Simon Johnson and James Kwak
White House Burning
The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters to You
Knopf, 2012
What's inside?
Venture inside the White House for historical perspectives and present-day prescriptions on debt and deficits.
Recommendation
The Founding Fathers might listen to today’s political harangues about the United States’ debt and deficits with bemusement. Not much has changed in the more than 200 years of America’s existence, except that the absolute numbers are a lot bigger than they were in 1776. Throughout US history, prudent and productive borrowing has advanced the nation’s economic progress. Today’s challenge – a growing number of retirees supported by fewer workers – offers a new twist to an old problem. Yet good remedies (a couple of which, like Congressional trims to George W. Bush’s tax cuts, have taken place since the book came out) exist to keep the US out of the financial abyss, say professors Simon Johnson and James Kwak, the co-authors of 13 Bankers. While always politically neutral, getAbstract recommends their levelheaded, rigorous explanation of what the US’s debt and deficits really mean.
Summary
About the Authors
MIT professor Simon Johnson, a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, and University of Connecticut Law School Professor James Kwak previously wrote 13 Bankers.
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