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A Crisis Wasted
- Barack Obama's Defining Decisions
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
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Publisher's summary
This book is the compelling story of President Obama’s domestic policy decisions made between September 2008 and his inauguration on January 20, 2009.
Unlike all other presidents except Abraham Lincoln - who decided not to allow slavery to expand westward before he was sworn in - Barack Obama determined the fate of his presidency before he took office. The results of these fateful decisions led to Donald Trump, the worst person Obama could have imagined, taking his place eight years later.
This book describes how and why these decisions were made, and discusses whether the outcomes could have been different. Based on dozens of interviews with actors in the Obama transition, as well as the author’s personal observations, this book provides unique commentary on those defining decisions of winter 2008-2009.
A decade later, the ramifications of the Great Recession and the role of government in addressing the crisis are the reasons behind the ideological battle between progressivism and neoliberalism in the Democratic Party and the continuing struggle for direction in the Republican Party. As many seek the presidency in the November 2020 election, all candidates and of course the eventual winner will face decisions that may be as critical and difficult as those confronted by Barack Obama. This book aims to provide them guidance from history.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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- Narrated by: Robert Reich
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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The author of 12 acclaimed books, Robert B. Reich is a Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and has served in three national administrations. While many blamed Wall Street for the financial meltdown, Aftershock points a finger at a national economy in which wealth is increasingly concentrated at the top - and where a grasping middle class simply does not have the resources to remain viable.
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Very plausible assessment of our economy
- By CAR TOP CAMPER on 10-06-10
By: Robert B. Reich
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Shaky Ground
- The Strange Saga of the US Mortgage Giants
- By: Bethany McLean
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2008 the US Treasury put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a life-support state known as "conservatorship" to prevent their failure - and worldwide economic chaos. The two companies, which were always controversial, have become a battleground. Today, Fannie and Freddie are profitable again but still in conservatorship. Their profits are being redirected toward reducing the federal deficit, which leaves them with no buffer should they suffer losses again.
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Details on the Culture and History of the GSEs
- By Jose on 10-15-15
By: Bethany McLean
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An Extraordinary Time
- The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy
- By: Marc Levinson
- Narrated by: James Foster
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A sweeping reappraisal of the last sixty years of world history, An Extraordinary Time describes how the postwar economic boom dissipated, undermining faith in government, destabilizing the global financial system, and forcing us to come to terms with how tumultuous our economy really is.
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Good review of crucial turning point in history
- By Philo on 11-22-16
By: Marc Levinson
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Putinomics
- Money and Power in Resurgent Russia
- By: Chris Miller
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In Putinomics, Chris Miller examines the making of Russian economic policy since Vladimir Putin took power in 1999. Miller argues that Putin's economic strategy has functioned far more effectively than most Westerners realize. While acknowledging that part of Putin's successes - above all, quadrupling per capita GDP in just a decade and a half - can be attributed to cashing in on high oil prices, Miller details the government policies that have also been fundamental to Russia's growth.
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Go find something better
- By Anonymous User on 08-04-21
By: Chris Miller
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The Age of Oversupply
- Overcoming the Greatest Challenge to the Global Economy
- By: Daniel Alpert
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The governments and central banks of the developed world have tried every policy tool imaginable, yet our economies remain sluggish, or worse. How did we get here, and how can we emerge from the longest downturn in recent memory? Daniel Alpert, a progressive Wall Street banker and economist, argues that we are living in the age of oversupply.
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Great book but now out of date
- By emory morsberger on 11-30-17
By: Daniel Alpert
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Bought and Paid For
- The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street
- By: Charles Gasparino
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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According to business reporter Charles Gasparino, President Obama is faking his outrage at Wall Street, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big-government agenda.
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Revealing and Convincing
- By Walter on 10-24-11
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Collusion
- How Central Bankers Rigged the World
- By: Nomi Prins
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In this searing exposé, former Wall Street insider Nomi Prins shows how the 2007-2008 financial crisis turbo-boosted the influence of central bankers and triggered a massive shift in the world order. Packed with tantalizing details about the elite players orchestrating the world economy, Collusion takes the listener inside the most discreet conversations at exclusive retreats like Jackson Hole and Davos. A work of meticulous reporting and bracing analysis, Collusion will change the way we understand the new world of international finance.
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Fair history survey, lazy characterizations
- By Philo on 05-09-18
By: Nomi Prins
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Confidence Men
- Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
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The hidden history of Wall Street and the White House comes down to a single American concept: confidence. Both centers of power, New York and Washington, learned how to manufacture it - until August 2007, when that confidence began to crumble. Ron Suskind here tells the story of what happened next, as Wall Street struggled to save itself while a man with little experience and soaring rhetoric emerged from obscurity to usher in "a new era of responsibility".
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Insightful, but...
- By Ray on 10-29-11
By: Ron Suskind
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The Battle
- How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future
- By: Arthur C. Brooks
- Narrated by: Arthur C. Brooks
- Length: 3 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gays; rather it is a war against the creeping changes to our entrepreneurial culture, the true bedrock of who we are as a people. The new culture war is a battle between free enterprise and social democracy. Many Americans have forgotten the evils of socialism and the predations of the American Great Society's welfare-state programs.
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Right wing
- By John on 12-22-10
By: Arthur C. Brooks
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Audacity
- How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail
- By: Jonathan Chait
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
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Over the course of eight years, Barack Obama has amassed an array of outstanding achievements. His administration saved the American economy from collapse, expanded health insurance to millions who previously could not afford it, negotiated an historic nuclear deal with Iran, helped craft a groundbreaking international climate accord, reined in Wall Street, and crafted a new vision of racial progress.
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Good and balanced view of the Obama years
- By Paul on 02-01-17
By: Jonathan Chait
What listeners say about A Crisis Wasted
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Atsu
- 01-09-22
it's alright
little ti sympathetic to Obama as a person. He was the president, he made the decisions.
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- MoonUnit
- 02-21-21
This is a five star book; listen when you can concentrate
This book was invaluable for increasing my understanding of the Obama administration. The author is well-reasoned and compelling. I’m glad he wrote this book. I, too, never want such a crisis to be wasted. I want politicians to read this. Sometimes you just have to think bigger.
It might be better read this in book format, however. It’s sufficiently detailed to to be difficult to understand in one pass (at least for me). This was particularly true in the middle chapters on the development of the Obama stimulus package, less so in the beginning and end. I usually only listened to this when I could focus exclusively on it.
It’s not the narrator’s fault, btw. He sounds wise, reasonable, worldly and with just the right impression of dry wit. I though he was great choice for this. It’s just dense subject matter.
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- J. Pulton
- 03-06-21
Compelling account of Obama’s 1st year
The premise of the book is that a bigger stimulus and more heroic effort to prevent foreclosures would have been economically and politically better than the approach taken by the Obama administration. Instead, the Obama administration prioritized getting Republican votes for the stimulus package, fiscal responsibility, and a quick pivot to healthcare reform.
The author includes quotes that give a fair reading to the opposing views. For example, solving the underwater mortgage crisis would have been expensive ($750 billion), regressive (would only benefit those who could afford a house), and politically problematic (unfair to people who bought houses they could afford). He also discusses the origin of the tea party: Santelli’s original “tea party” protest of bailing out underwater homeowners.
It is sometimes unclear in audible format when the author is speaking for himself, and when he is quoting someone else. Given that the author is very fair to people he disagrees with, I hope I didn’t attribute thoughts to him that he in fact disagrees with.
You will probably find the book a hard read if you don’t have a good familiarity with the 2008 financial crisis, the early years of the Obama administration, and the people involved. I previously read Tim Geithner’s “Stress Test” and Alan Blinder’s “After the Music Stopped” which were good background for this book.
Overall the book is more assertion than argument. Of course, it is hard to prove a counterfactual, so I don’t hold this against the author. Given that the economic recovery disappointed and inflation remained muted, it’s easy with 20/20 hindsight to argue that the stimulus was too small, but he does show that some evidence for this was available at the time. His assertion that, from a political perspective, political capital would have been better spent on a larger stimulus rather than Obamacare is persuasive. And the focus on shovel ready projects - so as not to stimulate the economy after the recession ended - clearly didn’t pan out. The economy took years to fully recover and would have benefited from infrastructure spending well into the 2010s.
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- Mariana Nolasco
- 09-20-20
Somewhat complicated, not audiobook material
i found it interesting (not incredibly interesting to be honest) but to me it is a book that needs to be read and not heard. It requires you to understand american politics throughly (I’m a political science student) and still you need to pay very close attention in order to completely understand and not lose track of the topic.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Sandy
- 01-09-22
Good information on politicians.
Well done. I have been listening to books on politics and learning about how things happen. Showing how little people really know why things have been going so badly.
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