Edward Luce’s book has been widely praised as carefully balanced and filled with evocative analysis and reportage. With a cast of dozens of academic, business and governmental thinkers, it wrestles with America’s relative economic decline, how the global economy is increasingly siphoning away America’s ability to innovate and manufacture, and a wide range of U.S. policy failures from education to healthcare to reinventing government. Too often Internet-entranced readers like me look for distillations to digest quickly, rather than dwell on the fascinating interviews, anecdotal treasure chest, and hard-nosed analyses in Mr. Luce’s detailed yet highly entertaining book.

With recoveries like this one, who needs recessions?

The average household income has fallen steadily for nearly everyone since the start of the economic expansion in June 2009, with average income dropping 4.8 percent in the three years since the upturn began, according to a report released Thursday.

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speeches on current issues that may be of interest.

[Welcome author Ian Bremmer, and Host Daniel Altman] [As a courtesy to our guests, please keep comments to the book.  Please take other conversations to a previous thread.  - bev] The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations? Ian Bremmer, head of the Eurasia Group consulting firm, has his [...]