People, Power, And Profits: Progressive Capitalism For An Age Of Discontent, by Joseph E. Stiglitz

This is a book that would like to consider itself to be a thoughtful guide to political economy but ends up being a poorly-thought-out and poorly-written screed that demonstrates the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the progressive left when it comes to their economic ideals. Rather than have anything positive to present, the book itself is written in the sort of projection that only an unthinking and uncritical leftist could use as being authoritative or even thoughtful. Throughout this book the author views crony capitalism as being a sign of the failure of the right rather than, properly described, as a way in which the corrupt elites of both Republicans and Democrats have long profited from neoliberal ideals which benefitted themselves and their chosen companies, most of which rewarded them with board seats and stock and other corrupt benefits, while working against ordinary people. The author tries desperately to smear Trump and those who support him as being fascist while presenting what he views as a tolerant (only not to those right of center, alas), genuine populism which ends up being a vague socialism that tells people to trust government this time because it will work out better than all the other times, with growth that is really widespread–when Bidenomics only brought inflation and more corrupt crony capitalism in place of the genuine if short-lived recovery enjoyed between 2017 and the beginning of 2020.

This book is about 350 pages long and is divided into two parts and 11 chapters or so. The book begins with a preface that clues the reader into the incredibly biased and worthless nature of the writer’s thinking when he was writing this book and sets a tone for what is to follow in projection and hypocrisy and dishonesty. The first part of the book is where the author loses his way in politics (I). The first chapter serves as an introduction which largely focuses on whining and lying in the service of leftist politics (1). This is followed by a chapter that discusses the move to a more dismal economy with selective and almost insulting historical discussion (2). This is followed by complaints about exploitation in the service of market power (3) as well as the way in which America has been in conflict with itself over globalism (4). The author discusses the role of finance in the economic crisis since the late 1990s (5), as well as the challenge of new technologies (6), before making a fact-free appeal to government as the solution to the problems of the contemporary economy (7). The second part of the book then consists of the author’s imaginary picture of the way forward to a progressive paradise, still marred as it often is by a lack of firm details or a sense of being grounded in truth and facts (II), with certain thoughts about restoring democracy by gutting the Constitution (8), confusing equality of end with equality of opportunity (9), making an argument for cradle-to-grave welfare that does not include a basic minimum income (10), and reclaiming America for leftists (11) and progressives who will only drive it further into the ground. The book ends with acknowledgements, notes, and an index.

The fact that this author, who has trouble stringing together even a full sentence without engaging in some kind of libelous smear campaign against his political opponents, won a Nobel Prize for economics despite having no sound grasp of economics or the way in which redistributive taxation leads people to change their economic behavior in ways that sabotage the well-being of others and to use their wealth to ensure favorable regulations that carve out exceptions for them from high taxes and oppressive regulations, reflects badly on the Nobel Prize committee that gave him an award he obviously did not deserve. As is far too often the case when reading works by leftist people who want to blame America’s woes on Reagan or anyone right of center, there is a great deal of historical revisionism going on here, where the author praises the corruption of labor unions (now found mostly in public employees) and does not point out that the corruption and complacency of those push for relentlessly higher incomes has led to decades of companies being encouraged to push for a race to the bottom, with no end in sight anywhere within the world. It would have been good to have seen the author actually show some insight and recognize the toxic connection of leftist complacency and the stagflation of the 1970s, and the total inability of the left to act in ways that actually end up benefitting ordinary people in the more than 50 years since then because of a commitment to supporting immorality and abandoning the well-being of ordinary people as their primary concern to seek after the plaudits of those who want to see themselves on the right side of history without having to engage with reality.