For the second time this decade, the U.S. economy id sinking into a recession due to the collapse of a financial bubble. The most recent calamity will lead to a downturn deeper and longer than the stock market crash of 2001. Dean Baker's Plunder and Blunder chronicles the growth and collapse of the stock and housing bubbles and explains how policy blunders and greed led to the catastrophic --but completely predictable --market meltdowns. An expert guide to recent economic history, Baker offers policy prescriptions to help prevent similar financial disasters.

"Offers the most plausible way to renovate our political and policy thinking to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century."—Joe Klein, Time A leading political and business thinker identifies the greatest threat to our economic future: the things we think we know-but don't. America is at a crossroads. In the face of global competition and rapid technological change, our economy is about to face its most severe test in nearly a century-one that will make the recent turmoil in the financial system look like a modest setback by comparison. Yet our leaders have failed to prepare us for what lies ahead because they are in the grip of a set of "dead ideas" about how a modern economy should work. They wrongly believe that - Our kids will earn more than we do - Free trade is always good, no matter who gets hurt - Employers should be responsible for health coverage - Taxes hurt the economy - Schools are a local matter - Money follows merit These ways of thinking-dubious at best and often dead wrong-are on a collision course with economic developments that are irre-versible. In The Tyranny of Dead Ideas, Matt Miller offers a unique blend of insights from history, psychology, and economics to illuminate where today's destructive conventional wisdom came from and how it holds our country back. He also introduces us to a new way of thinking-what he calls "tomorrow's destined ideas"-that can reinvigorate our economy, our politics, and our day-to-day lives. These destined ideas may seem counterintuitive now, but they will coalesce in the coming years in ways that will transform America. A strikingly original assessment of our current dilemma and an indispensable guide to our future, Miller's provocative and path-breaking book reveals why it is urgent that we break the tyranny of dead ideas, for it is only by doing so that we can move beyond the limits of today's obsolete debates and reinvent American capitalism and democracy for the twenty-first century.

Dean Baker, codirector of the Center for Economic and Policy Research recounts the strategies used by the country’s top economic policymakers to conceal their failure to recognize the housing bubble or take steps to rein it in before it grew to unprecedented levels, resulting in the loss of millions of jobs, homes, and the life savings of tens of millions of people. He quashes dire warnings of looming rampant inflation and spiraling debt with solid historic evidence to the contrary—evidence that supports more stimulus, not less. With a dose of optimism, Baker outlines a thoughtful progressive program for rebuilding the economy and reshaping the financial system, including new financial transaction taxes that will reduce or eliminate economic waste while providing stimulus and incentives where and when they are most needed.

Selling a company you own is a huge step. It can be fraught with peril and with those who are eager to take advantage. Exiting your business is almost as difficult as starting it. In Getting Out from Under, author Robert J. Fritz discusses the process of selling ones own business. Based on his personal experiences of both owning and selling his business, Fritz covers the: Emotional angst of parting with ones business Empty feeling that can come from life without itRealization that one might not have enough cash for retirement Desire to make sure ones loyal employees do not get harmed Amount of work one must do to part with a privately-owned business Admonition to not avoid unpleasant thoughts, but to address them and plan for them A guidebook to selling your business, written by someone whos been through it successfully, Getting Out from Under helps business owners who want to protect their wealth, secure their familys future, and feel good about it.

Plunder and Blunder chronicles the growth and collapse of the stock and housing bubbles, explains how policy changes since 1980 laid the groundwork for catastrophic - but completely predictable - market meltdowns, and offers prescriptions for avoiding these disasters in the future. Dean Baker argues not only that competent economists should have recognized the developing housing bubble, but also that policy makers and the media cheerfully neglected those economists who did predict danger. Baker doesn't engage in 20 - 20 hindsight, but thoroughly documents how fundamental policy shifts destabilized the economy and eroded the broad prosperity of the post - war period. His expert analysis explains the outcomes clearly so we can prevent similar financial disasters. ''Dean Baker warned us what was coming. Now we can read why Dean got it right when so many experts were blind. The story is intriguing - and deeply disturbing.'' - William Greider, national affairs correspondent, The Nation, and author of Come Home, America