Author: Dean Baker File Type: pdf There has been an enormous upward redistribution of income in the United States in the last four decades. In his most recent book, Baker shows that this upward redistribution was not the result of globalization and the natural workings of the market. Rather, it was the result of conscious policies that were designed to put downward pressure on the wages of ordinary workers while protecting and enhancing the incomes of those at the top. Baker explains how rules on trade, patents, copyrights, corporate governance, and macroeconomic policy were rigged to make income flow upward. **Review With clarity, facts, and force, Dean Baker explains how the U.S. economy is rigged and how the privileged class convinced majorities that this is just the way things have to be. Baker then thoroughly debunks such inevitability, providing what amounts to a powerful de-rigging manual to the growing number of us who want a global economy that works for everyone. *--*Jared Bernstein, Former Chief Economic Adviser to Vice President Joe Biden This is an important and compelling book about how the rules governing the American economy have been rigged in favor of those with the wealth and political clout to rig them. Baker shows why and how the nations staggering inequality has been the consequence of staggeringly unequal political influence. --Robert B. Reich, Former Secretary of Labor Dean Bakers timely book Rigged How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer is a must-read for the many who believe the status quo is unsustainable. In clear and compelling terms, Baker makes the case for rewriting the rules so that markets lead to truly progressive outcomes. --Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher of The Nation The era in which all economic policy discussion started from conservative premises that lent themselves to conservative solutions is coming to an end. Conservatives have become caricatures, warning of nonexistent inflation and promoting tax cuts for the rich as the solution to every problem. We are poised for a new progressive era of thinking and policy to deal with festering problems, such as rising inequality and slowing productivity growth, that conservatives are incapable of grasping, let alone dealing with. This book represents fresh thinking for a new progressive era. It may be for the Left what George Gilders Wealth and Poverty was for the Right. --Bruce Bartlett, Former aide to Ron Paul and Jack Kemp (U.S. Congress), Ronald Reagan (White HouseOPD) and George H.W. Bush (Treasury DeptEconomic Policy) High U.S. inequality is the product of conscious policy choices, argues Dean Baker in this excellent and provocative book. He identifies five areas in which the upward distribution induced by policies should be reversed macroeconomics that focus on low inflation only asymmetric treatment of privatized gains and socialized losses in the finance industry heavy protection of patent rights at home and abroad protection of high-skill occupations from foreign competition and out-of-bounds CEO pay. By identifying five clear areas and giving concrete proposals for a change, Bakers book should be seen as a road map for future U.S. policymakers who wish to bring income and wealth inequality back to sustainable levels. --Branko Milanovic, Author of Global Inequality A New Approach for the Age of Globalization About the Author Dean Baker is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, D.C., which he founded in 1999 with Mark Weisbrot. His areas of research include housing and macroeconomics, intellectual property, Social Security, Medicare, and European labor markets. His blog, Beat the Press, provides commentary on economic reporting. He received his B.A. from Swarthmore College and his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Author: Fil Hearn File Type: pdf From Publishers WeeklyThe comparative compactness of this book belies its grandly ambitious attempt to synthesize 2,000 years of Western architectural theory. For Hearn, an art and architectural history professor at the University of Pittsburgh, the Roman temples of Vitruvius and the postmodern Las Vegas of Robert Venturi form part of a coherent whole, sustained by a long and complex intellectual tradition, a shifting set of articulate reactions to a set of fundamental human circumstances. He finds further that design and architectural theory, more than most disciplines, have been dominated by a fairly small set of theoretical treatises, which form the bases for the four sections and 16 chapters of Hearns work. These texts, and the ways in which designers and builders have reacted to them over the centuries, are described with the kind of terse thoroughness that speaks of a daunting command of the subject. Moving freely between Alberti and Le Corbusier, between the columnar order and the Dymaxion house, Hearn transmits a clear sense of the endless interdependence of theory and practice. But the most surprising thing about this volume is how deftly it incorporates-despite its return to fundamentals approach-the intellectual and technical developments of recent decades. Hearns holistic approach allows a warts-and-all discussion of postmodernisms weaknesses that is also able to clearly describe its achievements. And the already pivotal impact of computer modeling on design is not only recognized, but broadly contextualized. The product of many years of classroom experience, this compendium is likely to become a much assigned text in both introductory and advanced architecture and design programs. And if Hearns clipped no-nonsense style sometimes demands close attention, the reader can be assured that Hearn is never deliberately obscure, something that can hardly be said of every book in architectural theorys expanding field. Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. ReviewFil Hearns Ideas That Shaped Buildings lucidly summarizes two thousand years of theorizing about architecture in an easy-to-read primer wisely organized both chronologically and thematically. Offering a comprehensive overview of the canon of design thinking from Vitruvius to Venturi, it will be a useful introductory text for architecture students, architects, and cultured readers interested in surveying Western civilizations most influential architectural ideas. Roger K. Lewis , FAIA, Professor, University of Maryland School of ArchitectureHearn is a good tour guide. Michael J. Crosbie Architectural RecordThe product of many years of classroom experience, this compendium is likely to become a much assigned text... Publishers WeeklyThere has long been a need for this book, and it should sell well for many years. Peter Kaufman Library JournalTutors and students will be blessing Fil Hearn for his little book... compact, erudite, literate. Jeremy Melvin Architects JournalFil Hearns Ideas That Shaped Buildings lucidly summarizes two thousand years of theorizing about architecture in an easy-to-read primer wisely organized both chronologically and thematically. Offering a comprehensive overview of the canon of design thinking from Vitruvius to Venturi, it will be a useful introductory text for architecture students, architects, and cultured readers interested in surveying Western civilizations most influential architectural ideas.--Roger K. Lewis, FAIA, Professor, University of Maryland School of Architecture