shuts down all criticism and is paranoid of any dissenting thought.
It is interesting that the same attacks Krugman uses are (Radical agenda, revolutionary power, cronyism, etc.) the same that I’ve heard from Republicans against the Obama administration. This leads me to question all the political rhetoric on both sides. Incredibly, Krugman suggests there is a right wing conspiracy controlling the media!?!? Sound familiar? How he could suggest this seems to ignore reality. The 1 major cable right wing network of Fox compared to the leftwing networks of CNN, MSNBC, CBS, etc.. the only thing I could see is maybe on the radio with Rush Limbaugh’s massive audience and perhaps the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal is about as even as you could get...so I guess anything not liberal enough for Krugman is part of the Right Wing conspiracy.
In pretty much all of his articles his world view forms the basis for his angst against the Bush administrations. It really is one long diatribe and hard to read. The articles are not connected to form any permanent cogent argument. Also, all these where written in 2000-2002 making it hard to stay informed on older issues. The surplus during the 90s years where a result of Clinton financial policy. However, 2 quick counterpoints come to mind: The republican majority in congress starting in 94 lead by Newt Gingrich and “moral majority”; and a currency fallacy. Just b/c Clinton was in office at the time, was he responsible for the higher tax revenues and budget surpluses?? I’d be curious to see if any of the Reagan years policies where coming into fruition during Clinton’s time in office. This book obviously will not consider this.
Overall, book was hard to read and a collection of dated NYT commentary articles is not the best way to read the liberal side.
Krugman is a strong advocate of free trade; and the best article in the book was an essay on the topic from 1998. Agree with him completely there. 2nd book of a known liberal I do not like (Soros was the first)..not sure where to find a good liberal author who can write clear and concise in the manner akin Thomas Sowell
It is interesting that the same attacks Krugman uses are (Radical agenda, revolutionary power, cronyism, etc.) the same that I’ve heard from Republicans against the Obama administration. This leads me to question all the political rhetoric on both sides. Incredibly, Krugman suggests there is a right wing conspiracy controlling the media!?!? Sound familiar? How he could suggest this seems to ignore reality. The 1 major cable right wing network of Fox compared to the leftwing networks of CNN, MSNBC, CBS, etc.. the only thing I could see is maybe on the radio with Rush Limbaugh’s massive audience and perhaps the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal is about as even as you could get...so I guess anything not liberal enough for Krugman is part of the Right Wing conspiracy.
In pretty much all of his articles his world view forms the basis for his angst against the Bush administrations. It really is one long diatribe and hard to read. The articles are not connected to form any permanent cogent argument. Also, all these where written in 2000-2002 making it hard to stay informed on older issues. The surplus during the 90s years where a result of Clinton financial policy. However, 2 quick counterpoints come to mind: The republican majority in congress starting in 94 lead by Newt Gingrich and “moral majority”; and a currency fallacy. Just b/c Clinton was in office at the time, was he responsible for the higher tax revenues and budget surpluses?? I’d be curious to see if any of the Reagan years policies where coming into fruition during Clinton’s time in office. This book obviously will not consider this.
Overall, book was hard to read and a collection of dated NYT commentary articles is not the best way to read the liberal side.
Krugman is a strong advocate of free trade; and the best article in the book was an essay on the topic from 1998. Agree with him completely there. 2nd book of a known liberal I do not like (Soros was the first)..not sure where to find a good liberal author who can write clear and concise in the manner akin Thomas Sowell
April 16, 2009
This book was written several years ago but I just read it. It was chilling reading Krugman's economic post-mordems of the Asian financial crisis of the '90s - in hindsight it seems downright prophetic!
Krugman is a rare breed, a partisan that is cerebral and makes one think. He's not a knee jerk, mouth foaming, raging partisan that is easy to dismiss. Rather, he is a cool headed economist turned political columnist that has proven to be a particularly sharp and prescient voice in the wilderness for so many years. Even now with "liberals" in power in Washington, his voice still sounds warnings and doesn't allow those in power a free pass from his sharp criticism and the economic lessons from the past.
Reading Krugman smashes at least one stereotype I've unwittingly held on to - that "liberals" tend to be mushy headed, vague, and less intelligent when it comes to economics and capitalism. Krugman is a capatilist that I can identify with! He champions the true values of capitalism and cries out against crony capitalism, irrational bubble economics, and the gilded age oligarchical interest who have pulled the strings of the Washington power brokers for too many years.
We need more writers like Krugman who not only have the courage of their convictions but, rational discourse and intelligent arguments in their arsenal - completely unlike the "bloviators" on the "right."
Krugman is a rare breed, a partisan that is cerebral and makes one think. He's not a knee jerk, mouth foaming, raging partisan that is easy to dismiss. Rather, he is a cool headed economist turned political columnist that has proven to be a particularly sharp and prescient voice in the wilderness for so many years. Even now with "liberals" in power in Washington, his voice still sounds warnings and doesn't allow those in power a free pass from his sharp criticism and the economic lessons from the past.
Reading Krugman smashes at least one stereotype I've unwittingly held on to - that "liberals" tend to be mushy headed, vague, and less intelligent when it comes to economics and capitalism. Krugman is a capatilist that I can identify with! He champions the true values of capitalism and cries out against crony capitalism, irrational bubble economics, and the gilded age oligarchical interest who have pulled the strings of the Washington power brokers for too many years.
We need more writers like Krugman who not only have the courage of their convictions but, rational discourse and intelligent arguments in their arsenal - completely unlike the "bloviators" on the "right."
April 2, 2016
You might think this refers to the GFC (aka the Great Recession in the US). You'd be wrong. It is actually a series of newspaper articles written in 2001 and 2002. Krugman's articles were challenging so many of the US policies that were ultimately to result in the GFC in 2008/9. The recession in 2001 turns out to have been a trial run of the much deeper malaise of 2008, but with many of the same underlying causes. In 1998 when commenting on the debt build up in the US he presciently noted: "there's an Ice Age just over the horizon". It arrived in 2009.
October 29, 2008
A penetrating look at the partisanship and elitism of the Bush administration by an economist with a rapier like wit (hard to believe, eh?) The mendacity and self aggrandizement of the Bush crew is apparent to all. The sheer hubris is breath taking, something the world hasn't seen since Joseph Goebbels. Alas we all are to blame as we had two chances to stop all this and we did not do it. Let's not make that mistake again, ever.
December 21, 2008
Krugman is just right on over and over again. The financial mess we find ourselves in was pretty much predicted by him in 2002 to 2004 where he says over and over, the mendacity and malfeasance, the shirking and ducking of accountability, oversight, regulation will lead to a loss of investor confidence, market collapse, etc.
Now he has a Nobel Prize and the satisfaction of watching all he said would likely happen, happen.
Now he has a Nobel Prize and the satisfaction of watching all he said would likely happen, happen.
December 18, 2012
I just finished reading this book and the timing could not have been better. With all the talk going about "Fiscal Cliff" etc,. Paul really lays it out to you how policies are made at the highest level. It is always interesting to know about power, money and how they go hand-in-hand.
Though you don't have to believe everything he says, it is still a good read.
I plan on reading his other works after this.
Though you don't have to believe everything he says, it is still a good read.
I plan on reading his other works after this.
April 22, 2007
Krugman is brilliant, his topics are wide-ranging, and his grounding as an economist means that his ideas are supported in such a way that whatever your political views, you can engage with this book in a useful way (unlike, say, Bill O'Reilly's or Al Franken's books). Note of caution to those left of center, and therefore more apt to agree with Krugman: You will be completely outraged.
May 7, 2007
The format of this book, a collection of newspaper columns, makes it excellent for reading on the bus or the subway. It's also interesting to see what Krugman was writing as events unfolded compared to the conventional wisdom then and now. I wish more of what Krugman predicted so many years ago had not turned out to be right.
Read
April 23, 2015His columns written while the events of the Bush adminstration were happening were enlightening and explained the mistakes and the consequences of the foolish war in Iraq. Trying to turn Iraq into a Haliburton gas station has blown up and caused this country dearly and we will continue to pay for this terrible mistake for many more years to come.
January 20, 2016
Top notch writing, insightful, compelling analysis of the economic debacle of the Bush administration, the effects of which we are painfully feeling now and will continue to feel for years to come. Paul Krugman is articulate, well-informed, with a keen eye for seeing through BS. A must-read and still as meaningful today as when it was written.
August 14, 2019
An economic view of the imperial presidency
If you think things are bad in Iraq, you might want to check out how things are going on the home front, economically speaking, that is. What is unraveling is the nation's economic health. What we are looking at, according to Princeton economist and New York Times Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman, is not only an emperor without any clothes, but a nation being burdened with so much debt that it is ready to crash upon the rocks of a hard economic reality to come.
There are about a hundred and fourteen columns, the earliest of which is dated December 29, 1997, the latest March 25, 2003, organized into sixteen chapters comprising five parts. The columns, almost all of which first appeared in the New York Times, are arranged more or less chronologically within each of the sixteen thematic chapters. For each of the five parts Krugman has written an introduction especially for this volume. What Krugman attempts to do is: Part I: account for and assign blame for the economic bubble and its collapse; Parts II and III: document the redistribution of the nation's wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich by the Bush administration; Parts IV and V: assign responsibility for the negative aspects of globalization and for the frequent collapse of markets in foreign countries, and speculate on where we might be headed.
(By the way, "Is that Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?/Seems like I've been down that way before." --Bob Dylan)
His targets are Bush, Bush and more Bush, of course, but also Alan Greenspan for acquiescing in Bush's Rob the Future Economics, but most pointedly he goes after the mass media, especially broadcast journalists for their failure to report candidly on what Bush and his cronies are up to. Krugman feels, as I do, that the failure of the Fourth Estate is one of the reasons that Bush's attack on the environment, our pocket books, and our civil liberties is succeeding. Bush has bullied the media into presenting the news in a way that obscures his attack on America and what America has always stood for. This is no exaggeration. Krugman's indictment likens the Bush leadership to that in so-called banana republics (see page 187), and I have to say, he makes a good case. Krugman is thorough; he is incisive and, for an economist, welds a most colorful pen.
I would recommend in reading this book that you skip the first part and turn directly to the chapter "Crony Capitalism, USA" on page 101 and learn about the insider stock trading and other shady deals of one George W. Bush, now president of the United States, and how a failed businessman might became rich. Krugman makes the point that Bush got away with insider trading and other shady dealings because nobody would prosecute him since the potential prosecutors were all friends of his father who was then president of the United States. Or better yet don't read any of this: it will destroy any illusions about free market capitalism in the United States you may have. You will be offended. You will be outraged.
Krugman even goes so far as to characterize Bush's faith-based economics as a deliberate Ponzi scheme in progress in which he takes money from the future and gives it to the present in the hope that things will remain rosy enough so that he will be reelected. Even more to the point is the transfer of funds from the poor and the middle class to the rich (Krugman identifies them as people making over about $300,000 per year) to be doled out for many years to come in the form of a "supply side" tax break costing hundreds of billions, perhaps even a couple trillion dollars.
So who's minding the store? Not Bush and his administration. They feel that the store is a public commons that they need to exploit as much and as fast as possible before another administration gets in. The purpose of the Bush administration as revealed in these pages is really nothing more and nothing less that this redistribution of wealth. Bush apparently believes that this is God's will and he is God's instrument in bringing about this massive stealth. In a sense, the folksy George W. is actually a Robin Hood in reverse. His technique for handling a docile public is to lie to them and manipulate them, pretend to be a populist while constantly pushing an economic agenda that siphons off as much of America's wealth as he can get his hands on into the big gas tanks of his elite circle of relatives, friends and cronies. In a nice summation of the George W. technique, Krugman writes: "Mr. Bush has made an important political discovery. Really big misstatements...cannot be effectively challenged, because voters can't believe that a man who seems so likable would do that sort of thing." (p. 196)
Until I read this book I was among those voters. It seemed incredible that the President would just lie to us and carrying on as if there were nothing amiss and then lie to us again, and again. Amazing, but such tactics work. However, as someone once said you can fool some of the people some of the time...but eventually you get found out. I hope Bush gets found out before November, 2004. Four more years, if Krugman's prognosis is anything close to correct, could be more than this venerable republic can afford.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
If you think things are bad in Iraq, you might want to check out how things are going on the home front, economically speaking, that is. What is unraveling is the nation's economic health. What we are looking at, according to Princeton economist and New York Times Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman, is not only an emperor without any clothes, but a nation being burdened with so much debt that it is ready to crash upon the rocks of a hard economic reality to come.
There are about a hundred and fourteen columns, the earliest of which is dated December 29, 1997, the latest March 25, 2003, organized into sixteen chapters comprising five parts. The columns, almost all of which first appeared in the New York Times, are arranged more or less chronologically within each of the sixteen thematic chapters. For each of the five parts Krugman has written an introduction especially for this volume. What Krugman attempts to do is: Part I: account for and assign blame for the economic bubble and its collapse; Parts II and III: document the redistribution of the nation's wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich by the Bush administration; Parts IV and V: assign responsibility for the negative aspects of globalization and for the frequent collapse of markets in foreign countries, and speculate on where we might be headed.
(By the way, "Is that Lincoln County Road or Armageddon?/Seems like I've been down that way before." --Bob Dylan)
His targets are Bush, Bush and more Bush, of course, but also Alan Greenspan for acquiescing in Bush's Rob the Future Economics, but most pointedly he goes after the mass media, especially broadcast journalists for their failure to report candidly on what Bush and his cronies are up to. Krugman feels, as I do, that the failure of the Fourth Estate is one of the reasons that Bush's attack on the environment, our pocket books, and our civil liberties is succeeding. Bush has bullied the media into presenting the news in a way that obscures his attack on America and what America has always stood for. This is no exaggeration. Krugman's indictment likens the Bush leadership to that in so-called banana republics (see page 187), and I have to say, he makes a good case. Krugman is thorough; he is incisive and, for an economist, welds a most colorful pen.
I would recommend in reading this book that you skip the first part and turn directly to the chapter "Crony Capitalism, USA" on page 101 and learn about the insider stock trading and other shady deals of one George W. Bush, now president of the United States, and how a failed businessman might became rich. Krugman makes the point that Bush got away with insider trading and other shady dealings because nobody would prosecute him since the potential prosecutors were all friends of his father who was then president of the United States. Or better yet don't read any of this: it will destroy any illusions about free market capitalism in the United States you may have. You will be offended. You will be outraged.
Krugman even goes so far as to characterize Bush's faith-based economics as a deliberate Ponzi scheme in progress in which he takes money from the future and gives it to the present in the hope that things will remain rosy enough so that he will be reelected. Even more to the point is the transfer of funds from the poor and the middle class to the rich (Krugman identifies them as people making over about $300,000 per year) to be doled out for many years to come in the form of a "supply side" tax break costing hundreds of billions, perhaps even a couple trillion dollars.
So who's minding the store? Not Bush and his administration. They feel that the store is a public commons that they need to exploit as much and as fast as possible before another administration gets in. The purpose of the Bush administration as revealed in these pages is really nothing more and nothing less that this redistribution of wealth. Bush apparently believes that this is God's will and he is God's instrument in bringing about this massive stealth. In a sense, the folksy George W. is actually a Robin Hood in reverse. His technique for handling a docile public is to lie to them and manipulate them, pretend to be a populist while constantly pushing an economic agenda that siphons off as much of America's wealth as he can get his hands on into the big gas tanks of his elite circle of relatives, friends and cronies. In a nice summation of the George W. technique, Krugman writes: "Mr. Bush has made an important political discovery. Really big misstatements...cannot be effectively challenged, because voters can't believe that a man who seems so likable would do that sort of thing." (p. 196)
Until I read this book I was among those voters. It seemed incredible that the President would just lie to us and carrying on as if there were nothing amiss and then lie to us again, and again. Amazing, but such tactics work. However, as someone once said you can fool some of the people some of the time...but eventually you get found out. I hope Bush gets found out before November, 2004. Four more years, if Krugman's prognosis is anything close to correct, could be more than this venerable republic can afford.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
July 15, 2009
Lucid writing that the layman should understand. It is an excellent collection with great organization. It is the intelligent answer to the Republican assertion that no one saw the "great recession" coming.
September 21, 2014
It scares me a lot. If all this is true and US of A can elect such a president twice, what else is that country capable(sic) of?
On a side note, India is not even mentioned once. That's how relevant India is to USA.
On a side note, India is not even mentioned once. That's how relevant India is to USA.
October 26, 2008
Krugman is the most intelligent analyst of economics out there today. He offers, through his columns what is the intent and impact of Bush policies.
September 2, 2015
An accurate chronicle of the greedy takeover of our democracy with the help of the regressive Republican party and their cocotte leaders George Bush and Dick Cheney and many others.
January 22, 2016
Still good stuff in here even though some of his compiled columns are more than 15 years old.
February 25, 2023
“The Great Unraveling,” by Paul Krugman makes an interesting juxtaposition with “The Leveling Wind,” by George Will.
“The Great Unraveling” is an anthology of columns and essays Professor Krugman wrote mainly from 2000 to 2003. “The Leveling Wind” is an anthology of columns and essays Will wrote from 1990 to 1994. A decade separates these essays. More decades separate them from the present. Nevertheless, they concern issues that remain relevant. Krugman’s anthology criticizes the Republican Party on economic issues. Will’s anthology criticizes the Democrat Party on social issues.
This is a dichotomy that favors the Republicans for four reasons. First, social issues are easier to understand. When I was mugged, robbed at gunpoint, and nearly murdered by “at risk youths” belonging to “a marginalized race” I knew that bad things had been done to me by bad people. I was angry. I have to admit that I sometimes had difficulty following Krugman’s explanations of how the Republican Party benefits rich people at my expense, although I know that it does.
Second, most Americans like and admire rich people. Many adhere to the fantasy that hard work will make them rich before they die.
Third, for most people most of the time loyalties of race, nation, and ethnicity are stronger than loyalties of class.
Fourth, when class is the issue Democrats win. When race is the issue Republicans win. Class has not really been the issue since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Race became the issue during the late 1960’s, and has remained so with varying degrees of intensity since.
White blue collar workers and Southern whites were ardent supporters of President Roosevelt and his New Deal during the 1930’s. Most opposed the civil rights movement, which began with the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955.
White blue collar workers and Southern Whites may have learned to accept the civil rights legislation passed from 1964 to 1968, and the War on Poverty declared in 1964 if these had been followed by improvements in black performance and behavior, as early supporters of the civil rights movement predicted they would be. When they were followed by increases in black social pathology, Southern whites and white blue collar workers felt vindicated, and left the Democrat Party for the Republican Party.
In “The Great Unraveling” Krugman details how Republican commentators and politicians are trying to repeal the reforms of the New Deal, and restore the economic status quo of the 1920’s, and even the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He thinks they are doing this because the rich have become much richer. His explanation does not tell us why most lower income and lower middle income whites vote Republican. My explanation does. The fact that most whites vote Republican, including those harmed by GOP economic policies, has given the Republican Donor Class the power to do what it has always wanted to do.
Blacks are much more likely to be crime victims than whites. Blacks would not benefit from defunding the police and reducing the prison population. They would benefit from a more effective criminal justice system.
The Democrat Party needs to dance with those who brought them to the dance. I am a white, male, heterosexual Christian. I am not rich. I agree with Krugman that Republican economic policies harm me. When the Democrat Party respected the social concerns of people like me, and when they advanced our interests, the Democrat Party dominated the United States.
“The Great Unraveling” is an anthology of columns and essays Professor Krugman wrote mainly from 2000 to 2003. “The Leveling Wind” is an anthology of columns and essays Will wrote from 1990 to 1994. A decade separates these essays. More decades separate them from the present. Nevertheless, they concern issues that remain relevant. Krugman’s anthology criticizes the Republican Party on economic issues. Will’s anthology criticizes the Democrat Party on social issues.
This is a dichotomy that favors the Republicans for four reasons. First, social issues are easier to understand. When I was mugged, robbed at gunpoint, and nearly murdered by “at risk youths” belonging to “a marginalized race” I knew that bad things had been done to me by bad people. I was angry. I have to admit that I sometimes had difficulty following Krugman’s explanations of how the Republican Party benefits rich people at my expense, although I know that it does.
Second, most Americans like and admire rich people. Many adhere to the fantasy that hard work will make them rich before they die.
Third, for most people most of the time loyalties of race, nation, and ethnicity are stronger than loyalties of class.
Fourth, when class is the issue Democrats win. When race is the issue Republicans win. Class has not really been the issue since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Race became the issue during the late 1960’s, and has remained so with varying degrees of intensity since.
White blue collar workers and Southern whites were ardent supporters of President Roosevelt and his New Deal during the 1930’s. Most opposed the civil rights movement, which began with the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955.
White blue collar workers and Southern Whites may have learned to accept the civil rights legislation passed from 1964 to 1968, and the War on Poverty declared in 1964 if these had been followed by improvements in black performance and behavior, as early supporters of the civil rights movement predicted they would be. When they were followed by increases in black social pathology, Southern whites and white blue collar workers felt vindicated, and left the Democrat Party for the Republican Party.
In “The Great Unraveling” Krugman details how Republican commentators and politicians are trying to repeal the reforms of the New Deal, and restore the economic status quo of the 1920’s, and even the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He thinks they are doing this because the rich have become much richer. His explanation does not tell us why most lower income and lower middle income whites vote Republican. My explanation does. The fact that most whites vote Republican, including those harmed by GOP economic policies, has given the Republican Donor Class the power to do what it has always wanted to do.
Blacks are much more likely to be crime victims than whites. Blacks would not benefit from defunding the police and reducing the prison population. They would benefit from a more effective criminal justice system.
The Democrat Party needs to dance with those who brought them to the dance. I am a white, male, heterosexual Christian. I am not rich. I agree with Krugman that Republican economic policies harm me. When the Democrat Party respected the social concerns of people like me, and when they advanced our interests, the Democrat Party dominated the United States.
September 7, 2017
This books is a collection of articles by Paul Krugman, basically from the end of the Clinton administration to the 2004 presidential elections. While Krugman prefaces each section with a bit of a foreword to provide context, it is not really necessary; this book does an excellent job chronicling the the Bush administration and it's penchant for crony capitalism, manipulation of the media, and the outright lying to the American people. People tend to say now that George W. Bush wasn't a terrible person, just not the right leader. I say this book is an excellent reminder of how false that narration is; Bush openly lied about his policies, kept his corrupt ties to Enron supressed, manipulated the American people into supporting a war that was not necessary, only to fill up the coffers of his friends in the Oil and Military industry.
It is amazing to see how prescient Krugman was about how well an administration could get away with twisting the facts and lying, how people are complicit with the idea of the government providing tax cuts for the rich at the expense of the poor. It does an excellent job of showing how modern politicians care less about making government work for the people and more about giving back to the rich donors who support them.
The Great Unraveling is supposedly about Bush Administration, and yet I feel the title says more; it's about the slow decay of a society that let it's government become incumbered by corporations and special interests at the expense of the middle class. It's about a society that ignored the subtler issues encroaching on our politics in favor of tabloid-style headlines and incessant punditry. The book is as relevant now as it was over a decade ago.
It is amazing to see how prescient Krugman was about how well an administration could get away with twisting the facts and lying, how people are complicit with the idea of the government providing tax cuts for the rich at the expense of the poor. It does an excellent job of showing how modern politicians care less about making government work for the people and more about giving back to the rich donors who support them.
The Great Unraveling is supposedly about Bush Administration, and yet I feel the title says more; it's about the slow decay of a society that let it's government become incumbered by corporations and special interests at the expense of the middle class. It's about a society that ignored the subtler issues encroaching on our politics in favor of tabloid-style headlines and incessant punditry. The book is as relevant now as it was over a decade ago.
March 23, 2018
It took me five months to read this book. It made me so angry, I could only read a couple essays at a time. The columns of this book were written between 1998 and 2003, when I was graduating from high school, attending college, and generally not giving a rat's ass about politics or the economy. Now, these articles eerily predict and/or mirror what's happening in America today--only today with #45 at the helm, the world is even scarier. Krugman critiques Democrats as well as Republicans, but his targets tend to be the conservatives: oil executives, Geo W. Bush and his friends, corporate America. Neocons and warmongers are once again on top and itching to fund the military and cut domestic programs. Krugman explains politics and economy through crystal clear language with easily understood metaphors and illustrations. I wish it wasn't so easy to see how everything is, well, unraveling.
October 9, 2019
I listened to the unabridged audiobook of this work.
Krugman describes the Bush administration as “far right” and extreme , but I think given the current state of affairs with the Trump administration the rhetoric was premature. The Bush administration was kleptocratic, but far more centrist than that of 2019.
And Krugman does an excellent job of exposing that kleptocracy, using facts and economic figures. As I write this California is experiencing a wave of power outages...something Krugman mentions in this book 16 years earlier as a way for utilities to jack up prices and make a profit.
Dated, but still worth the time. If you’re short on that pop the CD into your car for the drive to and from work. I listened to it in the kitchen.
Krugman describes the Bush administration as “far right” and extreme , but I think given the current state of affairs with the Trump administration the rhetoric was premature. The Bush administration was kleptocratic, but far more centrist than that of 2019.
And Krugman does an excellent job of exposing that kleptocracy, using facts and economic figures. As I write this California is experiencing a wave of power outages...something Krugman mentions in this book 16 years earlier as a way for utilities to jack up prices and make a profit.
Dated, but still worth the time. If you’re short on that pop the CD into your car for the drive to and from work. I listened to it in the kitchen.
July 1, 2019
This book makes it hard not to draw parallels between the Bush administration and the current one. It is terrifying to think that this is what Republican ideology amounts to but then again, I think of the self aggrandizing ways of Bush, the utter disarray the country was left in after his time and wonder how many more books there will be written on Trump.
February 25, 2020
Analisi della disastrosa presidenza di Bush Jr. ma anche dei mali della privatizzazione (i blackout elettrici in California), del potere delle lobbies negli USA e di molti scandali contabili e bancari degli ultimi anni, come il caso Enron.
Non parla dei mutui subprime ma solo perché è stato dato alle stampe prima che esplodesse lo scandalo.
Non parla dei mutui subprime ma solo perché è stato dato alle stampe prima che esplodesse lo scandalo.
March 22, 2018
I am getting sort of bored with books that are simply a collection of columns. After Raghuram Rajan's I do What I do, i took the risk of picking this book from my shelf only to flip pages. Krugman may be a good columnist, but this certainly does not read as a book.
March 18, 2019
Although these articles were written during the Baby Bush administration, the callous indifference to the poor, the widening gap between the rich and everyone else, the administrative dishonesty and the outright greed of politicians makes them as relevant today as they were then.
July 26, 2019
Smart, witty, very interesting, but shocking story of Bush administration phony and corrupt economic policy. It gives an insight to where some of the ideas come in trump administration. Again, the progressive rot from Nixon to Trump can be explained by reviewing some of the history
November 20, 2020
A lot of this was over my head. Krugman explains economics of the period between 2000 and 2003 with much clarity and sharp opinions. It's a wonder the United States functions at all with the behind the door dealings.
I already ordered his most recent book to get more!
I already ordered his most recent book to get more!
May 14, 2021
complete waste of time and money like most of his books
June 22, 2021
I read this book to see how his commentary holds up ~20 years later. In short, it holds up well. If you don't read Krugman's New York Times column, you should, he's brilliant.
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