The Economic Crisis Reader

Edition:2nd

Date of publication:November 2010

ISBN:978-1-878585-84-4

Pages:411

Price:$34.95

• About
• Table of Contents

The mainstream pundits tell us that “no one” anticipated the massive economic shocks of the past few years. The Economic Crisis Reader debunks that myth and many other misdiagnoses of the current crisis. With more than 60 well-researched, clearly written articles, this lively reader explains the causes, consequences, and possible solutions to the ongoing economic crisis. Chapters focus on the housing boom and bust, the financial meltdown, Fed policy, fiscal stimulus, the impact on workers, global dimensions, and more. The updated second edition includes the latest news and analysis, including thought-provoking ideas for reforming our economic system to prevent similar crises in the future.

Praise for The Economic Crisis Reader:

“The Economic Crisis Reader is another exceptional collection of essays about important subjects from the venerable Dollars & Sense. A first-class group of economists and journalists cover every aspect of the most severe economic collapse since the Great Depression: the causes of the crisis, the events leading up to it, its impact on working people and their responses to it, the ins-and-outs of financial markets, the U.S. government’s inadequate responses to the crisis, international dimensions, and numerous suggestions for the reforms of and more radical changes in our economic system that would avoid such crises in the future. Every chapter is clearly written, and even the most complex topics—from mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps to the mechanics of monetary policy and the crowding-out effect—are made eminently comprehensible. This book should be used in every undergraduate economics class in every college in the world and in every worker-education course and study group. Teachers, including especially those who have been preaching economic orthodoxy, had better read it too!”
—MICHAEL YATES, author of The ABCs of the Economic Crisis: What Working People Need to Know and Associate Editor, Monthly Review

“This is distinguished public service. The Economic Crisis Reader brings together many short essays by those who were actually in the right as the crisis unfolded, as well as useful and accessible analysis from a left perspective. This effort is worth a truckload of recent mainstream journal articles.”
—JAMES K. GALBRAITH, Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin, and author of The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too

“My students absolutely loved The Economic Crisis Reader. It was adopted for the course titled "Economic Crisis" (300-level). Based on student evaluations, the course was a great success, and students commented that they really liked the selection of articles in the Crisis Reader. They even mentioned that they read many articles that weren't even assigned on the syllabus. Thanks for producing great books for our students!”
—ALLA SEMENOVA, Department of Economics, Dickinson College

“This is a book full of unexpected little jewels. Readers will find just the right fit. The range of themes and materials is all-encompassing. Every structural aspect of the dodgy, pillaging, rentier U.S. economy is explained, detailed, and assessed. To their credit, heterodox analysts—most particularly by the stalwart contributors to this impressive, timely collection—anticipated the current crisis....
“Talent seems to be in excess supply at Dollars & Sense: 30 authors, many well-known and the rest soon to be, take on the thorniest and often most abstruse issues. They do all this with aplomb, swift dispatch and, should we say, economy.
“This book will stand the test of time. It will be one of a small handful of classics revealing the savage rot of neoliberalism, the arrogant complacency of mainstream neoclassical economists, and the enabling contemporary economic policies at the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, and the Congress that have brought the U.S. to its current, ugly, impasse.”
—JAMES CYPHER, Research Professor, Doctoral Program in Development Studies, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Mexico

• Introduction
• Introduction to the First Edition
• Chapter 1: General Explanations
  • 1.1 The Greed FallacyArthur MacEwan
  • 1.2 Inequality, Power, and IdeologyArthur MacEwan
  • 1.3 Recession, Depression, Repression: What’s in a Name?John Miller
  • 1.4 That ’70s CrisisAlejandro Reuss
  • 1.5 Crisis and Neoliberal CapitalismDavid Kotz
  • 1.6 Capitalism Hits the FanRichard D. Wolff
  • 1.7 We’re All Minskyites NowRobert Pollin
  • 1.8 The “Credit Tsunami”Steve Keen
  • 1.9 Profits, the Business Cycle, and the Current CrisisPaul Mattick
  • 1.10 Same Output + Fewer Hours = Economic Crisis?Alejandro Reuss
  • 1.11 Why Won’t the Economy Spring Back?James M. Cypher
• Chapter 2: Warning signs
  • 2.1 Bubble TroubleDean Baker
  • 2.2 A House of CardsTamara Draut and Adria Scharf
  • 2.3 (Mis)Understanding a Banking Industry in TransitionWilliam K. Black
  • 2.4 America’s Growing Fringe EconomyHoward Karger
  • 2.5 Financialization: A PrimerRamaa Vasudevan
  • 2.6 Private Equity ExposedOrlando Segura, Jr.
  • 2.7 Hedge Funds Arthur MacEwan
  • 2.8 The Fed and America’s Distorted ExpansionThomas I. Palley
  • 2.9 Who Cares If Bear Stearns Fails?Arthur MacEwan
  • 2.10 Can the Fed Handle a Systemic Crisis? Maybe.Jane D’Arista
• Chapter 3: The Housing Bubble and Bust
  • 3.1 The Homeownership MythHoward Karger
  • 3.2 What Were the Bankers Thinking?Arthur MacEwan
  • 3.3 Renters in the CrosshairsDaniel Fireside
  • 3.4 How to Stop the ForeclosuresFred Moseley
  • 3.5 The Bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie MacFred Moseley
  • 3.6 Who Gets Those Trillions?Arthur MacEwan
  • 3.7 Don’t Blame the CRAJim Campen
  • 3.8 Update on Mortgage Lending DiscriminationJim Campen
• Chapter 4: The Financial Meltdown
  • 4.1 From Tulips to Mortgage-Backed SecuritiesGerald Friedman
  • 4.2 Ponzi Schemes and Speculative BubblesArthur MacEwan
  • 4.3 Confidence TrickJohn Miller
  • 4.4 Derivatives and DeregulationMarty Wolfson
  • 4.5 Dealing with a Rotten ToothArthur MacEwan
  • 4.6 Time for Permanent Nationalization!Fred Moseley
  • 4.7 Trust Your GutWilliam Greider
  • 4.8 Not Too Big EnoughRob Larson
  • 4.9 Bonanzas as UsualRob Larson
  • 4.10 The Sad Future of BankingWilliam K. Black
• Chapter 5: Monetary Policy: The Fed and The Money Supply
  • 5.1 Pushing on StringsGerald Friedman
  • 5.2 Bernanke’s Bad TeachersGerald Friedman
  • 5.3 The Bailouts RevisitedMarty Wolfson
  • 5.4 Of Bubbles and BailoutsMary Bottari
  • 5.5 Fixing the FedWilliam Greider
  • 5.6 Keynes and the Limits of Monetary PolicyAlejandro Reuss
  • 5.7 Bad News, Good News, and Class ConflictJohn Miller
  • 5.8 Pressure from the Bond MarketArthur MacEwan
• Chapter 6: Fiscal Policy: Stimulus and Deficits
  • 6.1 Stimulating WhiningJohn Miller
  • 6.2 How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the DeficitJohn Miller
  • 6.3 Responding to RevisionismGerald Friedman
  • 6.4 Fiscal Policy and “Crowding Out”Alejandro Reuss
  • 6.5 Why Are Things Getting Worse and Worse?Arthur MacEwan
  • 6.6 The Economic Crisis in the StatesGerald Friedman
  • 6.7 State Budget BluesMarianne Hill
  • 6.8 Myths of the DeficitMarty Wolfson
  • 6.9 The Deficit: Real Issue, Phony DebatesRick Wolff
• Chapter 7: The Jobs Crisis
  • 7.1 The Real Unemployment Rate Hits a 68-Year HighJohn Miller
  • 7.2 Unemployment: How Bad for How Long?Fred Moseley
  • 7.3 Unemployment Insurance: A Broken SystemMarianne Hill
  • 7.4 Employers Go on Strike�Because They CanJohn Miller
  • 7.5 Gender and the RecessionHeather Boushey
  • 7.6 A Dismal Time to GraduateKatherine Faherty
  • 7.7 How Blacks Might Fare in the Jobless RecoverySylvia Allegretto and Steven Pitts
• Chapter 8: Industrial and Employment Policy
  • 8.1 Bail Out the Safety NetRandy Albelda
  • 8.2 Creating Decent JobsJeannette Wicks-Lim
  • 8.3 Is Military Keynesianism the Solution?Heidi Garrett-Peltier
  • 8.4 We Need a (Green) Jobs ProgramJeannette Wicks-Lim
  • 8.5 Saving Energy Creates JobsHeidi Garrett-Peltier
  • 8.6 Eighteen Million Jobs by 2010Robert Pollin
  • 8.7 A New WPA?Ryan A. Dodd
  • 8.8 Changing the Auto Industry from the Wheels UpAlejandro Reuss
• Chapter 9: Labor Activism
  • 9.1 The Global Crisis and the World Labor MovementDan LaBotz
  • 9.2 The Real Audacity of HopeKari Lyderson and James Tracy
  • 9.3 Corporate America’s Counter-Stimulus StrategyRoger Bybee
  • 9.4 Worker Direct Action Grows in Wake of Financial MeltdownImmanuel Ness and Stacy Warner Maddern
  • 9.5 Greece as a Demonstration ProjectMike-Frank Epitropoulos
  • 9.6 Should We Be Talking About Living Wages Now?Jeannette Wicks-Lim
  • 9.7 On Strike in ChinaChris Tilly and Marie Kennedy
• Chapter 10: The International Crisis
  • 10.1 The Giant Pool of MoneyArthur MacEwan
  • 10.2 W(h)ither the Dollar?Katherine Sciacchitano
  • 10.3 Putting the “Global” in the Global Economic CrisisSmriti Rao
  • 10.4 (Economic) Freedom’s Just Another Word for...Crisis-ProneJohn Miller
  • 10.5 Tax Havens and the Financial CrisisRachel Keeler
  • 10.6 Beyond the World Creditors’ CartelDariush Sokolov
  • 10.7 No Bailout for AIDSMara Kardas-Nelson
  • 10.8 The Beijing Statement
  • 10.9 The Caracas Statement
• Contributors