One World Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism

By William Greider

Book Overview

Reflecting the viewpoints of politicians, workers, and others, the author assesses the global economy, points to problems of unregulated capital and labor, and proposes solutions the U.S. must take to lead the world economy onwards.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684811413
• ISBN13: 9780684811413
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 1.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.4" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

Greiders Predictions Coming to pass

I read this book in 2001, and still remember clearly Grieders description of the end game he predicted (global deflation). The US kept the game going for longer than expected, by fueling debt growth greater than anticipated. Now its all falling apart. Very sad.

Provocative, Insightful, Compassionate Look at the 3rd Wave

No one writes with more verve, insight, and human compassion than long-time Rolling Stone contributor and Editor William Greider. His perspective always centers on the human cost of social phenomena, and is always heartfelt, compassionate, and extremely well focused. In this book he centers in brilliantly on the ways in which the so-called "Third Wave" of global trading and commerce is poised to transform the social, economic, and political landscape of the countries in which it is being introduced. His writing skills are superb, and the ordinarily dry and stuffy stuff of economics come alive in this highly readable and quite entertaining work. In fact, reviewer Brink Lindsey of the Kirkus Review called this book "the best-written book on the global economy" he had ever read. Ditto, Mr. Lindsey, ditto. I also agree with his observations calling the prose energized, clear, and sharp. However, I disagree with the negative criticism many other critics and reviewers have voiced concerning Mr. Greider's conclusions herein, which seem to center on the fact that he is not an apologist, fellow-traveler, or celebrant of the new global forces. Indeed, Mr. Greider's perspective is more sanguine, expressing concern of the many ways in which this fundamentally anti-democratic new commerce tends toward becoming a revolutionary & extraordinarily well-focused force literally power-hosing the new wealth generated by this commerce in the direction of the rich and well placed at the expense of almost everyone else. Who can argue against the observation that we increasingly face an amazing conundrum when in face of the greatest sustained period of prosperity in the last forty years many people at the lower reaches of the socioeconomic spectrum are slipping farther and farther behind, that this prosperity is not acting to level the playing field, but, on the contrary is intensifying the distances and qualitative life styles of the affluent and the poor, or with the observation that consistently the indifferent, selfish and affluent conservative Republicans, ignoring the needs and problems of a majority of others, still demand a substantial tax refund for themselves at the expense of the rest of the populace? The truth speaks for itself in the sense that the governments of the world seem either uninterested or unable to regulate, limit, or meaningfully constrain the powers, policies, or dispositions of the multi-national corporations who now produce, distribute, and control the majority of the world's commercial efforts. These corporations seem to be primarily motivated by motives much less socially responsive or oriented than they are profit-centered. Unless one actually believes in the silly, self-serving and patently ridiculous nonsense about Adam Smith's `invisible hand' of the market place, believing that somehow an unregulated and unconstrained world economy will automatically and magically manage and self-corrrect itse

Excellent clarity for economist and layman alike

How refreshing it is that in a nation with a plethora of spin doctors we find a person who writes succinctly and without hyperebola about our current economic and political reality. While he does not give us any clear direction about what to do about unfettered global capitalism, he does give us access to information generally hidden by the media moguls about what has been happening in a seemingly irrational world. He does give us anecdotes to deregulation; but, I agree that they have little probability of happening.