By Edward Luce
Many writers today try to analyze America's problems and suggest fixes, but this book was actually published prior to the current administration. I read only the first half of the book, but it was provocative enough - and depressing enough - to warrant a mention (and a reminder to me to get back to finishing it).
This alarming and thought-provoking book describes (in journalist Luce's opinion) how and why the US has cut down spending on education, science, and research - all areas of innovation that made America a leader from the 1950s through ~2000. One problem is that the two main political parties spend way too much time getting elected and not nearly enough in coming together to solve problems of the nation and the world. Most of our industrial giants' big customers are overseas (and are there any major steel plants even left in the US?) - and the middle class is being squeezed as more companies staff their positions with temp workers paid by a staffing agency offering no benefits, therefore resulting in more job changes and less company loyalty (and perhaps less innovation) - and resulting in great pay disparity among different classes of employees. Luce also worries about possible cultural clashes growing out of the new Tea Party movement.
Even though I did not yet finish reading this book, it is clear that Luce foresaw the divided country that is the new American reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment