Silent Depression: The Fate of the American Dream [Hardcover]

Wallace C. Peterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1994

1973 marked a downturn for the American economy, as Wallace C. Peterson discusses in this book. The cumulative effect is, he argues, a "silent depression". Although the 1929 Crash won't be repeated - safeguards in place since the 1930s should prevent that - the American Dream is nevertheless at risk. The slowdown in productivity figures prominently as a reason for the Depression, but so do the problems of the shrinking middle class, the poor and the American family. The book suggests new proposals for health care, education and a revision of the tax system that should help speed the recovery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Peterson, economist and author of Transfer Spending, Taxes, and the American Welfare State , posits that America has been in the bitter grasp of an unrelenting, silent "depression" since 1973. This economic metamorphosis, a "serious and long-lasting deterioration in the basic economic fortunes for large numbers of American families," triggered pronounced increases in poverty and deindustrialization and a sustained erosion of the American dream. Peterson's observations on the loss of manufacturing jobs, poverty, education, the infrastructure and the emergence of ever greater economic inequalities are perceptive. "Far-reaching changes in the structure of the economy--changes that are both a cause and a consequence of the silent depression--have sharpened the difference between classes in America." This exemplary study is a significant contribution to economics.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

"Twenty years of the silent depression have left America with a legacy of a shrinking middle class, lost jobs, and fear in the hearts of many young persons that they will never achieve the economic standard of life enjoyed by their parents." Peterson, an economist and journalist, clearly explains the significant changes in the economy over the last two decades that have contributed to this dilemma and outlines some basic remedies to our economic problems. Remedies include investing in the infrastructure, job creation, training to increase productivity, health reform, and decreasing the complexity of the tax code. He argues that solutions necessitate profound economic and political changes that will not occur quickly. This work is readable, provides good examples, and will be appreciated by academic and general readers. Highly recommended for every library collection.
- Jane M. Kathman, Coll. of St. Benedict Lib., St. Joseph, Minn.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 318 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393035867
• ISBN-13: 978-0393035865
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,050,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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