Customer Reviews

Securing Prosperity: The American Labor Market: How It Has Changed and What to Do about It

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Osterman presents a carefully researched look at the problems facing American workers in the new economy. He puts forth so solid a case for the need to ensure equity for all--not just technologists--that he even convinced this consultant that something has to be done. Like many, I thought the disillusionment and chaos of the past was history, but he proves that only by forming new kinds of institutions will workers be able to ensure that they are allowed the opportunity to succeed in what remains a very difficult environment for all too many workers.

I have carefully read this book and have seen Dr. Osterman deliver several lectures. The theoretical model underlying all of his work is the transfer of money and resources from those who have earned it to those who have not - in other words socialism.

One of the primary pieces of evidence in this book and others is the growing wage gap between the "rich" and the "poor." Paul and other policy wonks of his ilk know very well these are misleading statistics. Ours is a dynamic economy. Long term studies of the rich and poor show that the folks in the bottom end of the income spectrum are very young and/or uneducated. Over any 5 year period of time fewer than 20% of the people at the bottom remain at the bottom. Dr. Osterman recommends policies to move people out of these temporary brackets not by individual hard work but by income redistribution - overseen, presumably, by academic elites like himself.

Lefties such as Osterman believe a small group of elites can make better decisions provide better outcomes for society than individuals making decisions for themselves. I discourage the purchase of this book; a subscription to the Wall Street Journal is money much better spent.