American Gridlock

A sensible solution to getting our economy back on track Pessimism is ubiquitous throughout the Western World as thepressing issues of massive debt, high unemployment, and anemiceconomic growth divide the populace into warring political camps.Right-and Left-wing ideologues talk past each other, with neitherside admitting the other has any good ideas. In AmericanGridlock, leading economist and political theorist H. WoodyBrock bridges the Left/Right divide, illuminating a clear path outof our economic quagmire. Arguing from first principles and with rigorous logic, Brockdemonstrates that the choice before us is not between freemarket capitalism and a government-driven economy. Rather, thesolution to our problems will require enactment of constructivepolicies that allow "true" capitalism to flourish even as theyincorporate social policies that help those who truly need it. Brock demonstrates how deductive logic (as opposed toideologically driven data analysis) can transform the way we thinkabout these problems and lead us to new and different solutionsthat cross the ideological divide. Drawing on new theories such asgame theory and the economics of uncertainty that are based upondeductive logic, Brock reveals fresh ideas for tackling issuescentral to the 2012 U.S, Presidential election and to thenation's long-run future: * Demonstrating that the concept of a government"deficit" is highly problematic since it blinds us tothe distinction between a good deficit and a bad deficit -where a deficit is good if it results from borrowing dedicated toproductive investment rather than to unproductive spending. * Deriving the need for a U.S. Marshall Plan dedicated to veryhigh levels of profitable infrastructure spending as the solutionto today's Lost Decade of high unemployment * Drawing upon a logical extension of the Law of Supply andDemand to demonstrate how the health-care spending crisis can becompletely resolved by letting supply increase at a faster ratethan demand * Utilizing the theory of bargaining inaugurated by the"Beautiful Mind" mathematician John F. Nash, Jr., tohelp us avoid being repeatedly duped in our negotiations withChina * Making use of a completely new theory of market risk recentlydeveloped at Stanford University to demonstrate why dramaticallylimiting leverage is the key reform to preventing future PerfectStorms, whereas hoping to banish "greed" amounts towhistling Dixie * Deducting from first principles a solution to the contentiousissue of fair shares of the economic pie, a solution thatintegrates the two fundamental norms of "to each according tohis contribution" and "to each according to hisneed." Profound, timely and important, American Gridlock cutsthrough the stale biases of the Right and Left, advances new waysof thinking, and provides creative solutions to the problems thatthreaten American society.