Author: Joseph Shaanan File Type: pdf This book describes and refutes thirteen ideas involving free market principles and the US economic system, arguing that these (mostly familiar) ideas are myths. The myths are deeply ingrained in the United States self-image and in political discourse, and are hailed as indisputable, scientifically grounded truths. Unfortunately, an economy dominated by giant corporations bears little resemblance to a free market. So why is so much effort and expense devoted to disseminating these stories? The answer is simple. The different myths generate the recommendation that the systems rewards should flow upward to corporations and a small group of wealthy and politically influential people. The myths help entrench existing economic and political power while distancing America from a more productive and widely beneficial form of capitalism. **From the Back Cover This book describes and refutes thirteen ideas involving free market principles and the US economic system, arguing that these (mostly familiar) ideas are myths. The myths are deeply ingrained in the United States self-image and in political discourse, and are hailed as indisputable, scientifically grounded truths. Unfortunately, an economy dominated by giant corporations bears little resemblance to a free market. So why is so much effort and expense devoted to disseminating these stories? The answer is simple. The different myths generate the recommendation that the systems rewards should flow upward to corporations and a small group of wealthy and politically influential people. The myths help entrench existing economic and political power while distancing America from a more productive and widely beneficial form of capitalism. About the Author Joseph Shaanan is Professor of Economics at Bryant University, USA. He is the author of Economic Freedom and the American Dream (2010).

Author: Rebecca Solnit File Type: epub Reporting from the front lines of gentrification in San Francisco, Rebecca Solnit and Susan Schwartzenberg sound a warning bell to all urban residents. Wealth is just as capable of ravaging cities as poverty.**From Publishers WeeklySan Francisco has been for most of its 150-year existence both a refuge and an anomaly. Soon it will be neither. Gentrification is transforming the city by driving out the poor... [and] those who have chosen to give their lives over to unlucrative pursuits such as art, activism, social experimentation, and social service. So begins this impassioned cry to save the soul of Baghdad by the Bay (and any American cities under siege by ill-planned overdevelopment). A San Francisco resident who lives in a rent-controlled apartment, Solnit (Wanderlust A History of Walking) presents a lively mix of research, personal anecdotes, photos and art to show how the industrious development of high-end condos, hoteloffice space and dot-com businesses over the past decade has increased the citys economic base at the expense of many of its long-term residents, not to mention its character. Between 1996 and 1997, rental prices went up 37% last year, some neighborhoods faced a 20% increase within six months. Evictions happen at the rate of five per day, and 70% of those evicted leave the city, leading to the attrition not only of the poor but of the middle class, as well as independent and small businesses. Charting the history of the vibrant San Francisco arts and activist scenesDfrom the early days of literary bohemia in the 1870s to the 1950s beatniks to the famed political theater of the San Francisco Mime TroupeDSolnit methodically shows how difficult it will be for them to remain viable under the citys new managers. Passionate, potent and to the point, Solnits polemic embodies American political and social writing at its best. Readers who share her outlook will find it richly satisfying. (Jan.) 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From The New Yorker The Internet boom transformed San Francisco into a suburb of Silicon Valley, and the resulting housing squeeze and accelerated gentrification of low-income neighborhoods created a cultural crisis. Schwartzenbergs images survey more than thirty years of upheaval in the name of urban renewal, and Solnits text brings urgency to the question of whether a place in which artists, activists, and members of diverse races and classes can no longer afford to live is fated to become a city of presentation without creation. 2005 The New Yorker