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Bruce R. Bartlett
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The New American Economy: The Failure of Reaganomics and a New Way Forward Kindle Edition

by Bruce Bartlett (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 out of 5 stars 26 ratings

As a domestic policy advisor to Ronald Reagan, Bruce Bartlett was one of the originators of Reaganomics, the supply-side economic theory that conservatives have clung to for decades. In The New American Economy, Bartlett goes back to the economic roots that made Impostor a bestseller and abandons the conservative dogma in favor of a policy strongly based on what's worked in the past. Marshalling compelling history and economics, he explains how economic theories that may be perfectly valid at one moment in time under one set of circumstances tend to lose validity over time because they are misapplied under different circumstances. Bartlett makes a compelling, historically-based case for large tax increases, once anathema to him and his economic allies. In The New American Economy, Bartlett seeks to clarify a compelling and way forward for the American economy.

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  1. Print length
    273 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    St. Martin's Press
  4. Publication date
    October 13, 2009
  5. File size
    3.2 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for The New American Economy: "Among today's conservatives, only Bruce Bartlett would have the courage and unconventionality to embrace John Maynard Keynes, much less to champion a big new tax. But here's the thing: he's right. Anyone seeking a new way forward for conservatism or the economy needs to start here."--Jonathan Rauch, National Journal “Bruce Bartlett, who took the measure of President Bush in his New York Times bestseller, Impostor,has written another highly useful winner: The New American Economy. In this short, tough-minded and often amusing book, he lays out what the Obama Administration is doing to the economy and tells why it will work.”—Richard Whalen, Senior policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and author of The Founding Father: The Story of Joseph P. Kennedy "Bartlett is the rarest of all creatures: an honest conservative economist. He was one of the original supply-siders in the Reagan administration. However, he pursued it as economic policy, not religion, which meant that he changed his views when things did not turn out exactly as planned. Readers of all political perspectives will find this book valuable. It is a serious account of the economic history of the post-World War II era and provides thoughtful prescriptions on the way forward."--Dean Baker, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research Praise for Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past: “Bartlett's chronicle of the Democratic Party's sordid past…offer[s] illuminating evidence that, despite great marks of progress, race's stranglehold on the nation's collective conscious remains as strong as ever.” –Washington Post Book World Praise for Impostor: How ...

About the Author

Bruce Bartlett is an economic historian who has spent the last 30 years working in politics and public policy. He has served in numerous governmental positions, including as a domestic policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan and a treasury official under President George H.W. Bush. He is a weekly columnist for Forbes.com. and has written for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal,  National Review, Commentary, and Fortune. He is also a frequent guest on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Lou Dobbs' Moneyline, NBC Nightly News, Nightline, Crossfire, Wall Street Week, CNN, CNBC, and Fox News Channel, among others.

 

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002SQFLZI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (October 13, 2009)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 13, 2009
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.2 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 273 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 26 ratings

About the author

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Bruce R. Bartlett

Bruce R. Bartlett

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Bruce Bartlett is a longtime observer and commenter on economic and political affairs in Washington, DC. He has written for virtually every major national publication in this area, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, The New Republic and many others. His Twitter feed @BruceBartlett is widely followed and reaches up to 10 million people per month.

Bartlett’s work is informed by many years in government, including service on the staffs of Congressmen Ron Paul and Jack Kemp and Senator Roger Jepsen, as executive director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House, and deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department during the George H.W. Bush administration.

Bruce is the author of eight books including the New York Times best-seller, "The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform—Why We Need It and What It Will Take" (Simon & Schuster 2012). His earlier book, "Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy" (Doubleday 2006), was also a New York Times best-seller.

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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Optimistic
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very good condition.
    Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2018
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    Explains everything. Very good condition.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Dan B.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent review of American economic policy, and a wakeup call to "taxcut and spend" conservatives
    Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2010
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    The author provides a concise yet comprehensive review of American economic and fiscal policy from the 1920s to present, tracing the trajectory of Keynesian thinking, and the Reaganomics that succeeded it. The author notes that both schools of thought have not only been perverted by subsequent practitioners, but in fact, neither school of thought is well-suited to the specific economic and political circumstances we face today.

    I knocked a star off because the author was light on details for the new way forward, although I commend him for stating the glaringly obvious point that Congress refuses to admit: the "more tax cuts at any cost" approach is not a responsible tax policy.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Jerry L Marsh
    5.0 out of 5 stars Worth It
    Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2015
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    If it is written by Bruce Bartlett, it is worth the time to read.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Avid Reader
    3.0 out of 5 stars Should We Really Be Listening to This Guy?
    Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    Bruce Bartlett is a history major who did his masters thesis on the Pearl Harbor attack. Along with the likes of Lawrence Kudlow, Neil Cavuto and Jerry Bowyers, he is a contemporary pop-economic hack who obtained his knowledge of economics from listening to politicians and reading bumper stickers.

    And he had a hand in causing the problem that we're in today as he admits in his book. He also admits that they did it on purpose. It wasn't an accident. It was intentional!!

    Over thirty years ago he was one of many who advocated what is popularly known as a "starve-the-beast" viewpoint. Politicians who didn't have the integrity or the strength of character to fight for cuts in spending believed that if they reduced income significantly, then other politicians would be forced to reduce spending. They believed that if they continued to run deficits and continued to run up the national debt, then eventually someone in the government would cut spending. As adviser to Reagan and Treasury official under Bush 41, Bartlett promoted this atrocious policy.

    It didn't work. While they continued to push for tax cuts, they never fought for spending cuts. The deficit continued to grow and grow, and now we are in such a hole that it is going to take decades to climb out. And it was intentional. They ran up the national debt on purpose. He's not evil. History major Bartlett actually thought it was the best thing to do for the country.

    So why should we pay any attention to Bruce Bartlett?

    Answer: he has something to say. And what he says is quite frightening. The national debt is chump change when compared to the unfunded obligations for Social Security and Medicare. It's a very serious message that everyone in America should note. Former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker has been sounding this alarm for years. Bartlett should at the very least be given some credit for finally catching on.

    Unfortunately his answer to the problem is pathetic and shallow. He's basically surrendering. Rather than fight the big spenders, he surrenders to them and advocates higher taxes. Whereas before he cowardly advocated the "starve-the-beast" outrage to avoid fighting the big spenders, now he just goes ahead and surrenders to them.

    This book is just the next episode of Bruce Bartlett pushing his idea for a value added tax (VAT). In his previous book about the Bush administration and in his weekly Forbes column, Bartlett pushes and pushes his VAT idea. He is convinced that tax revenues must be increased significantly, and he is convinced that the VAT is the best way to do it. This book is just more advocacy for the same idea.

    The book is a pleasurable read. He reviews from his perspective American macroeconomic history and policy from the Great Depression era through today. He explains how Keynes' theories were born and how they were manipulated and misunderstood and then misapplied, and he explains how supply-side economics was born and how it was manipulated, misunderstood and misapplied by ignorant leaders to the detriment of the nation. He blames this mostly on Bush 43.

    The subtitle is misleading. "The Failure of Reaganomics" In the book he makes no mention of any failure of Reaganomics. Reaganomics was and is good. The problem was that it wasn't fully implemented. When we think of Reaganomics, tax cuts automatically come to mind. But Reagan was clear that cuts in spending were a necessary part of it. I remember Mitt Romney's speech when he suspended his campaign for President in 2008. I thought, "Wow. Mitt Romney." Politicians say wonderful things. Unfortunately, they don't always do those things. We got the tax cuts. But we never got the spending cuts.
    26 people found this helpful
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  • Terence Wride
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2015
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    Good book of liberal economics
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  • Donald S. Waller
    5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly...I Loved It!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2010
    When I picked up this book I was aware the author is closely aligned with conservative supply side economics of the Reagan era. A theory I find dubious at best. However, once I started reading it I could not put it down.

    I read a lot of non-fiction books, especially business and economics titles. From the old classics, (Keynes, Hayek, Ricardo) to new releases, (Stiglitz, Phelps, Taleb). We all have our "thing" and this is mine. This book I rank high on my favorites list.

    It has a brief history of Keynes with surprising quotes from him that suggest a conservative bent few acknowledge today. Included is correspondence between Keynes and Hayek that indicates the same goal: avoiding the temptation of societies to opt for communism out of economic desperation. They had different means, but the same objective.

    This book is very well researched, with the perfect amount of statistical background. Too often economics books are packed with arcane and irrelevant numbers that make little sense to anyone but the author; measuring the meaningless ad nauseam. That is not the case here. He strikes a great balance.

    Mr. Bartlett also makes a cogent argument for keeping what has worked for both Keynes and Supply side approaches, and ditching the rest. He basically makes the case there is little or no link between inflation and unemployment, and tax cuts don't pay for themselves but increase the public debt. He then suggests a new path that includes a value added tax to cover the social safety net, welfare state programs that are popular and will always be in place.

    In my mind, as soon as elected officials acknowledges this, and also the link between low wages and the dependence of citizens on government, we will begin to make our way back to fiscal stability.

    Great book. Don't miss it.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • BlueSkyRacing
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2018
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    Great historic perspective
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  • Amazon Customer
    2.0 out of 5 stars More non-insightful commentary on a relatively simple problem.
    Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2024
    I bought this book from a bookstore for way too much money years ago. The only thing I have to recommend it, is that there is talk of a simplified taxation that would solve many of our taxpayers' woes, and strengthen our liberties. The idea of raising tax rates under the guise of a strengthened economy is one that has failed every single time it has been implemented, as we haven't yet found a way to catch all of the cheats that will fight exorbitant, punitive taxation to their last breath.

    Lowering tax rates increased revenue to the federal government in the Kennedy, Reagan, and Trump administrations. Bush could have seen the same result if he hadn't spent so much money on his war machine. Fiscally conservative administrations prosper while those with loose fiscal discipline bring suffering to millions. Instead of the Marxist recommendations (Stiglitz et al.) of a previous reviewer, I suggest looking at the Austrian economic theories of Von Mises, et al.
    2 people found this helpful
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