Come Home, America: The Rise and Fall of Our Country.

William Greider.

(2009)

V

“The point is, if the financial crisis is truly a national emergency–and I think it is–why does the government act like a supplicant and offer friendly terms to those who caused the crisis?”

“The Fed can lend money to nearly anyone–state and federal governments or private enterprises–if it decides this is necessary to save the economic system.”

P. 58.

(The politics of hard money)

VI

On China’s loans to the US:

“This recycling of wealth allows US consumers to enjoy cheaper goods and to keep living beyond our means, consuming more than we can competitively produce every year.

62.

“China gets new factories and wealth. The United States gets outsourced products and an ominous, growing mountain of debt....In the long run America is the loser.”

63.

Globalization:

“Americans ought to explore the possibilities on their own, even if the dominant political and media discourse implies there are none.”

92

(Blinded by Faith)

“. . . possible solutions to our predicament . . .” (in subsequent chapter)

92

VII

“. . . the global trading system itself is more fragile than it appears.”

“The old order–the American political assumptions and economic principles that have dominated the trading system for six decades–no longer prevails.”

93

“. . . face the system’s contradictions and reviving the progressive spirit of cooperation the US advanced after World War II. Now,, however, if the US is to be trusted, it must let go of the world.”

118

“This cosmopolitan view may be logical, but it is far too radical for politicians to sell to citizens.”

94

“The Hamilton project” –center right think tank DC base Brookings Inst.

“But the central theme was quite different. Income inequality generated by globalization, the group announced, was ‘a deeply troubling fact of American life’.”

96-96

“devise ways to take the harsh edge off globalization before popular resentments build into a major political backlash.”

96

“respectable discussion.’ But his shift also demonstrates that our democratic dialogue is restricted to pronouncements made by a few powerful names.”

96

Alan Blinder (Fed Bd of Governors)

“American workers are going to face even worse consequences in the future.”

97

“The United States would sell services to the rest of the world...”

97

Lawrence Summers (Clinton Tresury Sec, Harvard Pres. & Obama C Economic advisor)

“What the anxious global middle is told often feels like pretty thin gruel.”

Meaning

“the divergence between the fortunes of capital and the fortunes of labor

98

Manufacturing jobs are not disappearing from the global economy, only from America, where workers used to earn compensation that was in line with their output–wages that supported middle class lives.”

99

“Blinder’s metaphor misstates the reality. Global warming is not an act of nature. It is caused by human activity–the burning of fossil fuels– and human actors can address the sources of the problem if they decide to do so.”

99

the articulate class

“who will not just sit there and take it.”

Alan Blinder quoted

100

key concept ¶ at top of page 102

§ 102-109 &

§ 109-116