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Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future [Hardcover]

Grover Glenn Norquist , John R. Lott Jr.
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

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Book Description

February 28, 2012 1118186176 978-1118186176 1
A provocative critique of the Obama administration's economic policies and an examination of America's difficult economic future

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised "a net spending cut" to make government smaller in order to reduce the deficit. But this huge increase in government spending and debt, and the resulting prospect of higher taxes, will make America a poorer country. Are Americans happier because the government has determined where this money should be spent? According to John Lott and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, the answer is no, and in Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future they explain why.

Obama's economic policies have raised unemployment, slowed economic growth, dramatically raised the national debt, squandered taxpayer money through poor investments, and damaged the housing market. The book explains why Obama's policies on spending, taxes, and regulation have all worked to harm the recovery, increase unemployment, and depress housing prices.

  • The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the deficits that President Obama proposes for the years from 2011 through 2020 come to a staggering $126,000 per family of four, and John Lott and Grover Norquist make clear why the costs outweigh the benefits
  • Explains why Keynesian economics is more a way of transferring wealth to political constituencies than a legitimate economic theory for understanding how the economy operates
  • Posits that Obama's economic policies were more an opportunity "to do big things" than to solve the country's economic problems

Arguing that the policies of the Obama administration have created widespread economic chaos, Debacle is a bleak look at American finance from Grover Norquist.


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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Are Americans better off today than they were before Barack Obama was elected to office? Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist and economist John Lott don't think so, and in Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, they argue that huge increases in government spending, mounting debt, massive new regulations, and higher effective marginal income taxes are seriously hurting the country.

Exploring the ways in which Obama's economic policies have contributed to the high unemployment rate, slowed economic growth, produced dramatically higher national debt, and damaged the housing market, Norquist and Lott contend that Obama's views on spending, taxes, and regulation have worked to harm—rather than help—our recovery from the so-called "Great Recession."

Arguing that the Obama administration used the financial crisis more as an opportunity "to do big things" than to solve the country's economic problems, the book examines the players involved in the meltdown, Obama's failed attempts to put the country back on track, and much more. Rejecting the President's use of Keynesian economics as a way of giving money to wealthy political supporters rather than as a legitimate way of understanding how the economy operates, Norquist and Lott offer a fresh perspective.

The cost of Obama's policies have greatly outweighed the benefits, and Norquist and Lott have solutions for getting the country back on track. Offering a comprehensive 12-step plan that covers everything from reforming the federal tax code to reducing industry regulation, Debacle outlines a clear path to putting America back in pole position.

From the Back Cover

Praise for DEBACLE

"Debacle will end the claims of Paul Krugman and his ilk that poor, put-upon Obama did the best anyone could do with a recession he inherited. To the contrary, Lott and Norquist convincingly demonstrate that Obama took specific actions that made the recession much worse. A lot of Democrats got wealthy under Obama, but Obama's Democrats-get-rich-quick policies destroyed millions of jobs and left Americans with a massive debt hangover. Every American with a bank account should read this book."
Ann Coulter, best-selling author and syndicated columnist

"Lott and Norquist have penned a persuasive indictment of President Obama's economic record.¿ Jammed with facts and built on a mountain of carefully catalogued evidence, this is a potent resource for anyone who wants to help replace Mr. Obama in the Oval Office."
Karl Rove, former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush

"This is the book that everyone concerned about the future of America must read. Norquist and Lott serve up a depressing but sobering picture of today's economy along with a roadmap of solutions to move the country forward."
Haley Barbour, former Governor of Mississippi

"President Obama's economic policy has been catastrophic for liberty, enterprise, and the American dream—the very archetype of what not to do to end recession. Debacle documents how this happened and why, with outstanding research, facts, and clear thinking. Reading this book is like digging through the rubble of a man-made disaster: It is painful but necessary for going forward to restore prosperity and opportunity."
Jeffrey Tucker, executive editor, Laissez-Faire Books


Product Details

  • Hardcover: 228 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 28, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1118186176
  • ISBN-13: 978-1118186176
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #766,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

GROVER G. NORQUIST is President of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a taxpayer advocacy group he founded in 1985 at the request of President Reagan. ATR is a coalition of taxpayer groups, individuals, and businesses opposed to higher taxes at the federal, state, and local levels. It organizes the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which asks all candidates for federal and state office to commit themselves in writing to oppose all tax increases.

Customer Reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
(26)
3.8 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 64 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars form your own opinion March 22, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read a bunch of reviews (good and bad) about this book before buying it. I really recommend doing the same thing for yourself, then reading this book and forming your own opinion. One thing that really stuck out to me was the lack of quotes and numbers in the negative reviews. That is what this book is full of- well documented direct quotes and hard numbers. Even if you eliminate everything that could have the slightest chance of being written with conservative bias there is a ton of good information to soak up.
I bought the book upon recommendation from an economist that I really respect because I wanted to understand what has happened to this country, and why, for myself. Even if you don't want to listen to the opinions of the authors (which in my opinion would be a mistake) read the book for the wealth of data and draw your own conclusions.
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54 of 66 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A careful and academic use of applied economics March 8, 2012
Format:Hardcover
Dr. John Lott is one of the best economists of his generation and has extensively published in academic and general audience outlets. In "Debacle" he and Grover Norquist walk the fine line between academic data and arguments, and general presentation. The book begins with a discussion of the financial crises and then moves into an analysis of the recovery, the stimulus, and new regulations.

Norquist and Lott are no fans of Obama, and no doubt supporters of Obama will focus on this. However, fundamentally this is a book of reason and facts. Hopefully this book will raise the level of discussion in the recession/recovery debate. One nice feature of the book is that Norquist and Lott provide much information that is not available elsewhere, or at least not well known. For example, some know of the 92 Boston Fed study on discrimination in mortgage lending that led to changes at Fannie and Freddie, but Norquist and Lott point out the data problems in this study. In so doing they trace the problems of the financial crisis back to 92 and the subsequent reactions of the Clinton and Bush administrations to increase overall home ownership. That's a much more compelling story than "Wall St. suddenly got greedy."

Norquist and Lott argue why the stimulus package was unlikely to work. Here they rely on well worked out arguments from economics made in the 60s, 70s, and 80s that pointed out the fallacies of Keynesian thinking. Governments are budget constrained and stimulus money is not wealth created out of nothing. Increased spending comes from taxes, debt (taxes on future generation), and unexpected inflation (taxes on net creditors). Keynesian thinking assumes that nothing is lost in this transfer of wealth (ie. the higher tax rates do not change behavior), and that the recipients spend the money better than those who earned it. As Milton Friedman and many others have shown. It just doesn't work this way. Norquist and Lott make a strong empirical case that rejects the the Keynesian view, and they present the information in easy to read graphics.

Finally, Norquist and Lott spend one chapter going through the heavy regulatory burden that the Obama administration has created. As recent work in economics has shown, these mostly hidden costs greatly explain why the recession of 1929 extended to become the Great Depression. It is likely that these burdens will continue to haunt the US economy long after there's an administration change in Washington.

There is much in this book and critics should not be too quick to dismiss it. Norquist and Lott do a good service in showing where stimulus money is spent, where it was not, how the US economy fared against others through the recession and recovery, and a host of other interesting facts and observations.

The book is well written and deserving of a serious read. No doubt others will challenge some of the conclusions, but the ball is now on the other side of the court to empirically make their case and not just assert it.
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36 of 46 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Documented Facts are Stubborn Things March 7, 2012
Format:Hardcover
Norquist and Lott have documented their facts carefully because readers will not be happy when they learn what Larry Summers, Timothy Geithner, Austan Goolsbee, Barney Frank and others who were personally involved in and responsible for the nonsensical, and eventually reckless, policies behind the housing crisis and recession were doing when they should have been giving smart advice. Far from helping the country, their stubborn partisan behavior actually moved us in the opposite direction. Their actions are documented. We would have been better off if they had simply been removed from the scene. Further, Obama and his advisers DID make the recession one of the worst recoveries on record. 27 months after the recovery started, the Reagan recovery had generated over 7.0 percent increase in number of jobs. What did Obama's recovery accomplish in the same time period? ZERO percent increase. The charts tell the story. Obama can only hope that few Americans will be smart enough to read this book. Those who are smart will get the message.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal book
I love this book so much that I bought copies for friends. very well written. Each chapter has a lot of references and notes and the book is very objective.
Published 2 months ago by S Strickler
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Source for Both Conservatives and Liberals That Will Get You...
I think if someone named John Doe vs. Grover Norquist had written this book it would have sold more copies and more people would be talking about it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Michael Gallagher
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome.
The owner of this account is my mother (I'm a teen) but I have read the book. Here is my analysis.

First, the majority of the 1 star reviews are bogus or seem like... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Cristina Adams
5.0 out of 5 stars Great economic policy primer
Debacle is a great book that clearly explains the past, present, and possible future for the USA.

The book is well researched, sighting many interesting facts. Read more
Published 8 months ago by M. D Wilson
1.0 out of 5 stars TAXES
The top 20% of America earns 50% of the income in America. The top 1% tax rate has been cut from 70% to 30% in the last 50 years and is the lowest rate since The Great Depression... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Jane's Addiction
3.0 out of 5 stars Why lower taxes?
Since Debacle was written by two highly regarded conservatives, I hoped I would learn something about the logic behind Norquist's cry for lower taxes. Read more
Published 11 months ago by eaglesnest
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for the current debate
One of my favorite aspects of the book is to find out exactly where did all the stimulus money go. As Paul Krugman and President Obama clamor for more and more government... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Tracey Wyatt
5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone planning to vote in 2012 should read this book
John Lott, with assistance from Grover Norquist, has written a devastating critique of the Obama macroeconomic policies. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Edgar K. Browning
5.0 out of 5 stars Friends, Obamans, Countrymen and Women
An Ode Upon Reading "Debacle! Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future" by John Lott and Grover Norquist

FRIENDS, OBAMANS, COUNTRYMEN... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Wayne Lusvardi
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding
I was in the trenches as a real estate broker and real estate and bankruptcy attorney watching the bubble expand. Read more
Published 12 months ago by SWDulan
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