Fuzzy Math: The Essential Guide to the Bush Tax Plan [Hardcover]

Paul R. Krugman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393050629 | ISBN-13: 978-0393050622 | Publication Date: May 4, 2001 | Edition: First Edition

Wielding his widely recognized powers of explanation, Paul Krugman lays bare the hidden facts behind the $2 trillion tax cut.

With huge budget surpluses just ahead, the question of whether to cut taxes has shifted to when? and by how much? With Fuzzy Math, Paul Krugman dissects the Bush tax proposal and shows us who wins, who loses, and how quickly the tax cuts will consume the surplus. Always the equal-opportunity critic when it comes to faulty economics, Krugman also tucks into the Democratic alternatives to the Bush plan.

This little book packs a big wallop. Together with major media appearances, it puts Krugman's wisdom and steely-eyed analysis firmly at the center of the debate about how to spend upwards of $2 trillion. It may very well change the course of history.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul Krugman is the recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics. He writes a twice-weekly op-ed column for the New York Times and a blog named for his 2007 book, The Conscience of a Liberal. He teaches economics at Princeton University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition edition (May 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393050629
• ISBN-13: 978-0393050622
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #911,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Krugman is the recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics. He writes a twice-weekly op-ed column for the New York Times and a blog named for his 2007 book "The Conscience of a Liberal." He teaches economics at Princeton University. His books include "The Accidental Theorist," "The Conscience of a Liberal," "Fuzzy Math," "The Great Unraveling," "Peddling Prosperity," and two editions of "The Return of Depression Economics," both national bestsellers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Krugman's best -- brief and informative, January 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Fuzzy Math: The Essential Guide to the Bush Tax Plan (Hardcover)

Every policy-maker and voter should read this book. After months of Krugman's anti-tac-cut NY Times Op-Eds, I was sick of hearing about this debate. But "Fuzzy Math" literally changed my mind in one night. It is not only a guide to the Bush tax cut but also a layman's guide to general tax policy, tax law, the federal budget, and distributional issues. Not only that, but Krugman provides a novel theory (at least to me) on why anti-big-government ideologues prefer tax cuts for the rich disproportionately over tax cuts for the bottom 99%. Krugman also exposes many statistical and other tricks that policy-makers play on the public in order to promote their programs. In short, this book does so much so thoroughly, and I am amazed that Krugman fit it all into so few pages.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never have so many voted for so much for so few, June 1, 2001

By 

Alan Deikman (Fremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fuzzy Math: The Essential Guide to the Bush Tax Plan (Hardcover)

Almost as many people voted for Bush as voted for Gore -- and Bush ran on his tax-cut plan. In a slim volume (I read it in two sittings with no problem) Krugman very clearly spells out how the Bush campaign and administration hoodwinked the public into thinking his tax cut was for the middle class.

The fact is that 45% of the tax cut goes to the wealthiest 1% of families. Even "working stiffs" earning $400,000 per year get it bad. The truth is revealed in the Treasury departments own released numbers (see Table 7 on page 111) which are cleverly packaged in such a way that they SEEM to say the exact opposite. But Paul Krugman is not fooled, and he explains why you should not be either.

Favorite line: (on last page) "But there's a special reason to oppose the Bush plan, quite aside from its actual merits or lack thereof. This is the utter dishonesty of the sales campaign. At every stage of the debate Bush and his people have tried to obscure what they were really proposing."

For your own good, you must read this book.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "FUZZY MATH" clarifies with simplicity and thoroughness., May 13, 2001

By 

"hieroman" (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fuzzy Math: The Essential Guide to the Bush Tax Plan (Hardcover)

Whether you find yourself rooting for George Bush's ten-year tax cut plan or against it, Paul Krugman's concise, well documented, and straightforward "Fuzzy Math" will add depth to your argument. If the countless divergent articles, statistical tables, and TV pundit's gibbering commentary, on the subject of George Bush's flagship campaign issue, have failed to satisfy your desire to understand it, you owe it to yourself to listen to Princeton's Proffesor Krugman demystify the issue.

What taxes it affects, where the money is coming from, and to whom it is going, are just some of the answers that this brisk and short narrative provides. A must read for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of "the ten-year tax cut" debate.