Customer Reviews

The Audacity of Help: Obama's Economic Plan and the Remaking of America (Bloomberg)

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Mr. Wasik has provided his readers with the skinny to what's exactly in these bills that people are fighting over. If you want insight into President Obama's economic policy, this book is for you. This book breaks down all of the economic legislation passed since President Obama has been in office. We know that there is a lot of "Horse Trading" on Capital Hill. And unless you are an Uber NPR Junkie, you don't have time to read each bill.

I like that this book explains economic policy in easy to understand terms. That doesn't mean that Mr. Wasik has dumbed down the book. It means that he gives detailed information regarding each subject. He tells you what economic legislation Congress promised and what they eventually passed. Then he explains how the legislation will affect you. For full disclosure, I've read a previous book by Mr. Wasik called "The Cul-De-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream". What make his books credible are two things. The first is that he has a background in Financial Reporting. The other is that he always gives suggestions on what could be done.

For all of the President Obama haters out there, this book is not a Pro-Obama book. It's actually a good read whatever your political persuasion might be.

John F. Wasik, Author

The Audacity Of Help

Bloomberg Press, ISBN 978-1-57660-356-7

Non-Fiction-education, politics, healthcare, stimulus, President Obama, congress

192 pages

September 2009 Review for Bookpleasures

Reviewer-Michelle Kaye Malsbury, BSBM, MM

Review

John F. Wasik, author of The Audacity Of Help, has written twelve other books and pens a regular column for Bloomberg News. He is a public speaker, and co-founder/president of Citizens for Action that is tasked with organizing people toward holding our government to being transparent and accountable for their actions and legislation. John Wasik has a personal blog regarding this book on [...].If you would like to read more about Mr. Wasik you can do so by logging on to his personal web site at [...]or for information about his not-for-profit action group log on to [...].

Mr. Wasik does not appear to favor any one of our political parties in his writing of The Audacity Of Help. Most of this book is dedicated to talking about what candidate Obama promised on the campaign trail and comparing that to what President Obama and congress are accomplishing thus far into his presidency. John Wasik tackles the questions about who wins/loses with regard to proposed legislation in the areas of energy, taxation, education, stimulus funding, and healthcare. His analogies are thorough and well researched. He points out which sectors may benefit investors in each proposal floated by this Administration and why he believes that to be the case.

This book traces the falling down of our economy back to specific incidents in 2008 beginning with Bear Strearns being absorbed by JPMorgan/Chase to nearly 8,500 homes being foreclosed per month that summer to Fannie and Freddie being taken over by the government to Lehman Brothers bankruptcy to the Bernake/Paulson three-page plan to un-freeze credit to massive jobs being lost month after month to what President Obama and congress are attempting to do to stop this downward spiral/depression from worsening. (2009, p.10-14) Mr. Wasik believes that the plans put into place under President Obama will need a couple of years to bear fruit.

Unlike previous President's, President Obama's economic plans hinge on "placing social concerns before the alter of economic expansion....and emphasize people-centered principles by focusing on healthcare and education...in order to show how social goals can be combined with capitalism....to create a culture of sharing and responsibility for the entire population." (2009, p.18) Typically this type of economic planning is called bottom-up and varies greatly from the top-down proposals used by prior Presidents because in this form of economic reform [paraphrase] contends that the government is not the enemy [contrary to what the right says], but can be co-benefactor toward achieving better socio-economic goals for the sinking middle class, those on fixed incomes, and the poor.

Key to the success of this plan according to Mr. Wasik is flexibility of this Administration. He then said that "The way major project money is allocated will also determine how Obama's policies could re-shape the United States....focuses on giving the lion's share of the funds to cities and suburbs, then it could trigger a new focus on urban renewal....(2009, p.43) if the Green Deal succeeds on a large scale, it will employ millions in the building trades alone, perhaps offsetting the horrendous job losses of the last several years." (p.77)

John Wasik states that [paraphrase] analysts and scholars compare The New Deal (Roosevelt) to what President Obama is doing now with regard to stabilizing our economy and creating jobs, but nobody can deny that under The New Deal four million jobs were created by 1934 and if President Obama can do the same he is going to be heralded as a great president. (2009, p.5) Mr. Wasik calls what President Obama is trying to do The Green Deal and says that it "means redefining connections between government investments and economic growth. (p.8)

Regardless of what party you affiliate yourself with this book should be a must read in helping to shape the direction of future arguments and/or discussions on the topics and issues of import to all of America at this tumultuous time. The premises and arguments are logically presented and researched and flow to well-founded conclusions. The tips for investment in the financial sector make good common sense for those of you with money to invest toward the long term economic growth of this country. Thank you Mr. Wasik for a very credible, timely, and impressive read.

The purpose of Mr. Wasik's book is to detail who will benefit from each of President Obama's new programs. That, in addition to giving details on what the president proposed and what was actually passed.

The author provides a helpful timeline for the financial crisis.

There are many ideas in the book that I like a lot. It's interesting to read that some were passed and others weren't addressed by Congress at all.

On page 37 he stated what should be a priority for addressing the crisis-

"In an economic emergency, the name of the game is putting people back to work and getting them to spend money and pay taxes."

A beneficial resource that Mr. Wasik gives the reader is the location of two websites for tracking stimulus fund distribution.

The Appendix also has a comprehensive list of how funds from the stimulus plan were spent.

I don't agree with every proposal in the book, but this book fills a need by giving the reader details without having to read the bills.

THE AUDACITY OF HELP covers the basics of what the new president has promised and how Congress is thwarting his plans, offering chapters clear on 'what Congress passed' and 'who benefits most' on all Obama's issues. Obama wants more shared responsibility on all levels - something Congress isn't willing to allow. His success or lack thereof reflects how much Americans really wish change, and is analyzed in The Audacity of Help.

For people like me who think we're well informed, this book is a humbling experience. What John Wasik has done is to let us see all the very specific things we need to do to have a well governed country. Aside from being well written page by page, what's astonishing is the cumulative effect of this presentation. Yes, there really is a progressive agenda: and if people understood what is being proposed and could be carried out - really understood it all in its entirety - I'd like to think we'd see a New Deal type of fervor in our sometimes jaded citizenry.

I challenge anyone to read this book and claim it does not change their view as to how much good goverment can do.

This book advocates progressive socialism with the hope of an Obama remake of America. Each chapter starts with an example of Obama rhetoric on the subject matter. Planning and results are measured in terms of dollars spent. The author fails in his attempt to connect promise with performance, leaving his readers with only wishful thinking.

Wasik suggests that Obama's egalitarian motives have morphed into something more socially beneficial. Nothing in the book justifies that point of view. The present crisis, along with Congressional support and Obama's popularity provides him with a glorious opportunity to remake America, the goal expressed in the subtitle. Florid style as "strolling into the American Dream" and when ghosts of FDR and TR paid Obama a visit, exposes the book as politicking; a pretense at an economics text.

Wasik cites 4 million jobs lost between 2000 and 2009, apparently unaware of the trend from about 1965. In spite of decrying big corporations, he makes a number of recommendation on investments that will take advantage of government largess. To be fair he does derogate TARPII along with referencing Robert Samuelson on the subject of waste. Obama promises to cut the budget deficit in half while spending money on good things such as education, infrastructure and social entitlements such as health care and unemployment benefits extension.

In a regression into the history of progressivism, Robert Lafollette is said to be a reaction to the pro-business administration of Wm. McKinley. Strange, because the first Progressive, Teddy Roosevelt ran on the same ticket as McKinley. Wasik is apparently blind to the reactions to progressive socialism in Italy (1927) and Germany (1933). There are two references to Obama's Challenge (2007) by Robert Kuttner. That book is a much more thoughtful analysis of the progressive ideology.

The book presents a good list of issues in spite of being mute on promises of bipartisanship, transparency and exit plans for the two wars. Continuation of Bush policies is also not mentioned. The back cover bills the book as: 'The promises. The plan. The results.' The book can be summarized as wonderful promises, vague plans and terrible results.