Surrender : how the Clinton administration completed the Reagan revolution /

Meeropol (Western New England College) argues that Clinton "surrendered to a Republican congressional majority in 1996," adopting a conservative economic agenda including a balanced budget and welfare reform. After noting that the US distribution of income remains uneven, he admits that the economy was in outstanding shape as his book went to press. Economic growth was strong, the misery index was the lowest in 25 years, investment spending was high, and the federal deficit was much lower. However, Meeropol predicts "with absolute certainty" that a recession will arrive well before 2002, perhaps because the stock market will crash as early as 1998 (it did not) or the Asian crisis will infect the US economy (it has not). Once recession arrives, he asserts the government should resume budget deficits and the Federal Reserve should reduce interest rates while directing credit toward housing, infrastructure, and research and development. Restrictive international policies should control capital flight and reduce trade deficits. The author acknowledges that converting the Federal Reserve into a planning agency and regulating the flow of global capital and goods will require a political counterrevolution. Eighty-six pages of notes and references provide an extensive guide to writings sympathetic to Meeropol's call for more centralized economic direction. Appropriate for public and academic library collections. R. T. Averitt; Smith College

Despite tough talk about Republican "extremism" in his bid for reelection, President Clinton surrendered to the Reagan Revolution by signing the Welfare Reform Bill of 1996, thus ending a government commitment to the poor dating back to the Great Depression. So argues Meeropol, chair and professor of economics at Western New England College, in this academic treatise. He reports that the durable right-wing revolution actually began in 1979 when, under the leadership of Paul Volcker, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system instituted a stringent anti-inflation policy that continued through the 1990s. The rest of Meeropol's often turgidly written tome is less about the Clinton administration than it is a recounting of economic policy over two decades that has led, he claims, to a conservative agenda benefiting only 20% of the population. "The Clinton administration came into office promising `People First,'" Meeropol writes. "Instead it has [as] its legacy an abject surrender to an unelected group of people who represent the financial sector of the economy." Believing that the revolution is now complete, Meeropol is not optimistic about the next cycle: "If history is any guide, the majority of people in the United States will benefit even less than they did during the Reagan era." Unfortunately, while the sentiment is laudable, the dry academic tone of this economic treatise is unlikely to appeal to "the majority of people." (Sept.) FYI: One of the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg's two sons, Meeropol previously has written two books on the subject: The Rosenberg Letters and We Are Your Sons. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved