Business and Finance Page
Click on links to check availability.
by Mattea Kramer (Get the Book)
Kramer (senior research analyst, National Priorities Project) here provides an understandable explanation of federal spending and revenues. The text explains why readers should care about the federal budget and how it affects them. It also breaks down technical language, e.g., mandatory and discretionary spending and revenue sources; 13 spending categories; how Congress and presidential administrations prepare budgets; nominal versus real dollars; fiscal and calendar years; departments that influence the budget and their acronyms, e.g., OMB, GAO, CBO, and CRS; budget creation chronology, beginning with the president, House and Senate action, their subcommittees' proposed appropriations, House and Senate reconciliations, and final presidential signature. That "politics, economics, and lobbying add complications" seems an understatement. Also included is a how-to guide readers can use to lobby their representatives. VERDICT This book is worthwhile reading for all U.S. citizens, though it presents issues of spending and revenue rather uncritically given the current economic environment. Of particular value for high school and college teachers, the book contains several lesson plans, and many more can be accessed at nationalpriorities.org. With a foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich.-Joanne B. Conrad, SUNY at Geneseo. --Library Journal
by Geoffrey P. Faux (Get the Book)
Economist Faux (coauthor of The Global Class War) records the decline of the American middle class and the inability of either political party to arrest it. This pessimistic but insightful book reviews U.S. economic history and the recent flattening of incomes and expanding debt leading to the Great Recession of 2008 from a leftist perspective. Faux dissects the role of bankers, real estate lobbies, and government policies in creating the disaster, fingering both the Clinton and Bush administrations' loose oversight of Wall Street and responsibility in the housing debacle. As Faux sharply observes, employee evaluation is more subjective in a service economy, a fact that gives bosses increased power to control and subjugate workers, leading to a "servant economy." But Faux's guiding lights show their age. Barbara Tuchman's decades-old warnings on public folly are dated and mundane. Using Howard Zinn to frame American history, Faux concocts an oppressive but nebulous elite. Channeling Karl Marx, he suggests that business-oriented intellectuals and U.S. corporate leaders seek a permanent army of the unemployed to keep wages low and employees docile. Faux deplores the corrupting impact of big money on government and the gap between the governing class and the American middle class. His unpersuasive solution is a constitutional amendment prohibiting corporations the rights of persons and mandating "hard limits on campaign spending." --Publishers Weekly
by John Nichols (Get the Book)
As a native Wisconsinite and an editor of the Capital Times, Nichols was well placed to report on the rapid transformation of the Wisconsin state capitol from quiet statehouse to epicenter of national protest. Nichols details the progress of events during those cold months of early 2011 and shows how popular protest and solidarity flowed from Egypt, Greece, and other global flashpoints to Wisconsin and then to Wall Street and beyond. --Library Journal
by Jonathan Peterson (Get the Book)
The easy way to get a handle on Social Security Are you or a loved one looking to understand how Social Security benefits work? Social Security For Dummies helps you better understand and navigate the U.S. Social Security Administration, covering important topics such as how benefits are funded and distributed, the various Social Security options and how to qualify, and deciding when to start accepting Social Security benefits. Additionally, it explains the history, regulations, and significant changes to U.S. Social Security, as well as considerations for the future of the program. Advice for ensuring you′re receiving your maximum benefits Gives you a thorough breakdown of how benefits are determined and what programs are sponsored by the Social Security Administration Covers challenges and considerations for those with special circumstances Whether you′re receiving Social Security benefits, helping someone who is, or thinking about beginning to accept benefits yourself, Social Security For Dummies is a must-have resource for navigating this complicated (and sometimes confusing) landscape. (Publisher)
by Donald L. Barlett. (Get the Book)
Billionaire Warren Buffet famously observed that class warfare has been going on for decades, and my class is winning. Pulitzer Prize and National Magazine Award winners Barlett and Steele scored a best-seller decrying such class warfare with America: What Went Wrong? (1992). Betrayal carries their powerful critique forward into the present. For Barlett and Steele, middle class working households earned $35,000-$85,000 in 2009; that's 34 million households, with 58 million earning less and 24 million more. The ruling class betraying middle Americans is a mix of politicians and special interests who've gamed the system on behalf of the richest Americans. The authors trace the process of that betrayal from early deregulation fever (airlines and trucking) in the 1970s through today's warnings of debt infernos, unaffordable entitlements, and the need for austerity. Working in collaboration with American University's Investigation Reporting Workshop, Barlett and Steele address key elements of this betrayal (globalization, outsourcing, taxes, pensions, financial-sector dominance), then offer suggestions for reversing it, including progressive tax reform, fair trade, infrastructure investment, focused retraining, and criminal prosecution of white-collar criminals. --Booklist
