The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century

Possibly the greatest political book I've read yet, and it's by an economist. The great unraveling is America's descent over the past six years from economic boom and the political reasons that contribute to it. Krugman writes often that he had no intention of commenting on politics in his New York Times column, but the actions of Bush administration led him to take verbal action. No knee-jerk lefty he, Krugman does a brilliant job of justifying why the Bush administration is hurting the American economy as well as policy. The columns are arranged thematically, and it's interesting to see Krugman's comments on a certain issue develop over the years, although it also lends itself to a lot of annoying repetition one would not notice so show more much reading a weekly column.

"The point is the contrast between image and reality. Mr. Bush portrays himself as a regular guy, someone ordinary Americans can identify with. But his personal fortune was built on privilege and insider dealings -- and after his Harken sale, on large-scale corporate welfare. Some people have it easy." p. 121

"Strange, isn't it? If you're a low-paid worker, or an energy consumer, the free market is sacrosanct -- it would be a terrible thing if government provided you with any assistance. But energy producers apparently need special encouragement to do their regular job." p. 331 show less

This is a collection of Paul Krugman's Op-Ed articles he wrote for The New York Times during Bush's first term. Though it is somewhat outdated, it is still interesting to read about predictions of an economic collapse. Perhaps I was too young to understand this market ten years ago, but I never suspected that we would have this real estate bubble and bust. I'd like to recommend this book to one of my ex-boyfriends who thought I was immature to not buy a house and "invest" more in the stock market.

This is a collection of Paul Krugman's Op-Ed articles he wrote for The New York Times during Bush's first term. Though it is somewhat outdated, it is still interesting to read about predictions of an economic collapse. Perhaps I was too young to understand this market ten years ago, but I never suspected that we would have this real estate bubble and bust. I'd like to recommend this book to one of my ex-boyfriends who thought I was immature to not buy a house and "invest" more in the stock market.

No need to read this book front to back, and some of it is outdated now, but its a nice collection of columns from a sensible voice.

Princeton Univ Professor and NY Times columnist goes on the attack to expose the incompetence and wickness of the Bush Administration as being responsible for the 2008 economic meltdown. Must have for the economics library.

Pros: daring writing; finest opinion writing; simple, direct and clear
Cons: just a collection of opinion column articles; very little stringing together effort

Excellent book. Even I have come to a better understanding of economics and how the US has been affected by economic policies in the last few years.