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That Used to Be Us

[How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back]
Jan 11, 2017seaxfamx rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
An uneven attempt to diagnose what is wrong with the United States and an attempt to prescribe a path back. Friedman and Mandelbaum make some very good points. One is the "outsourcing of suffering" when it comes to the US military over the past 30 years. One percent of the population (those in the military) have borne the burden of US adventures abroad while those of us at home haven't even had our taxes raised (and sometimes have even had them cut--ala Bush II). Their "5 pillars of prosperity" is another strong point in terms of what it takes to have a strong nation--those, along with a sense of common purpose. Something F&M say we lost with the decline of the Soviet Union and the fall of communism. F&M have an overly simplistic understanding of "markets" and what creates them in the economy. They also refuse to put the burden of the taxation that it will take to return the US to greatness on the shoulders of those who have benefited most from the wealth creation of the past 40 years. It is also a bit dated, since it was published in 2011. I'm glad I listened to it on CD's. I don't think I would have had the patience to wade through all of the words on the printed page.