A brief but astute primer on the nation’s economic vulnerabilities.
An analysis of the grim economic challenges that may confront the United States in the near future.
The last election season was certainly marked by fervent ideological divides, but that doesn’t mean that it was substantively serious. Paepke (The Evolution of Progress, 1993) calls it the “Seinfeld Election” because, like that TV sitcom, it was essentially about nothing. This is especially worrisome, he says, as the nation faces a maelstrom of daunting problems on the horizon. First, he asserts that the deficit will continue to balloon as spending consistently outstrips economic growth—the result of recklessness by both political parties. The interest rates on the nation’s debt alone will have crippling effects, he says, and future presidents will have a limited toolbox of fiscal strategies available when new crises arise. Also, he paints the country’s demographic reality as both frightening and inexorable; an aging population, he says, will be less economically productive but more solicitous of government funds—a problem compounded by senior voters’ increasing political clout. Entitlement spending poses grave risks, Paepke notes, as it’s considerably easier to take on new fiscal commitments than it is to shed them. Finally, he says that lasting economic progress depends upon technological innovation, which our nation no longer adequately supports: “Any prospect of restoring past levels of growth would require…making essential investments in infrastructure, improving incentives, eliminating crony capitalism, and government belt-tightening. Even then, any return to technology-charged rates of growth may not be sustainable for long.” Overall, Paepke’s analysis is chilling but sober, as he avoids any partisan score-settling or melodramatic announcements of imminent collapse. He addresses a number of issues, as well as suggested reforms, that faithful readers of decent newspapers will already be familiar with, but he’s right to point out that they were indeed neglected during the election season. His work is relatively brief—really more of a long essay than a full-fledged book—but it serves as a helpful introduction to economic hurdles that the United States government may find hard to clear in the years ahead.
A brief but astute primer on the nation’s economic vulnerabilities.Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2016
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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