The Conscience of a Liberal

I never fully realized what a historical anomaly the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s were. Krugman makes the case that those few decades brought us closer to the vision of our founding fathers than any other time in our history: broad consensus, expanding middle class, a flatter society. The past 30 years have seen the pendulum swing back, a return to the Gilded Age, authoritarianism, corporatism, a disappearing middle class, and a highly privileged few. The founders of our country fought their revolution against the authoritarians and oligarchs of their time. We must do the same against ours.

This book is a must read (listen?).

This is one of those books you should get college credit just for listening to. You may find yourself replaying the chapters again and again in order to fully grasp the concepts. Very well written and presented. The narrator is one of the best I have heard. Overall very interesting information if you agree with the author on everything or not.

If you want to become an informed citizen and not throw away your ballot in what is looking more and more like the most important election in fifty years, this book, along with former Vice President Al Gore’s recent book, are required reading. Presented in a manor easy to understand, even with statistical research thrown in, Mr Krugman's attack on Movement Conservatism and its threat to all things we hold sacred hits like an approaching storm. His antidotes to get us back on track are well thought out and seem amazingly reachable, like the calm after the storm is over.

Five stars also go to the reader. It's read like it was actually written by him.

Every legal American Citizen willing to work and contribute to their society should be entitled to the highest lifestyle the aggregate efforts of that society can confer.

Paul Krugman does a fine job of explaining how the very rich and their minions have hijacked America and why the middle class must stop them.

If you love your country and your fellow legal citizens, digesting this book is is well worth your consideration and invested time.

Having read or listened to this book, write your own evaluation, and also become one of Krugman's Progressives. You owe it to America.

Imagine the best teacher you've ever had. Not the flashy one who thinks he's god's gift to the field or always right. The one who's interesting because he has the quiet confidence of somone who has thought a LOT about a subject and cares passionately about ideas and their effects in the real world. And so he needs you really to understand and consider the points he's making.
Now imagine he's talking to you (well, almost, the narrator is good and not so far off) about something where, if you agree with him, there's a limited time to take concrete steps so that good ideas have the best chance of getting implemented in ways that will make the majority of people's lives a lot better.
If that sounds good, then get this book. Even if you disagree with some of it, unless you're Tom Delay and just want to go around bitch slapping people (or countries) who dare to contradict you, you will still take away a lot.

It's hard to disagree with anything Krugman says. He cites overwhelming evidence that the American dream for the middle class is under attack from the radical right.

This is a must listen!

Have you ever disagreed with a liberal? If you have, and have wondered why they don't listen, don't respond to your questions, or simply refuse to give you eye-contact, you must listen to this book to understand why.

Paul Krugman's book shouldn't be called "Conscience of a Liberal" it should be called "Why Movement Conservatives are Nasty People".

I teach economics and this review will not attempt to dispute any of Krugman's unscientific conclusions. Krugman the philosopher - not the economist - wrote this book. He recites some magazine article that someone wrote decades ago and then tells us what that writer meant, and how "code-words" were used to communicate devious messages. Sorry, I didn't get my de-coder ring that year so I didn't get those messages. And, of course, anyone remotely attached to that person is stereotyped as a nasty Movement Conservative.

For example, a decade or so ago some religious figure said something about a "Christian" government. That obviously means all Christians want a Christian Theocracy. How ridiculous. Another example is Krugman's assertion that the U.S.A. does not reward hard work nor does it offer equal opportunity. How does he justify this conclusion? He found that in 1988 eight graders were given a math test. Those who scored in the top quartile in math somehow didn't do as well as those whose parents were in the top quartile of income. Wow, that's certainly conclusive. Tell that to Warren Buffett, or just about any baseball, basketball, or football player, entertainer, or small business owner.

If you met a liberal and he/she thinks you're not a walking, talking clone of Paul Krugman, he/she will immediately stereotype you as a nasty person who isn't worthy of attention. Sorry, that's what I got out of this book.

Everyone MUST read this book!

I must say I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not to even bother finishing this book. Krugman is petulant, and uses data (whether or not it is reliable data) toward his own pre-conceived conclusions. There are many, many sections where he contradicts himself, or otherwise ignores facts that don't fit what he's trying to accomplish.

Through past works, I've come to know Krugman as a talented economist. He bastardizes his expertise with this liberal feel-good book. Now that Obama is trying to repeat most of what Krugman advocates, we'll see if he owns up to the coming failures.