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The Price of Prosperity : Why Rich Nations Fail and How To Renew Them

Todd G. Buchholz
BRAND NEW, HARDCOVER
Todd G. Buchholz
BRAND NEW, HARDCOVER

RM20.00

How A Nation Can Avoid From Collapse & Reform Economically, Politically and Culturally

ISBN 9780062405708
Book Condition BRAND NEW
Format HARDCOVER
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Publication Date 14 Jul 2016
Pages 384
Weight 0.65 kg
Dimension 24 × 16 × 3.3 cm
Availability: 2 in stock

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2 in stock

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In this bold history and manifesto, a former White House director of economic policy exposes the economic, political, and cultural cracks that wealthy nations face and makes the case for transforming those same vulnerabilities into sources of strength—and the foundation of a national renewal.
 
Prosperity creates unique problems, says Buchholz. In the U.S., birthrates are falling, people work less and borrow more, and bureaucracy stifles initiative. All true. But if these were our only problems, we would still be better off than Japan, where “more adult diapers are sold than child diapers,” and France, where most workers are employed by the government and work only 35 hours per week.
 
America and other developed countries, including Germany, Japan, France, and Great Britain are in desperate straits. The loss of community, a contracting jobs market, immigration fears, rising globalization, and poisonous partisanship—the adverse price of unprecedented prosperity—are pushing these nations to the brink.
 
“Nations are just as likely to unravel after periods of prosperity as after periods of depression.”


So argues acclaimed economist, and presidential adviser Todd G. Buchholz in this timely, bold book. Part history and part manifesto, The Price of Prosperity exposes the economic, political, and cultural cracks that wealthy nations face, and makes the case for transforming those same vulnerabilities into sources of strength—and the foundation for a national renewal.
 
Acclaimed author, economist, hedge fund manager, and presidential advisor Todd G. Buchholz argues that without a sense of common purpose and shared identity, nations can collapse. The signs are everywhere: Reckless financial markets encourage people to gamble with other people’s money. A coddling educational culture removes the stigma of underachievement. Community traditions such as American Legion cookouts and patriotic parades are derided as corny or jingoistic. Newcomers are watched with suspicion and contempt.
 
As Buchholz makes clear, the United States is not the first country to suffer these fissures. In The Price of Prosperity he examines the fates of previous empires—those that have fallen as well as those extricated from near-collapse and the ruins of war thanks to the vision and efforts of strong leaders. He then identifies what great leaders do to fend off the forces that tear nations apart.
 
To understand how great powers unravel, Buchholz identifies five potent and paradoxical forces that undermine nations after they achieve economic success. These include falling birthrates, globalized trade, rising debt loads, an eroding work ethic, and waning patriotism.
 
Is the loss of empire inevitable? No. Can a community spirit be restored in the U.S. and in Europe? The answer is a resounding yes. We cannot retrieve the jobs of our grandparents, but we can embrace uniquely American traditions, while building new foundations for growth and change. Buchholz offers a roadmap to recovery, and calls for a revival of national pride and patriotism to help us come together once again to protect the nation and ensure our future.
 
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KIRKUS REVIEW :
 
How to renew the greatness of rich but potentially failing nations, like the United States.
 
With a background as a hedge fund manager and the director of economic policy in George H.W. Bush’s administration, Buchholz (Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race, 2011, etc.) has the credentials to address the reasons why prosperous countries decline and to provide solid ideas on the cultural and political choices required to change course.
 
“Working to shatter nations” are forces such as falling birth rates, rising debt, and declining work ethics, which the author believes threaten the United States and much of Europe. An advocate of free markets, his views are not readily pigeonholed in the usual ideological categories. He supports immigration and assimilation through the culture and values of the host country. Decline, he argues, stems “from the prosperity delivered by market capitalism.”
 
As he notes, “the rise of science and the Enlightenment catapulted societies into a new world of economic growth and opportunity.” People grew taller and healthier and lived longer, and they built cities to live in. The author’s objective is to learn from how past leaders have dealt with similar problems and the associated cultural pessimism.
 
He believes that it is important to “kick aside conventional wisdom,” dismantle special privileges, whether of money or birth, and know “how to touch the hearts of their people.” As examples of those people, he offers Alexander the Great; Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular, Turkey; Golda Meir, one of the pioneer builder-settlers of Israel; Sakamoto Ryoma and other organizers of Japan’s 19th-century opening to Western science and technology; and José Figueres Ferrer, architect of Costa Rica’s independence.
 
Each of these figures, writes Buchholz, realized “that money and genetics were not enough”; they also needed to restore lost senses of pride, honor, and purpose.
 
A refreshing book that offers an alternative to the failing shibboleths of the day.
 
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About the Authorn:
 
Todd G. Buchholz is a former White House director of economic policy, managing director of the legendary Tiger hedge fund, and winner of Harvard’s annual teaching prize in economics. He is the author of New Ideas from Dead CEOs and New Ideas from Dead Economists, and has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, and Forbes. He regularly appears on PBS, NPR, Fox, and CNBC and is a co-producer of the Broadway hit Jersey Boys. Buchholz lives in San Diego, California.

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