Customer Reviews

Prosperity: The Coming Twenty-Year Boom and What It Means to You

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This book finally helps me understand why it has taken so long for computers to deliver real productivity gains. Every technology has its early boosters and enthusiasts and in the early 80s I was one of them. But until I read about the slow adoption of electricity I couldn't understand why computers weren't delivering their promises faster. The authors show the parallels between the adoption of electrity and the adoption of computer technology. If they are right, we are on the eve of an incredible productivity explosion. Sorry, but it took 30 years. Now watch out. I'd love to hear from others who are also excited about the ideas in this book. Write me.

Bob Davis wrote this book in 1999, right before the recession. Now in 2004 his book seems to predict the opposite of what has happened. Perhaps Bob didn't forsee a Bush presidency, oh well.

Davis and Wessel articulate ideas that have appeared elsewhere such as the necessity of flatter organizations and team decision-making. What makes their book insightful is the comparison between electricity and computers. They note that it took decades before the economic impact of electricity took hold and predict that it will take a few more years for computers to increase productivity exponentially. They make a strong case for the efficacy of community colleges. The authors rightly contend that these colleges are more important to our nation than Harvard. Community colleges will raise the skill levels of American workers just as high schools did at the turn of the century. Education is the key to increased productivity and will also narrow the wage gaps that exist in our society

This book is well written and very easy to read. I think it has some very interesting ideas expressed as well as providing details about how life has changed based from 1970 to the current scenario.

The real life stories make this a fascinating read. Includes one of the best descriptions of the free market case for free-trade I have ever read. Once reading those chapters you will realize that the only sucking sound is the extra money coming out of your wallet for over priced products.

Unfortunately, the book ends with the authors asking for more government help in education and trade.

Overall this book is much closer to the truth than the latest from Buchanan and is much more uplifting and fun to read.

Davis and Wessel have written an enjoyable, interesting, and easy-to-read book. Seldom do we see an economic work espousing free trade. And almost never from authors who support major government trade intervention. After carefully reading their work, I am still not sure what the point is. They seem to want free trade without free trade.

They believe the computer technology will be the major factor in improving productivity. I expect they are right, but many other technologies affecting production will also be in play. What are the results of many other changes such as the elimination of middlemen ala Wal-Mart? And the vast increase in taxes over the last fourteen years. What is the effect of the vast numbers of producing firms moving offshore?

I was hoping to see an analysis of the role of government as we come under the influence of more government control of resources through taxation and regulation. Has government, the largest player in the service sector, any chance of becoming more efficient as a result of the computer revolution? Will taxes ever go down? Can the United States remain the largest economy with most of the resources controlled by bureaucrats instead of producers and consumers?.

These questions kept me reading to find answers- but alas, they went unanswered.

For people who read serious newspapers and magazines, this book do not contain anything new

A non-fiction page turner! Explains why all this high-tech stuff is FINALLY paying off with a better living for the average American. Deep reporting and great story telling. The community college part is perhaps the reason to be most optomistic about the future of American education.