We Are Better Than This
How Government Should Spend Our Money
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Narrated by:
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Peter Johnson
About this listen
We Are Better Than This fundamentally reframes budget debates in the United States. Author Edward D. Kleinbard explains how the public's preoccupation with tax policy alone has obscured any understanding of government's ability to complement the private sector through investment and insurance programs that enhance the general welfare and prosperity of our society at large. He argues that when we choose how government should spend and tax, we open a window into our "fiscal soul", because those choices are the means by which we express the values we cherish and the regard in which we hold our fellow citizens. Though these values are being diminished by short-sighted decisions to starve government, strategic government spending can directly make citizens happier, healthier, and even wealthier.
Expertly combining the latest economic research with his insider knowledge of the budget process into a simple yet compelling narrative, he unmasks the tax mythologies and false arguments that too often dominate contemporary discourse about budget policies. Large quantities of comparative data are succinctly distilled to situate the United States among its peer countries, so that readers can judge for themselves whether contemporary budget choices really reflect our aspirational fiscal soul. Kleinbard's presentation takes a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on economics, finance, law, political science and moral philosophy. He uniquely weaves economic research and moral philosophy together by emphasizing our welfare, not just our national income, and by contrasting the actual beliefs of Adam Smith, a great moral philosopher, with the cartoon version of the man presented by proponents of the most extreme forms of private market triumphalism.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2015 Edward D. Kleinbard (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Related to this topic
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Milton Friedman and his wife, Rose, teamed up to write this most convincing and readable guide, which illustrates the crucial link between Adam Smith's capitalism and the free society. They show how freedom has been eroded and prosperity undermined through the rapid growth of governmental agencies, laws, and regulations.
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Fantastic
- By Erik on 01-21-08
By: Milton Friedman, and others
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The End of Normal
- The Great Crisis and the Future of Growth
- By: James K. Galbraith
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The years since the Great Crisis of 2008 have seen slow growth, high unemployment, falling home values, chronic deficits, a deepening disaster in Europe - and a stale argument between two false solutions, “austerity” on one side and “stimulus” on the other. Both sides and practically all analyses of the crisis so far take for granted that the economic growth from the early 1950s until 2000 - interrupted only by the troubled 1970s - represented a normal performance.
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Aftershock
- The Next Economy and America’s Future
- By: Robert B. Reich
- Narrated by: Robert Reich
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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The author of 12 acclaimed books, Robert B. Reich is a Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and has served in three national administrations. While many blamed Wall Street for the financial meltdown, Aftershock points a finger at a national economy in which wealth is increasingly concentrated at the top - and where a grasping middle class simply does not have the resources to remain viable.
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Very plausible assessment of our economy
- By CAR TOP CAMPER on 10-06-10
By: Robert B. Reich
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Dead Aid
- Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa
- By: Dambisa Moyo, Niall Ferguson - foreword
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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A national best-seller, Dead Aid unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth. In fact, poverty levels continue to escalate and growth rates have steadily declined - and millions continue to suffer. Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Dambisa Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing the development of the world's poorest countries.
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Dangerous / Right Wing US view
- By David O'Donovan on 03-05-19
By: Dambisa Moyo, and others
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Why Save the Bankers?
- And Other Essays on Our Economic and Political Crisis
- By: Thomas Piketty, Seth Ackerman - translator
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Thomas Piketty's work has proved that unfettered markets lead to increasing inequality. Without meaningful regulation, capitalist economies will concentrate wealth in an ever smaller number of hands. Armed with this knowledge, democratic societies face a defining challenge: fending off a new aristocracy. For years Piketty has wrestled with this problem in his monthly newspaper column, which pierces the surface of current events to reveal the economic forces underneath.
By: Thomas Piketty, and others
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Radical Markets
- Uprooting Capitalism and Democracy for a Just Society
- By: Eric A. Posner, E. Glen Weyl
- Narrated by: James Conlan
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Many blame today's economic inequality, stagnation, and political instability on the free market. The solution is to rein in the market, right? Radical Markets turns this thinking - and pretty much all conventional thinking about markets, both for and against - on its head. The book reveals bold new ways to organize markets for the good of everyone.
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Terrible Reader ruins this book
- By Brian W. Veit on 10-30-18
By: Eric A. Posner, and others
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50 Economics Classics
- Your Shortcut to the Most Important Ideas on Capitalism, Finance, and the Global Economy
- By: Tom Butler-Bowdon
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Economics drives the modern world and shapes our lives, but few of us feel we have time to engage with the breadth of ideas in the subject. 50 Economics Classics is the smart person's guide to two centuries of discussion of finance, capitalism, and the global economy. From Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations to Thomas Piketty's best-seller Capital in the Twenty-First Century, here are the great books and seminal ideas, clarified and illuminated for all.
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The Great Degeneration
- How Institutions Decay and Economies Die
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Paul Slack
- Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author and world-renowned historian Niall Ferguson has won widespread acclaim for thought-provoking works such as Civilization and High Financier. The Great Degeneration tackles nothing less than the decline of Western civilization. Ferguson posits that slowing growth, outrageous debt, and antisocial behavior are contributing to the erosion of the West’s once rock-solid foundations. Ferguson excavates the causes and shows how heroic leadership and radical reform are needed to right the course.
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Superb as always!
- By Ivanhoe on 08-28-17
By: Niall Ferguson
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How the Other Half Banks
- Exclusion, Exploitation, and the Threat to Democracy
- By: Mehrsa Baradaran
- Narrated by: Priya Ayyar
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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The United States has two separate banking systems today - one serving the well-to-do and another exploiting everyone else. How the Other Half Banks contributes to the growing conversation on American inequality by highlighting one of its prime causes: unequal credit. Mehrsa Baradaran examines how a significant portion of the population, deserted by banks, is forced to wander through a Wild West of payday lenders and check-cashing services to cover emergency expenses and pay for necessities - all thanks to deregulation that began in the 1970s.
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The Borrowers at the Fringe
- By Darwin8u on 09-13-16
By: Mehrsa Baradaran
What listeners say about We Are Better Than This
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- Staceghost
- 03-28-15
Very insightful
An excellent insight into proper applications of Adam Smith's ideas for today's tax policies. Very long, and full of interesting ideas. A little dry, but I think you should expect some dryness from a tax policy book.
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- Richard
- 03-03-15
It's a very good plan
Rather than be too political it was very prescriptive in a way that is generally understandable. Yet it's hard to avoid politics or getting deep in the weeds of economics but it was a good blend. The most "negative" concept was his use of Market Triumphalist to describe the libertarian view of economics. Yet some kind of line of demarcation was required and it also was describing those who are unbendable to anything towards the middle rather than anyone who sided with a more fiscally conservative stance. I like to be snarky, but know that the more snarky something is the fewer people will listen on the other side of your issue. The most valuable insight was his idea to wipe things clean and start over to remove the barnacles of years of glomming on of tax "waivers" and such. There are something similar brought back in but very strategic rather than everyone getting something which defeats the purpose of the tax system. Like everyone paying in a 100 dollars and getting $98.93 back. My farcical example but nearly what it's like.
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- Working Mom
- 01-09-15
Masterfully written, informative and provocative
I would recommend everyone to read this book regardless of one's political view. At a minimum, it helps to make one a better informed citizen even if one disagrees with the author's ideologies and political leaning.
Professor Kleinbard has done a masterful job succinctly introducing, analyzing and critiquing a rich body of research in economics, philosophy, and social and fiscal policies and forcefully presented his view on how and why we could and should do better. The book is surprisingly readable and even entertaining at times.
It is refreshing to hear the voice of the Dutch uncle (or Don Quixote?). The book is well organized and informative. And can one dare to hope that it may be possible to generate enough voice to pull the national away from the fiscal jerkdom, even just a little?
Grateful that the book is eventually made available as an audiobook. Mr. Johnson did a nice job reading this very long book on a very serious topic, once I got pass his way of saying EBITDA in Chapter 1. I did hear the voice of reason and persuasion often, although not quite the unbridled enthusiasm of Professor Kleinbard. Once in a while the voice seemed to drift into simply reading but overall, Mr. Johnson's performance was quite engaging.
The audiobook comes with a reference guide containing all the figures and tables that can be downloaded from the Audible website.
An exhilarating listen!
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1 person found this helpful