The Price of Civilization_ Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity - Jeffrey D. Sachs [0]
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Published in the United States by Random House,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sachs, Jeffrey.
The price of civilization / Jeffrey D. Sachs.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
eISBN: 978-0-679-60502-7
1. United States—Economic conditions—2009– 2. United States—Economic policy—2009– 3. Environmental responsibility—United States. 4. Social responsibility of business—United States. 5. United States—Politics and government—21st century. I. Title.
HC106.84.S23 2011
330.973—dc22 2011014631
www.atrandom.com
Jacket design: Pete Garceau
Jacket illustration © Dreamstime Images
v3.1
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
PART I. THE GREAT CRASH
Chapter 1. Diagnosing America’s Economic Crisis
Chapter 2. Prosperity Lost
Chapter 3. The Free-Market Fallacy
Chapter 4. Washington’s Retreat from Public Purpose
Chapter 5. The Divided Nation
Chapter 6. The New Globalization
Chapter 7. The Rigged Game
Chapter 8. The Distracted Society
PART II. THE PATH TO PROSPERITY
Chapter 9. The Mindful Society
Chapter 10. Prosperity Regained
Chapter 11. Paying for Civilization
Chapter 12. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Government
Chapter 13. The Millennial Renewal
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Further Readings
Notes
Works Cited
Other Books by This Author
About the Author
PART I
The Great Crash
CHAPTER 1.
Diagnosing America’s Economic Crisis
A Crisis of Values
At the root of America’s economic crisis lies a moral crisis: the decline of civic virtue among America’s political and economic elite. A society of markets, laws, and elections is not enough if the rich and powerful fail to behave with respect, honesty, and compassion toward the rest of society and toward the world. America has developed the world’s most competitive market society but has squandered its civic virtue along the way. Without restoring an ethos of social responsibility, there can be no meaningful and sustained economic recovery.
I find myself deeply surprised and unnerved to have to write this book. During most of my forty years in economics I have assumed that America, with its great wealth, depth of learning, advanced technologies, and democratic institutions, would reliably find its way to social betterment. I decided early on in my career to devote my energies to the economic challenges abroad, where I felt the economic problems were more acute and in need of attention. Now I am worried about my own country. The economic crisis of recent years reflects a deep, threatening, and ongoing deterioration of our national politics and culture of power.
The crisis, I will argue, developed gradually over the course of several decades. We are not facing a short-term business cycle downturn, but the working out of long-term social, political, and economic trends. The crisis, in many ways, is the culmination of an era—the baby boomer era—rather than of particular policies or presidents. It is also a bipartisan affair: both Democrats and Republicans have played their part in deepening the crisis. On many days it seems that the only difference between the Republicans and Democrats is that Big Oil owns the Republicans while Wall Street owns the Democrats. By understanding the deep roots of the crisis, we can move beyond illusory solutions such as the “stimulus” spending of 2009–2010, the budget cuts of 2011, and the unaffordable tax cuts that are implemented year after year. These are gimmicks that distract us from the deeper reforms needed in our society.
The first two years of the Obama presidency show that our economic and political failings are deeper than that of a particular president. Like many Americans, I looked to Barack Obama as the hope for a breakthrough. Change was on the way, or so we hoped; yet there has been far more continuity than change. Obama has continued down