In the midst of a severe economic downturn, the US is whipsawed by news of stock market drops, layoffs, foreclosures, and bailouts. The mortgage and housing bubble are blamed, and everyone only looks backward and forward a few months or a year at a time. But what if the underlying economic crisis is much deeper and more fundamental? What if it began in the 1970s, and shows no sign of easing despite massive government intervention and political change in Washington? Bruce Judson began this book with two contradictory beliefs. First, inequality in America has reached historic highs that have been intolerable throughout human history, leading to violent political change. Second, America will never face a revolution because it's politics are peaceful. These two beliefs cannot both be true. Which one is stronger? In "It Could Happen Here", Judson makes a plausible case that revolution is possible here, triggered by some kind of unexpected shock - and he proceeds to make the most disturbing case yet for why our economics are leading us inevitably toward a crisis. The last time inequality reached anything close to current levels was in 1928, just before the Crash and Great Depression. Today, we are in worse shape, based on a trend that has been increasing since the mid-1970s. Government bailouts and budget gimmicks won't do a thing to reverse this trend. And as Judson shows, America's inequality rivals that of the Soviet Union prior to its 1991 collapse, and that of France in 1789. Time to stop worrying about any single bailout or tax increase - and start worrying about the existential threat of America's collapsing middle class, and the plutocrats who are the sole winners.
It Could Happen Here
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
“[Judson’s] book will excite argument and discussion, serving as an excellent springboard for considering these important, timely issues.” (Booklist )
“Bruce Judson’s It Could Happen Here highlights a crucial issue for the future of our nation: How unequal can America get before we snap?” (Robert Reich, author of SUPERCAPITALISM and Fmr. Secretary of Labor )
“The middle class is scared and it should be. In effect, we are conducting an enormous social and political experiment—something like putting a pressure cooker on the stove over a full flame and waiting to see how long it takes to explode.” (Lester C. Thurow, author of THE FUTURE OF CAPITALISM and THE ZERO-SUM SOCIETY )
“It Could Happen Here arrives at a critical time, as we face economic inequality that could threaten the vitality of our middle class. Judson’s provocative thesis will cause you think about the risks for a nation divided between have’s and have not’s.” (Walter Isaacson, author of EINSTEIN and BENJAMIN FRANKLIN )
“Bruce Judson’s It Could Happen Here highlights a crucial issue for the future of our nation: How unequal can America get before we snap?” (Robert Reich, author of SUPERCAPITALISM and Fmr. Secretary of Labor )
“The middle class is scared and it should be. In effect, we are conducting an enormous social and political experiment—something like putting a pressure cooker on the stove over a full flame and waiting to see how long it takes to explode.” (Lester C. Thurow, author of THE FUTURE OF CAPITALISM and THE ZERO-SUM SOCIETY )
“It Could Happen Here arrives at a critical time, as we face economic inequality that could threaten the vitality of our middle class. Judson’s provocative thesis will cause you think about the risks for a nation divided between have’s and have not’s.” (Walter Isaacson, author of EINSTEIN and BENJAMIN FRANKLIN )
About the Author
Bruce Judson is a senior faculty fellow at the Yale School of Management. An entrepreneur and lawyer, Judson holds advanced degrees from Yale Law School and the Yale School of Management. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College. He is the author of Go It Alone! and Netmarketing, and the coauthor of Hyperwars. In 2008 he both predicted and hedged against the market crash, beating the investment results of virtually every mutual fund and hedge fund.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Bruce Judson is a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Yale School of Management and a New deal 2.0 Blog Braintruster (a project of the Franklin and Eleanore Roosevelt Institute), and the author of the new book, "It Could Happen Here: America on the Brink," which was recently released by HarperCollins.
Judson is a bestselling author, a successful entrepreneur, and one of the nation's leading experts on how technology has transformed the workplace.
His interest in economic inequality, and intense study of its implications, arose from his experience in seeing how the benefits of the technological revolution were being divided within the nation.
Judson holds a JD from the Yale Law School and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He was the Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the "Yale Journal on Regulation" and a Senior Editor of the "Yale Law Journal."
Judson's books have been selected by multiple entities in the "short lists" of the best business books published in the year of their release, and his previous book, Go It Alone!, is believed to be the only non SBA book ever recommended on the learning home page of the Small Business Administration's Web site.
Judson is frequently quoted in the national media,such as "The New York Times," "The Wall Street Journal," and "USA Today." His earlier work on entrepreneurship, and empowering individuals, was the subject of a special profile in "The Wall Street Journal"
Most people develop a point of view and then start to make noise. In writing "It Could Happen Here" Judson took an alternative approach: He spent years researching and writing the book "so that I would have a clear, meaningful perspective" he says. "If you get distracted by writing in response to each new event, you can lose the ability to focus on establishing a deeper understanding of what's happening in the nation, which was my overall goal" he says.
Now that the book is complete, Judson is participating in the important public debate surrounding these issues and has rapidly emerged as a recognized, unique perspective, that places what is happening in our nation today in the context of the nation's longer history. Posts at his blog, www.ItCouldHappenHere, are now regularly syndicated as featured articles on the "Huffington Post," on "The Business Insider", at the New Deal 2.0 Blog, and have been frequently referenced in "Economist's View."
At his blog, Judson describes why he wrote it "It Could Happen Here" and the purpose of his ongoing writing. He wrote:
"Income inequality is at the highest recorded levels in the history of the nation. Despite almost universal predictions that the Gap would decrease in 2008, as a result of the Great Recession, the latest data suggest that it increase. This is scaring and frightening: The nation is now in a self-perpetuating cycle which, as demonstrated by recent experience and history, will continue unless substantial, inevitably controversial reforms are undertaken.
To date, there appears to be no appetite for the kind of wide-ranging reforms that would be necessary to reverse our spiral toward a nation sharply divided between a privileged few and an underclass that struggles from day to day and lacks basic economic security.
America has never been a nation of have's and have not's. One of the great strengths of the nation has always been the self-correcting nature of or democracy. But, our most eminent political theorists have pointed out that there could easily come a time when the political power of the wealthy, who will inevitably fight to protect their prerogatives, may overwhelm our ability to self-correct. There is reason to believe we are rapidly approaching that point.
"It Could Happen Here" was written as a wake-up call. The book explores the dangers of our evolving society, and the impact of a collapsing middle class, combined with the growing distance between rich and poor, on our nation: the health of our economy, our democracy, our social fabric, and even our long-term political stability.
This blog is my ongoing effort to indicate how the issues in today's headlines relate to the central challenge economic inequality poses for America."
Judson is a bestselling author, a successful entrepreneur, and one of the nation's leading experts on how technology has transformed the workplace.
His interest in economic inequality, and intense study of its implications, arose from his experience in seeing how the benefits of the technological revolution were being divided within the nation.
Judson holds a JD from the Yale Law School and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He was the Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of the "Yale Journal on Regulation" and a Senior Editor of the "Yale Law Journal."
Judson's books have been selected by multiple entities in the "short lists" of the best business books published in the year of their release, and his previous book, Go It Alone!, is believed to be the only non SBA book ever recommended on the learning home page of the Small Business Administration's Web site.
Judson is frequently quoted in the national media,such as "The New York Times," "The Wall Street Journal," and "USA Today." His earlier work on entrepreneurship, and empowering individuals, was the subject of a special profile in "The Wall Street Journal"
Most people develop a point of view and then start to make noise. In writing "It Could Happen Here" Judson took an alternative approach: He spent years researching and writing the book "so that I would have a clear, meaningful perspective" he says. "If you get distracted by writing in response to each new event, you can lose the ability to focus on establishing a deeper understanding of what's happening in the nation, which was my overall goal" he says.
Now that the book is complete, Judson is participating in the important public debate surrounding these issues and has rapidly emerged as a recognized, unique perspective, that places what is happening in our nation today in the context of the nation's longer history. Posts at his blog, www.ItCouldHappenHere, are now regularly syndicated as featured articles on the "Huffington Post," on "The Business Insider", at the New Deal 2.0 Blog, and have been frequently referenced in "Economist's View."
At his blog, Judson describes why he wrote it "It Could Happen Here" and the purpose of his ongoing writing. He wrote:
"Income inequality is at the highest recorded levels in the history of the nation. Despite almost universal predictions that the Gap would decrease in 2008, as a result of the Great Recession, the latest data suggest that it increase. This is scaring and frightening: The nation is now in a self-perpetuating cycle which, as demonstrated by recent experience and history, will continue unless substantial, inevitably controversial reforms are undertaken.
To date, there appears to be no appetite for the kind of wide-ranging reforms that would be necessary to reverse our spiral toward a nation sharply divided between a privileged few and an underclass that struggles from day to day and lacks basic economic security.
America has never been a nation of have's and have not's. One of the great strengths of the nation has always been the self-correcting nature of or democracy. But, our most eminent political theorists have pointed out that there could easily come a time when the political power of the wealthy, who will inevitably fight to protect their prerogatives, may overwhelm our ability to self-correct. There is reason to believe we are rapidly approaching that point.
"It Could Happen Here" was written as a wake-up call. The book explores the dangers of our evolving society, and the impact of a collapsing middle class, combined with the growing distance between rich and poor, on our nation: the health of our economy, our democracy, our social fabric, and even our long-term political stability.
This blog is my ongoing effort to indicate how the issues in today's headlines relate to the central challenge economic inequality poses for America."
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I found Judson's books so stimulating and important that I wrote a post based on it at my blog, here's what i said:,
By
This review is from: It Could Happen Here (Kindle Edition)
[...]Glens True Story Blog: The lie that is Capitalism I think it's important to establish first that I am a Conservative Christian Republican although some of my views here are contrary to my party's ideology. I do although support true capitalism, but true capitalism in America does not exist and we need to take drastic measures to realign the country with the dream our founding fathers had. I grew up with a great respect for free markets and this notion of Laissez-Faire economics. I was a product of Corporate America and truly believed that we are the America we are because of these principles. Oh how sadly I have been misled. First lets address the context to which Adam Smith described "the invisible hand" and Laissez-Faire Economics. If you do not know the term Laissez-Faire its literal translation is "let the business alone," a philosophy that free markets will always regulate themselves. While this is a brilliant concept it has been grossly distorted through the eyes of Corporate America. Regan's trickle down economics started a landslide of Corporate Power and I would have to argue that Corporate America has become a Monarch, reigning over all the power and all the money, making it harder and harder for middle class Americans to voice their hopes and dreams. When Smith coined this concept it was in direct relationship to local business, that a localized community would regulate supply and demand. Unfortunately it has been the catalyst of income concentration to a minute percentage of the US population, and many middle class Americans do not understand the concepts they so rigidly fight to uphold, myself formally one of them. Bruce Judson does a phenomenal job at walking you through history in his book titled "It can happen here, America on the Brink." A society can not sustain without a middle class, and we have allowed the weakening of Unions, and the creation of a greed machine called Wall St. to erode this middle class. Wall St. operates on one factor, profit at all costs, CEO's being rewarded for layoffs and cost cutting as long as profit was achieved. An obscene example of this was something that I previously supported. I, as did many, said that the AIG bonuses were guaranteed to the AIG executives, and that in the name of capitalism and free markets the government should not take away their bonuses. What a naïve thought! Had the government not bailed out these banks would they have still received their bonuses? Possibly from the bankruptcy judge but even that is debatable. Wall St. has been rewarded for helping destroy the economy of our country. I helped and so did you, were we rewarded? While I do now support the stimulus ( I didn't prior to understanding our history and where we are as a country), I think that we need heavy government regulation on the banking sector. We need to ensure that people, not profit, are considered when making crucial decisions concerning corporations. I believe that federal government involvement should be minimal in a healthy society, with laws set up to protect its people and not their bank accounts. The key word is healthy, America is by no means healthy, we have four out of five factors present prior to every major revolution in history (Judson 2009). The free markets have failed and now if we do not realize the necessity of government intervention, we set our president up to fail and in turn our country. A month ago I would have debated FDR's role in history, but after hours of reading and research I think he was one of the greatest leaders we have had. He was a true leader, not afraid to say he didn't have all the answers. Americans are looking for a quick fix and that does not exist. If anyone tells you they have the answer they are either lying or mis-informed. I wish our president would step up to the plate and let everyone know that its going to be a rough road ahead. Stop telling us jobs will improve in 3-6 months when all economic indicators point the other way, and tell us he doesn't have all the answers. Tell us he will work to restore the middle class at the expense of corporate America and I will stand up and support his decisions.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Dirty Bomb Coming to a City Near You,
By
This review is from: It Could Happen Here: America on the Brink (Hardcover)
Last week's headlines about Wall Street's latest bonus windfalls once again raise a question most basic: How much greed at the top before America says enough? How much more before some Americans, incensed by the contrast between that greed and their daily struggle to get by, take matters -- rashly -- into their own hands?Might we see, someday soon, unemployed nuclear engineers threatening America with radioactive dirty bombs? Might we experience a home-grown "terrorist act" that ends up collapsing the United States we we know it? Bruce Judson thinks we might -- and we would be wise to listen to his warning. "History teaches that there are limits to the extent of acceptable economic inequality in any society," this senior faculty fellow at Yale University's business school writes in his chilling new book, It Could Happen Here. "We have moved beyond these limits." Judson's slim new volume imagines what might happen if a small group of Americans - infuriated by the demise of the American dream -- decided "to use extreme and abhorrent methods to voice its rage." This gripping and plausible foray into futuristic fiction then segues into a well-argued, totally nonfiction brief against present-day America's extreme -- and growing -- inequality. The brief reads well. A lawyer by training and an entrepreneur by career, Judson knows first-hand how big money gets made in America today. The super rich do not awe him. But their impact does scare him. America's intense concentration of wealth and income over the last three decades, Judson explains, has undermined our middle class economic security. Some eight to ten million families, he notes, now face foreclosure. And nearly 80 percent of America's middle class households lack enough in savings "to survive more than three months at three-quarters of their current spending." "If millions of people -- who believe their anger is justified -- lose their homes, jobs, retirements, and dreams, can we realistically expect continued loyalty to our system?" Judson asks. "In particular, how will angry people react if they feel their lives have been unfairly ruined for the benefit of a small number of people at the top?" Judson, a self-described "ardent capitalist" and "patriot," considers It Could Happen Here "a wake-up call" for a "dysfunctional democracy." The Great Recession, he believes, constitutes just "the first of the dangerous perils that face the nation as a result of unsustainable economic inequality." We obviously need to recover from recession, Judson readily acknowledges, as soon as we can. But economic recovery by itself, he stresses, won't reverse the dynamics -- and dangers -- that our current inequality creates: "We have been placing untenable stress on the middle class for too long, through boom times and recessions, for economic recovery to be the only answer to our ills." The reversal we need, Judson goes on to note, "will require a far more radical realignment of the way wealth is distributed within the society." What might that realignment entail? It Could Happen Here outlines, in broad strokes, an answer. But Judson offers no step-by-step gameplan for change. He aims instead to jolt, to help a confused and frustrated America understand what we endanger when we let wealth cascade year after year into precious few pockets. At that task he succeeds. Read this book and see for yourself. Even better, give this book to friends and family who need to see what you already do.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
2 out of 3 ain't bad,
By
This review is from: It Could Happen Here: America on the Brink (Hardcover)
Judson tries to do three things in this book:- Show how unequal the US has become economically - Show how things got that way - Show how this will all result in civil unrest, even revolution For the first two, he's right on the money. In fact, I've never seen anyone make such well-reasoned and well-delivered arguments along these lines, especially in so short a space. As for inequality, he cites damning evidence such as: - The top 1% of US households receive 23% of the income. This compares to 30 years ago, when it was 10%, and is comparable to the time right before the Great Depression, when it was 24%. - Median real income increased only 13% in the last 30 years. For the top 0.1%, however, it increased 235%. - The wealth of the top 1% of households is greater than that of the bottom 90%. - Economic mobility is less in the US than in any other OECD country. - The average CEO makes 270 times what the average non-managerial worker in their company makes. 30 years ago, it was just 40. As for causes, Judson points mainly to the Reagan Revolution, which was really just a reinstitution of 19th Century laissez-faire economics. He actually touches on a number of factors, though, and is able to tie them together in a very nice way. When it comes to the revolution in the making, however, the book really falls down. Most of his arguments aren't supported nearly as well. There's very little data and lots of stringing together of suppositions. He also resorts to quoting authorities (including Aristotle and Lou Dobbs). Finally, the connections he makes to previous American crises (basically, the Revolution, Civil War, and Great Depression) and a handful of other revolutions elsewhere are all rather tenuous. And at no point does address the What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America factor - i.e., Americans seem more than capable of blindly going against their own interests than in becoming revolutionaries. I, myself, remember when it-could-happen-here scenarios typically involved fascism. All in all, though, a really top-notch work. He probably could have done without the revolution wrapper, or at least downplayed it.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
