We are better than this how government should spend our money

By:

Kleinbard, Edward D

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Oxford Oxford University Press 2015Description: xxvii, 509p. illustrations 25 cmISBN:

9780199332243

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

336.390973 23 KL-W

LOC classification:

HJ257.2 .K59 2015

Other classification:

BUS079000 | POL024000 | BUS064000

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: -- Introduction -- PART I: OUR FISCAL SOUL IN PERIL -- Chapter 1: The Happiness of Society -- Chapter 2: Our Descent from Moral Philosophy to Narcissism -- Chapter 3: Our Dismal Report Card -- Chapter 4: Inequality Defenders, Deniers and Dissemblers -- Chapter 5: The Growth Fairy -- PART II: STARVING OUR FISCAL SOUL -- Chapter 6: An Overweight Government? -- Chapter 7: Are High Taxes Killing Us? -- Chapter 8: The Hidden Hand of Government Spending -- Chapter 9: A Field Guide to False Fiscal Crises -- PART III: RECLAIMING OUR FISCAL SOUL -- Chapter 10: Government Investment -- Chapter 11: Government As Insurer -- Chapter 12: From Progressive Tax to Progressive Fiscal System -- Chapter 13: The Better Base Case -- Chapter 14: Conclusion: We Are Better Than This.

Summary: "We Are Better Than This fundamentally reframes budget debates in the United States. Author Edward D. Kleinbard explains how the public's preoccupation with tax policy alone has obscured any understanding of government's ability to complement the private sector through investment and insurance programs that enhance the general welfare and prosperity of our society at large. He argues that when we choose how government should spend and tax, we open a window into our "fiscal soul," because those choices are the means by which we express the values we cherish and the regard in which we hold our fellow citizens. Though these values are being diminished by short-sighted decisions to starve government, strategic government spending can directly make citizens happier, healthier, and even wealthier. Expertly combining the latest economic research with his insider knowledge of the budget process into a simple yet compelling narrative, he unmasks the tax mythologies and false arguments that too often dominate contemporary discourse about budget policies. Large quantities of comparative data are succinctly distilled to situate the United States among its peer countries, so that readers can judge for themselves whether contemporary budget choices really reflect our aspirational fiscal soul. Kleinbard's presentation takes a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on economics, finance, law, political science and moral philosophy. He uniquely weaves economic research and moral philosophy together by emphasizing our welfare, not just our national income, and by contrasting the actual beliefs of Adam Smith, a great moral philosopher, with the cartoon version of the man presented by proponents of the most extreme forms of private market triumphalism"--Summary: "A book which examines how government - which is to say, all of us, acting collectively - can make our country healthier, wealthier and happier, if we put government to useful work in those areas where it most productively complements our private markets"--

Item type:

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Holdings
Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Print	OPJGU Sonepat- Campus Main Library	General Books	336.390973 KL-W (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		016073

Includes bibliographical references (pages 461-482) and index.

"We Are Better Than This fundamentally reframes budget debates in the United States. Author Edward D. Kleinbard explains how the public's preoccupation with tax policy alone has obscured any understanding of government's ability to complement the private sector through investment and insurance programs that enhance the general welfare and prosperity of our society at large. He argues that when we choose how government should spend and tax, we open a window into our "fiscal soul," because those choices are the means by which we express the values we cherish and the regard in which we hold our fellow citizens. Though these values are being diminished by short-sighted decisions to starve government, strategic government spending can directly make citizens happier, healthier, and even wealthier. Expertly combining the latest economic research with his insider knowledge of the budget process into a simple yet compelling narrative, he unmasks the tax mythologies and false arguments that too often dominate contemporary discourse about budget policies. Large quantities of comparative data are succinctly distilled to situate the United States among its peer countries, so that readers can judge for themselves whether contemporary budget choices really reflect our aspirational fiscal soul. Kleinbard's presentation takes a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on economics, finance, law, political science and moral philosophy. He uniquely weaves economic research and moral philosophy together by emphasizing our welfare, not just our national income, and by contrasting the actual beliefs of Adam Smith, a great moral philosopher, with the cartoon version of the man presented by proponents of the most extreme forms of private market triumphalism"--

"A book which examines how government - which is to say, all of us, acting collectively - can make our country healthier, wealthier and happier, if we put government to useful work in those areas where it most productively complements our private markets"--

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