Time to Start Thinking
America in the Age of Descent
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Narrated by:
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Ralph Lister
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By:
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Edward Luce
About this listen
In Time to Start Thinking, Edward Luce offers an incisive and highly engaging account of America’s economic and geopolitical decline. The Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times for the last four years, Luce has traveled the country interviewing public officials like Lawrence Summers and Senator Don Riegle, business leaders including Jeff Immelt and Bill Gates, as well as teachers, health care workers, and scientists. His interviews are candid and revealing: former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen told Luce about the catch-22–like situation of American defense spending: “We are borrowing money from China to build weapons to face down China.” Mullen is just one of many voices who are united in their belief that America must evolve or face serious consequences. Luce’s research, analysis, and reporting covers areas from education to health care to politics to business and innovation. Luce frames the issues historically, comparing America today to Britain in the early-twentieth century, when U.S. inventors developed the light bulb and the internal combustion engine, usurping Britain’s position as the center of research and development, while Germany took the lead in the chemicals and metallurgy industries. As a result, Britain lost its place at the top of the world’s pecking order. Today, the same situation is evolving in America: Chinese and Korean scientists and innovators are becoming increasingly competitive with those in America, and companies like IBM and General Electric now employ more people outside the United States than inside it. In domestic politics, things are also dire: conversation between Republicans and Democrats has all but ceased - Barney Frank calls it “the dialogue of the deaf,” and the once noisy Senate dining room, specifically designed so that members of different parties would be forced to talk to one another, is now empty most lunch hours. No surprise, when the politicians are busy talking to lobbyists and trying to raise campaign funds. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has more than 2,300 different I.T. systems on which it spends more than $10 billion a year and the crippling bureaucracy in the education system leads more than a fifth of new teachers to leave their jobs within three years.
In what may be the smartest book yet on why and how America is broken, Luce offers a critical, nonpartisan analysis of the issues facing America today and a renowned journalist’s report on a country in economic, social, and political crisis.
©2012 Edward Luce (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Story
In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. Now, in The Audacity of Hope, Senator Obama calls for a different brand of politics: a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the "endless clash of armies" we see in Congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of "our improbable experiment in democracy".
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My Fellow Conservatives, Give This A Listen
- By Dallas D.L. on 02-12-15
By: Barack Obama
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Rising to the Challenge
- My Leadership Journey
- By: Carly Fiorina
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Fiorina shares the lessons she's learned from both her difficulties and triumphs. Drawing on her experience as a pioneering business and nonprofit leader, a politically active citizen, and a parent, she diagnoses the largest problem facing our country today: untapped potential. Too often American men and women are held back by systems that prevent them from working and flourishing. Too many people lose hope for themselves.
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A must share book!
- By Teresa Holman on 08-20-16
By: Carly Fiorina
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Armageddon
- How Trump Can Beat Hillary
- By: Dick Morris, Eileen McGann
- Narrated by: Ian Patterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Timed for the critical presidential election season, New York Times best-selling author and noted political commentator Dick Morris provides a strategy and position on the issues for Republicans to attract crucial new voters to the party in order to win back the White House in 2016 and put an end to the Obama agenda of ruinous socialism. By using new issues, attracting new voters, and offering new alternatives, Republicans can win the election of 2016 and save America!
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Informative and practical a must read
- By quentin on 06-30-16
By: Dick Morris, and others
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Reason
- Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America
- By: Robert B. Reich
- Narrated by: Robert B. Reich
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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From Robert B. Reich, passionate believer in American democracy and public servant, Reason is a guide to confronting and derailing what he sees as the mounting threat to American liberty, prosperity, and security posed by the radical conservatives, Radcons as he calls them.
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Reason
- By Ron Green on 03-13-05
By: Robert B. Reich
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Trickle Up Poverty
- Stopping Obama's Attack on Our Borders, Economy, and Security
- By: Michael Savage
- Narrated by: Robert Louis
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Trickle Up Poverty is your best defense against the Obamanomics that are dragging the middle class, and everyone else, into a Marxist-Socialist death spiral. The Savage manifesto you hold in your hands shows how Obama is circumventing the Constitution to push through his radical agenda - and, most important, how we can restore our country to the power and prestige that Barack Obama and his corrupt and degenerate "czars" are trying to destroy.
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The book is much better than the radio show
- By Jonnie on 12-19-10
By: Michael Savage
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Arguing with Idiots
- How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Glenn Beck, Pat Gray, Steve "Stu" Burguiere
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Idiots can't be identified through voting records, they can be found only by looking for people who hide behind stereotypes, embrace partisanship, and believe that bumper-sticker slogans are a substitute for common sense. If you know someone who fits the bill, then Arguing with Idiots will help you silence them once and for all with the ultimate weapon: the truth.
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Great Book
- By Stacy on 09-22-09
By: Glenn Beck
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New Deal or Raw Deal?
- How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America
- By: Burton Folsom Jr.
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In this shocking and groundbreaking new book, economic historian Burton Folsom, Jr., exposes the idyllic legend of Franklin D. Roosevelt as a myth of epic proportions. With questionable moral character and a vendetta against the business elite, Roosevelt created New Deal programs marked by inconsistent planning, wasteful spending, and opportunity for political gain---ultimately elevating public opinion of his administration but falling flat in achieving the economic revitalization that America needed.
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A must listen!
- By Book and Movie Lover on 06-14-09
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My Story
- By: Julia Gillard
- Narrated by: Julia Gillard, Jennifer Vuletic
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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"I was prime minister for three years and three days. Three years and three days of resilience. Three years and three days of changing the nation. Three years and three days for you to judge." On Wednesday 23 June 2010, with the government in turmoil, Julia Gillard asked Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for a leadership ballot. The next day, Julia Gillard became Australia's 27th prime minister, and our first female leader.
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Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
- By Michael on 10-11-16
By: Julia Gillard
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Yellen
- The Trailblazing Economist Who Navigated an Era of Upheaval
- By: Jon Hilsenrath
- Narrated by: Jon Hilsenrath, Seth Podowitz
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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An engrossing and deeply human chronicle of the past fifty years of American economic and social upheaval, viewed through the consequential life of the most powerful woman in American economic history, Janet Yellen, and her unconventional partnership in marriage and work with Nobel Laureate George Akerlof.
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Must read
- By Ali on 03-26-24
By: Jon Hilsenrath
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Confidence Men
- Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
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The hidden history of Wall Street and the White House comes down to a single American concept: confidence. Both centers of power, New York and Washington, learned how to manufacture it - until August 2007, when that confidence began to crumble. Ron Suskind here tells the story of what happened next, as Wall Street struggled to save itself while a man with little experience and soaring rhetoric emerged from obscurity to usher in "a new era of responsibility".
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Insightful, but...
- By Ray on 10-29-11
By: Ron Suskind
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The Battle
- How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future
- By: Arthur C. Brooks
- Narrated by: Arthur C. Brooks
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gays; rather it is a war against the creeping changes to our entrepreneurial culture, the true bedrock of who we are as a people. The new culture war is a battle between free enterprise and social democracy. Many Americans have forgotten the evils of socialism and the predations of the American Great Society's welfare-state programs.
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Right wing
- By John on 12-22-10
By: Arthur C. Brooks
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Dealing with China
- An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower
- By: Henry M. Paulson
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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When Hu Jintao, China's then vice president, came to visit the New York Stock Exchange and Ground Zero in 2002, he asked Hank Paulson to be his guide. It was a testament to the pivotal role that Goldman Sachs played in helping China experiment with private enterprise. In Dealing with China, the best-selling author of On the Brink draws on his unprecedented access to both the political and business leaders of modern China to answer several key questions.
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A Valuable Book on China
- By Michael Moore on 09-04-15
By: Henry M. Paulson
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JFK and the Reagan Revolution
- A Secret History of American Prosperity
- By: Lawrence Kudlow, Brian Domitrovic
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Who invented supply-side economics - the idea that cutting tax rates can result in more growth, more prosperity at all income levels, and even more tax revenue flowing into the IRS? Most people would credit the economic team that advised Ronald Reagan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But in fact supply-side economics came of age two decades earlier. And the first president who embraced it was one of the biggest icons of the Democratic Party - John F. Kennedy.
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Turn the speed up to 1 1/2 to 2 times
- By B. MIDDLETON on 09-15-16
By: Lawrence Kudlow, and others
What listeners say about Time to Start Thinking
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- NordiKelt
- 02-08-18
great educational explanation but lacks solutions
enjoyed it but was let down by lack of any solutions towards the end. otherwise a great overview of what has happened to the USA.
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- Chris Reich
- 09-03-12
Painful
The book isn't overly political and doesn't blame any particular party. So if you're looking for a Limbaugh style stab at Obama, you'll be disappointed. Nor will you find a justification for the policies of the current administration.
We are not doing what we need to do to make sure we have a future. The country is in serious trouble and we're treading water. I liked the audio version enough to buy several hard covers for give-aways. Will things change?
I doubt it.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-15-18
highly prescient. Even more relevant today
A good analysis of the current political gridlock. Poses interesting questions about some of the assumptions we take for granted as Americans. One particular line had me laughing/crying "One day one of these crazies (Nader, Trump, etc) was going to win"
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- Joshua Kim
- 06-10-12
A Wonderfully Depressing "Time to Start Thinking"
If you read The Economist then Time to Start Thinking is your kind of book. There is something almost soothing about a book that is simultaneously well-written and depressing. Somehow learning about the decline of the U.S. from a Brit -- Luce is the Washington Bureau Chief of London's Financial Times -- feels more palatable than similar arguments made by an American.
Luce is a long time observer of the U.S. political and economic scene, and has basically decided after years of living in the States that we are pretty much hopeless. Time to Start Thinking is a passionate indictment of the U.S.'s political classes, both left and right, and the inability of our elected officials to seriously address our fundamental economic problems.
Included in the tour of American shortcomings are our crumbling infrastructure, our wildly unequal primary schools, and our ever more costly postsecondary education and health care systems. Luce is particularly elegant in describing the loss of middle-income jobs, and the inability of more of and more Americans (particularly young people and non-post graduated educated older adults) to achieve economic stability. The U.S. is not headed for imminent economic collapse, but rather a slow erosion of productivity and standards of living for the middle class, and global economic realignment around Asia.
This is not a book that is big on policy recommendations. Luce is fond of quoting H.L. Mencken dictum that, "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."
The solutions that Luce does recommend, such as reducing military spending and pulling back on overseas military commitments, are unlikely to free up enough dollars to make possible the large scale investments in infrastructure and education necessary in a competitive global economy. Growing health care costs and an aging population will continue to limit the ability of government to fund investments, and health insurance costs will continue push business to limit hiring and invest instead in automation over people (as worker health care costs put U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage with non-U.S. producers).
Time to Start Thinking is a good companion book to read with Diamandis' Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think (review 4/9/12). Where Luce sees U.S. economic problems as structural, and our politics way too polarized to offer cogent solutions, Diamandis believes that rapid technological advancements (when applied to health care, education, and other sectors) will lead to rapid advances in productivity and standards of living. Technological utopianism vs. cleared eyed rationalism. Wouldn't it be awesome to see a debate between these two authors?
Are we living in an age of descent?
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9 people found this helpful
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- Noah Smith
- 03-10-14
A wake-up call
What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?
American institutions are getting old and clunky and ossified and outdated. This book is sounding the alarm. If you're an American, you should listen to it. It will give you a sense of urgency about reforming the way we do things.
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1 person found this helpful
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- RJ Mac
- 04-15-12
Another Must Listen
There is no doubt that Luce will get you thinking as you listen to his non-partisan report on how and why American government is broken and under pressure. He tells it like it really is and doesn't pander to the left or the right. While he offers some vague 'solutions' at the end of the title, the listeners are left at the end to decide for themselves - based on his unbiased reporting - what path America should take going forward, if it is truly possible to do so.
One minor complaint about this title: the F-bomb is used approximately 5 times in the performance (and I assume that it appeared in the book); usually when someone is being quoted. However, when the word appears, it is bleeped-out (loudly) but there is little doubt what curse word is being used. I found that annoying - just keep the word in there as we are all adults and I'd rather have the audio be completely true to the text.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Nsukido
- 04-08-21
wow
this book is wonderful, scary, and phropetic. I found it a little sluggish in the middle and I didn't agree with everything but this book is important and more people should read it.
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