The Tyranny of Dead Ideas Revolutionary Thinking for a New Age of Prosperity

by Miller, Matt

• ISBN13: 9780805091502
• ISBN10: 0805091505
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-19
• Publisher: Griffin

Summary

?Offers the most plausible way to renovate our political and policy thinking to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.??Joe Klein,TimeAmerica is at a crossroads. The global economic downturn that began in 2008 has laid bare the structural weakness of our economy, putting the country through its most severe test since the Great Depression. Yet our political and business leaders have failed to prepare us because they are in the grip of a set of ?dead ideas? about how a modern economy should work. Even the proponents of ?change? in the Obama administration remain tentative in pushing the boundaries of the conventional wisdom.But as Matt Miller shows in this provocative and influential analysis, the American economy will turn the corner only if we move beyond these outdated ways of thinking and recognize the ascendance of a new set of ?destined ideas? that will reinvigorate our economy, our politics, and our day-to-day lives. And in a new preface, Miller shows how today?s financial crisis has finally stripped these dead ideas of their power, offering hope for a durable recovery.

Author Biography

Matt Miller is the author of The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America?s Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love, which was a Los Angeles Times bestseller. He is a contributing editor at Fortune; a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; the host of public radio?s popular week-in-review program Left, Right & Center; and a consultant to corporations, governments, and nonprofits. He lives in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition: Still Stuck	p. xi
Introduction: Trapped	p. 1
Today's Dead Ideas
The Kids Will Earn More Than We Do	p. 17
Free Trade Is "Good" (No Matter How Many People Get Hurt)	p. 39
Your Company Should Take Care of You	p. 62
Taxes Hurt the Economy (and They're Always Too High)	p. 84
Schools Are a Local Matter	p. 108
Money Follows Merit	p. 131
The Tyranny of Dead Ideas	p. 144
Tomorrow's Destined Ideas
Only Government Can Save Business	p. 157
Only Business Can Save Liberalism	p. 169
Only Higher Taxes Can Save the Economy (and the Planet)	p. 181
Only the (Lower) Upper Class Can Save Us from Inequality	p. 190
Only Better Living Can Save Sagging Paychecks	p. 198
Only a Dose of "Nationalization" Can Save Local Schools	p. 207
Only Lessons from Abroad Can Save American Ideals	p. 217
From Dead to Destined Ideas	p. 224
Afterword: Burying Dead Ideas in Business and Beyond	p. 231
Acknowledgments	p. 243
Index	p. 247
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