In excellent condition. From Publishers Weekly: Disputing with economists who

In excellent condition. From Publishers Weekly: Disputing with economists who blame declining U.S. living standards on inflation, federal budget deficits, shoddy education or low levels of investment, Madrick views these presumed causes as the consequences of a sharp slowdown in U.S. economic growth since 1973. Smaller annual growth rates, in his often provocative analysis, have translated into lost jobs, stagnating wages, eroding markets, insecure pensions and reduced home-ownership. Former Business Week finance editor and a former NBC economic reporter, Madrick believes that Americans will create a realistic national agenda only when they abandon misplaced optimism by recognizing that slower economic growth may well be permanent and a structural rather than a cyclical phenomenon. Although offering a few concrete proposals, he recommends more investment in plants, equipment and research and development. He sets as top priorities control of health care costs and greater allocations to schools, day care centers and libraries. Author tour. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. -From Library Journal: Madrick, the former national economic reporter for NBC and former finance editor for Business Week magazine, believes that the United States has been experiencing economic decline since 1973, with a loss of some $12 trillion in production. This explains our chronic government budget deficits and the stagnant or falling incomes of most Americans. Madrick rejects conventional solutions such as making business more competitive, raising the savings rate, increasing exports, and improving education. In his view, our reduced economic circumstances are structural and permanent. Before searching for a way out, Americans must accept these realities. Madrick's account is adequate, but the essentials of his analysis are ""in the air"" and have been made more systematically in magazine articles, for example. An optional purchase for large public libraries. Harry Frumerman, formerly with Hunter Coll., New York Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.