Review by Choice Review
The US faces two enormous problems. One, federal government spending substantially exceeds revenue, causing the debt to increase dramatically. Two, a large chunk of this spending has been financed by excess revenues from Social Security and Medicare payments; by 2017, both will begin running huge deficits. Hence the urgent question, what is the government to do? This book is a frustrating read. On the one hand, Yarrow (vice president, Public Agenda) does an excellent job explaining this situation, describing how it came about, and best of all, making clear its urgency. On the other hand, his economic analysis is frequently dubious: he considers current taxation levels too low, but total government spending (local, state, federal) already accounts for nearly one-third of GDP. He states the income tax system favors the rich, but the top 10 percent pay 70 percent of federal tax revenues, while the bottom 50 percent pay only 3 percent. He advocates raising income taxes and also raising or eliminating the income cap on Social Security, but he does not address the resulting negative effect on economic growth and thus living standards. Yarrow provides a good overview of the issue, but his economic analysis is frequently flawed. Summing Up: Optional. Public and academic library collections. J. A. Stevano Coker College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
