The Work of Nations : Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalis
Author: Robert B. Reich
List Price: $14.00
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ISBN: 0679736158
Publisher: Vintage (04 February, 1992)
Sales Rank: 93,364
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 3 out of 5
The part on kinds of jobs is good
The usefulness of this bok comes from its accurate and original analysis on the classes of jobs that exist today: Symbols analysis, in-person services, and routine laborers. Basically, any job can fit in this classification, except, for example, professional athletes (at least I am doubtful about where they would fit). As for the solutions to the growing gap between rich and poor, please note that this is a most complex problem or, better, set of problems. There is simply no clearcut recipe for abridging economic and social gaps, since each national situation is different. Some things we know that are indispensable, but not always enough: investment in infrastructure, public education, health, etc. We know that civic values are important and what investments are needed, but HOW to do it remains the core of serious political debate. Certainly, I don't think that for nations like the US, "strategic trade" might be a solution (it relays on the basic statist assumption: that a group of bureaucrats will know better than the market what to do with resources). Nevertheless, I did find the book interesting and thought-provoking, even if some of its proposals are somewhat outdated nowadays.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Ad Hominem
It seems that stating disinformation as fact has become a way of life in America. A previous reviewer stated something to the effect that Robert Reich was not an economist. That reviewer could have been spared embarassment by first checking facts. Reich graduated from Dartmouth and followed that with a law degree from Yale. Finally, he went to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and studied economics. In addition to being the Secretary of Labor he was a professor at Harvard and is now one at Brandeis.
As for the title the reviewer seems to dislike, Adam Smith's book was "Wealth of Nations." Modern economic theory accepts that work is the basis of wealth. Marx promoted that idea and Reich is using it in a word paly on the title of Adam Smith's work. What of it?
The book is mildly thought provoking and written for ease of reading. If work and labor are the basis of our economic wealth and health as a nation, hadn't we keep our eye on the education required to turn out the workers of tomorrow?
It's solid four but not a five.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Incomplete but Original and Worthy of a Second Look
One reason I read only books I have bought (so that I may liberally mark them up) and tend to never discard a book, which is becoming a real problem in my basement, is because current reading will often lead one back to some gems and to a reestimation of earlier readings. Robert B. Reich's "The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism" can be read with renewed appreciation and respect if one if also now reading William Greider's "The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy" or any of the books by Herman E. Daly (e.g. "Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications").
I read Reich's "Locked in the Cabinet", but this book remains a better gauge of his value to America, and I do hope we get a chance to hear from him again. If you have not read this book, it is a real bargain as a used book and you should buy it--Reich will remain relevant for decades to come.
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