Author Description

"The economic news of the last several years has been remarkable - from the collapse of the "new economy" to the buildup of a war economy, ballooning house prices, and proposals to privatize major government programs. The tenth edition of Current Economic Issues is an invaluable tool for understanding the real world economics behind the headlines. Its 47 articles offer progressive perspectives on major economic news stories, debunking dozens of myths broadcast by the business press along the way. The book starts with an examination of the recent economic recovery, and explains why so many have been left out of it at the same time that others have made a killing. It takes a close look at the factors that havemade labor organising more difficult, from new laws and regulation to the rise of Wal-Mart. Three chapters scrutinize the impact of the Bush administration's fiscal policies, including rollbacks in social spending, efforts to privatize Social Security and Medicare, and recent tax cuts. Later chapters uncover the reality behind hot button issues like offshoring, the falling dollar, energy policy, and the rise of China's export economy. The final chapters look at the uneven impact of natural disasters, environmental degredation and epidemics. The book concludes with examples of underreported efforts to advance economic alternatives. The sharply written, well-researched articles are drawn from the pages of Dollars & Sense, the bimonthly magazine of popular economics.