The Judas Economy: The Triumph of Capital and the Betrayal of Work [Paperback]

William Wolman (Author), Anne Colamosca (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

Bill Wolman, "Business Week" chief economist and Anne Colamosca say what our business and government leaders are unwilling to admit, but what most workers know in their gut: in the global economy, big money calls the shots and workers - white-collar professionals as well as blue-collar - are increasingly expendable. Drawing on history and their knowledge of how the world economy works, the authors demonstrate why downsizing will continue whether or not it makes America more competitive.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Economist Wolman and writer Colamosca, both of BusinessWeek, address the insecurity felt by today's white-collar and managerial workers, arguing that like blue-collar workers they are increasingly expendable as corporations downsize and export jobs overseas to low-wage areas. The authors question whether America can remain capitalism's most creative leader while shedding its most trusted managers and professionals. They find some comfort, however, in signs that the virtues of unchecked global capitalism are now being questioned. Although the authors make some telling points, the force of their argument is often dissipated by loose organization and turgid prose. An optional purchase for academic libraries with large collections in economics.?Harry Frumerman, formerly with Hunter Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The authors, associated with Business Week (Wolman is its chief economist), are "great believers in the dynamism of the free market" and maintain that "the victory of free market ideology in the cold war has upset the balance between the market and the state that promoted unparalleled prosperity" in industrial nations since World War II. With increasingly mobile capital and a low-wage global labor pool, U.S. workers (including managers and professional and technical "elite workers") are contestants in a "race without a finish line." Wolman and Colamosca analyze the "divorce" of capital from work with charts and graphs as well as field research (e.g., on the software industry in Bangalore, India). To avert "the most plausible scenario" ("that those who earn their living from work in the U.S. will slowly be ground down by deflationary economic policies, . . . totally inappropriate in a global economy in which emerging countries are growing rapidly"), they urge government investment in education, infrastructure, and R & D and cooperation by developed nations to challenge the deflationary tyranny of bond traders and central bankers. Full of useful facts that will generate debate. Mary Carroll --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1st Printing May 1997 edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738202029
• ISBN-13: 978-0738202020
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. Even More Relevant in 2004, October 6, 2004

By 

Donald S. Waller (Cambridge, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Judas Economy: The Triumph of Capital and the Betrayal of Work (Paperback)

I've read just about everything there is to read in main stream economics. Although I've poured over the works of Hayek, Keynes, Marx, Smith, Ricardo, etc... this book touched me like no other.

The plain language of the mechanics of the devaluation of labor was sobering. Althought written in 1997, its message is even more relevant today. People working harder for less, buying into the free market myth, but living the reality.

The fact is capital moves much faster than most people can adapt. Forcing people to periodically start over again as jobs are lost. Such negative competition is assisting the small minority of anonymous large investors, but in the process also hollowing out the middle class. Forcing people to work several jobs, or incur debt simply to maintain their economic status. At some point the middle class will reach its limit and its decline will effect both the market and politics.

I highly recommend this book. It's insightful, well written, and thought provoking.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful shift, May 7, 2004

By 

Luc REYNAERT (Beernem, Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Judas Economy: The Triumph of Capital and the Betrayal of Work (Paperback)

I agree with the main statement of the authors that today those who earn their living from work are coming out losers: shrinking wage growth, problematic pension and healthcare insurance coverage, decline in health and safety protection.
Keynes' ultimate nightmare has arrived: industrial capitalism has been replaced by financial capitalism.
This is reflected in corporate as well as governmental policies.
To hide actual tendencies corporate America has invented newspeak: displacement for firing or re-engineering for big lay-offs.
The workers are not only laid off, but even their Social Security System is privatized, offering huge management fees to financial institutions.
The policies of the Fed are purely financial, because bankers as creditors don't want te be paid back by inflated notes. It secures also an environment of high real intrest rates. But when the financial sector gets in trouble, it asks the government (all the tax payers) to step in, e.g. the bailout of the savings and loan industry.
The authors castigate rightly supply-side economics as a policy of lowering tax rates for the rich and at the same time as a money-raising vehicle for the GOP.
They show clearly that small businesses are not the cornerstone of job creation.
The position of the US work force is also beleaguered by powerful trends in world capitalism with the rise of India and China and their cheap labour force.
The authors prescribe sensible measures to reverse the trend: public investment (infrastructure), improved education and research and development.
But I don't believe that these measures can stop the immensely powerful shift that is taken place from the US/European markets to Asia. Ultimately, the economic world centre will be replaced by a new one, probably China.
A very revealing and necessary book. Not to be missed.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In the late 20th century, big money holds all the cards., January 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Judas Economy: the triumph of capital and the betrayal of work (Paperback)

A great primer on the post-coldwar economy where the balance of power has shifted dramatically in favor of capital over labor. Wolman and Colamosca contend that the mobility of capital (in contrast to labor), has lead to a shifting of the balance of power between capital and labor. The "average worker", including many of our best and brightest, will continue to see their plight worsen as the nation as a whole prospers. A very readable if not distressing account of the consequences of our world view where the market-gods reign supreme.