Aan het werk: Waarom we een sterke overheid nodig hebben voor een gezonde economie

by Bill Clinton

Ik heb dit boek geschreven omdat ik van mijn land houd en me zorgen maak over de toekomst. Werk betekent meer dan alleen levensonderhoud. Het is fundamenteel voor de menselijke waardigheid, voor ons gevoel van eigenwaarde als nuttige, onafhankelijke, vrije mensen. Nu de westerse wereld in zwaar weer verkeert en het eind van de crisis voorlopig niet in zicht lijkt, geeft oud-president Bill Clinton zijn visie op de uitdagingen waar wij op dit moment voor staan. Hoe kunnen we weer economische groei realiseren? En hoe doen we dit op een financieel verantwoorde manier? Waarom is een goede regering daarin zo belangrijk?

Clinton legt uit hoe we in de huidige crisis terecht zijn gekomen, en biedt specifieke aanbevelingen voor hoe we mensen aan het werk kunnen houden en krijgen, banken kunnen stimuleren leningen te blijven verstrekken, de export kunnen ondersteunen en nieuwe bedrijven kunnen creëren. Hij ondersteunt Obama’s nadruk op groene technologie. Ook onderstreept hij dat we naast een goede overheid een sterke private sector nodig hebben, die met de politiek samenwerkt, want we’re all in this together.

Met zijn hartstochtelijk pleidooi spreekt Bill Clinton niet alleen Amerika aan, maar ook Europa. De charismatische oud-president raakt in zijn nieuwe boek aan een aantal fundamentele problemen en schetst op overtuigende wijze een richting om die op te lossen.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Economics, Business, History, Audiobook, Presidents

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Economic expansion and the first balanced federal budget in three decades marked presidency of William Jefferson Clinton, known as Bill, who served forty-second in the United States from 1993 to 2001; the House of Representatives in 1999 impeached him on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, but the Senate acquitted him on both counts.

Born William Jefferson Blythe III, he ranked as the third-youngest president, older only than Theodore Roosevelt and John Fitzgerald Kennedy. People know him the first baby-boomer president at the end of the Cold War. He is the husband of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the junior senator from New York and a Democratic candidate in the election of 2008 in the United States.

People described Clinton as a New Democrat and knew him largely for the Third Way philosophy of governance that came to epitomize his two terms as president. They described his "centrist" policies on issues, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement. Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history, which included a balanced budget and a reported federal surplus. Clinton reported a surplus of $559 billion at the end of his presidency, based on Congressional accounting rules. His presidency was also quickly challenged. On the heels of a failed attempt at health care reform with a Democratic Congress, Republicans won control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. In his second term he was impeached by the U.S. House for perjury and obstruction of justice, but was subsequently acquitted by the United States Senate and completed his term. Polls of the American electorate taken at this time showed that up to 70% were against pursuing the allegations. (New York Times December 21, 1998).

Clinton left office with a 65% approval rating, the highest end-of-presidency rating of any President who came into office after World War II. Since leaving office, Clinton has been involved in public speaking and humanitarian work. He created the William J. Clinton Foundation to promote and address international causes, such as treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and global warming. In 2004, he released a personal autobiography, My Life.

Reviews

[Dave B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book matches with Al Gore's "The Assault on Reason." Clinton provides a well thought out (although partisan) view of US government downsizing from the end of his 'golden era' (1997) administration to Obama’s midterm point (approximately September 2010). If you can get past the democratic slant, anti-tea party pings, and self praising hints I promise this book will provide some valid insights to our economic down fall. Clinton provides a survey level explanation of the relationships between major topic such as elimination of upper class tax cuts, degrading educational values, declining export activity and US need to increase R&D related green power utlization. We need more analysis like this to prepare the average voter for the 2012 election. It doesn't matter if you're pro-Obama or against, read this book and develop a political opinion for our country’s sake. I’m tired of catch phases and fear politics aren’t you?? We should be well informed so we can vote the correct people into office over the next 2 years.

[David Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1992 I voted in a presidential election for the second time. My candidate was Ross H. Perot; having graduated from college into a fumbling economy in which I couldn't find gainful employment, I remember telling people that I thought a president with good business sense would be worth four years of disregard for civil rights.

Based at least partly on the sway of weird voters like myself toward Perot, Bill Clinton was elected to his first of two presidential terms, and the United States enjoyed an eight year run of a pretty good economy, which President Clinton spends a great deal of ink reminding us in the early part of his book Back to Work. He does so in that slick, casual, ole buddy way that he always has, which translates into print pretty well and manages to demonstrate his superiority over those who preceded and followed him in office without directly insulting them. It's pretty brilliant, actually.

With the benefit of time, and with his own freedom post-presidency to speak relatively freely, it's easy to see what made President Clinton a good president, and to actually get a little excited about the proposals he's putting forward in Back to Work--excited in the face of a still-limping economy, oddly enough. Clinton's premise here is that modern malaise is a result, in large part, of an anti-governmentism that ushered in Ronald Reagan's two-term presidency and, to be fair, yielded its own economic resurgence. "Government isn't the answer to your problems," Reagan famously declared; "Government is the problem." With that he deregulated industries, marginalized the work of many government programs, and generally subverted the legitimacy of federal government as an institution.

Clinton doesn't quite offer the opposite premise, but he rightly confronts the absurdity inherent in the claim: a world in which democratically elected representatives whose mandate is for the well-being "into remotest futurity" (my new favorite phrase, from Thomas Jefferson, I believe) are inherently dangerous to taxpaying people trying to get by in a free economy managed by unchecked giant multinational companies with obligations only essentially to shareholders and an inherent responsibility to exploit natural resources to their fullest extent and to get as much energy out of employees for as little cost as possible . . . I guess I'm a little worked up. As Clinton puts it, "Big corporations don't get hurt by the current system. They just put plants in other places, create good jobs there, and leave their earnings there" (p. 133). Governments are like family: they have to love you. Corporations are like, well, corporations: everything is negotiable.

Clinton confronts the premise of anti-governmentalism in a winsome way, making a brief positive case for government (in reality, anti-governmentalism doesn't merit a long response) before getting down to how government, collaborating creatively with business, can create environments where truly amazing things can happen.

There are as many problems with Clinton's worldview as there are with Reagan's, of course: government collusion with megabusiness has as many pitfalls as government subservience to megabusiness, if the larger vision of what makes for a good society isn't kept in place. But it is actually pretty energizing to see the curtain pulled back on a creative approach to governmental economic policy, which this book effectively is. Clinton offers forty-six preliminary ideas for getting people working again, dealing with bank jitters, and revitalizing American innovation. They all sound both good and plausible, based again largely on Clinton's unique delivery: he makes the novel seem normal and the normal seem novel. The Secretary of State, for example, is praised for her ongoing work in "commercial diplomacy," which strikes me as a task more appropriately managed by the Commerce Secretary and which seems like it would distract from the State Department's important work in cultivating democracy and human rights overseas. Meanwhile, many of the examples of corporate innovation for the public good held up by Clinton have a long history, and some seem to be pretty widely accepted business models. Clinton showers such relatively mainstreamed business-government collaboration with praise; their practitioners are Edison and Einstein and Mother Teresa rolled into one. You forget that they've been doing what they're doing for twenty or thirty years now, throughout the Era of Anti-Government. Again, this is part of Clinton's leadership genius, why some call him beloved and others call him slick. To affirm one, I'd suggest, is not to deny the other.

I would have greatly appreciated some endnotes in this book; the claims Clinton makes about his and others' presidencies, as well as the outcomes of his proposed best practices, are rosily enough presented that my "He's a politician" skepticism did occasionally kick in. And yet, I found myself inspired--much more confident than I had been in alternative sources of energy (wind and solar, in particular), in the potential contained in government-corporate collaboration, and ultimately more knowledgable about the role of government in both navigating economic downturn and, more importantly, stimulating innovation and prosperity. The reality is that government isn't a problem; government simply is, and it is what we the people make of it. Clinton's vision for the short term is undergirded by his strong faith in the possibility of creative governance; that faith and vision is actually quite contagious.

This book continues, for me, the Year of Overdue Books. It's an odd inclusion, since the idea for what I'm reading this year is "books I should have read long ago," and Back to Work only came out a few months ago. But resolution to the current economic troubles is long overdue, as is a cogent confrontation of the "Government is bad for you" bias of too many people. President Clinton provides both effectively here. As he puts it, America needs to get back in the future business. If we accept his premises and pursue his recommendations, to quote a song of my childhood from the great Timbuk 3, "the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades."

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read. Excellent outline of how the country got into the financial crisis and increasing debt over the last 30 years, The last 1/3 of the book are ideas of how to get back to work: both inside & outside the box recommendations. If you don't like Clinton, you have to gloss over the times he makes "when I was President or Govenor..." statements. I always find that annoying, no matter who is writing or speaking.

[robin friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back To Work

The following review appears courtesy of the Washington Independent Review of Books.

Bill Clinton, America's 42nd President, has followed an established tradition observed by many of his predecessors in continuing his public involvement after leaving office, in part, through writing. The extensive literary output of ex-presidents ranges from partisan and defensive apologia to disinterested advice. Clinton, whose previous work following two terms in the White House comprises an intimate autobiography (My Life, 2005) and a treatise on philanthropy and volunteerism (Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, 2007), displays elements of both inclinations in his latest book, Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy, with an emphasis towards the latter.

Exercising a welcome patriotism and openness to ideas, together with a sense of purpose and hope, the former Chief of State proposes here "to get America back in the future business." He states at the outset: "America at its core is an idea -- the idea that no matter who you are or where you are from, if you work hard and play by the rules, you'll have the freedom and opportunity to pursue your own dreams and leave your kids an opportunity where they can chase theirs." Clinton looks at the current state of affairs in order to set a direction for change. In the face of the country's polarized politics, continued recession and unemployment, and excessive debt, Clinton wants nothing less than to revisit the American dream.

Clinton takes a broad approach intertwined with factual analysis throughout. Beginning with an invitation to the reader to consider the nature and purpose of government in the United States, the book has an almost philosophical scope. Clinton argues that the nation was "founded by citizens determined to resist -- then break away from -- an empire ruled by a government unaccountable to them." The framers of the Constitution created a government both limited and accountable enough to protect individual liberties and strong and flexible enough to respond to challenges and changed circumstances and accommodate people with many different perspectives. In a chapter titled "Why we need Government," Clinton continues, "the role of government is to give people the tools and create the conditions to make the most of our lives."

Clinton argues that, since the 1980s, American political life has been dominated by an anti-government ideology, which tends to see government in hostile terms. Spending is to be cut, regulations repealed, and taxes lowered. Yet, lack of financial oversight helped to create the recession and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other things, increased spending while taxes were reduced. Clinton believes that such anti-government ideology blinds its supporters to considering concrete problems with factual analysis, and, moreover, obliterates the traditional differences in liberal and conservative approaches to American politics, both of which he maintains we need. He writes, "In a positive political environment, liberals and conservatives could learn from each other and advance the public interest. Liberals want to use the government to solve problems and are usually eager to experiment. ... True conservatives are more cautious, reminding us that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Much may be learned from Clinton's restatement of the liberal and conservative tendencies. In discussing the 2010 election, Clinton observes perceptively that the results were due in part to the failure of the Democrats to articulate a national vision and sense of purpose to compete with the anti-government rhetoric of many of their opponents.

Back to Work is divided into two large parts titled "Where We Are" and "What We Can Do." In the first part, Clinton begins with an analysis of the causes of the recession and meltdown in 2008. He asserts that the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was largely effective in alleviating the worst of the crisis and in preventing unemployment from rising to even higher levels. In later sections, he offers thoughts on the difficulties involved in reducing expenditures within the 85 percent of the federal budget that is spent on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, defense, and interest on the public debt. On increasing revenues through taxation, Clinton has particularly insightful, balanced comments on America's corporate tax structure. He concludes the first part of his book with a lengthy chapter replete with statistics and charts, comparing an array of current quality-of-life data points with those of both the United States from post-World War II to 1980 and other highly developed countries today. There is much room for improvement.

For the second part, "What We Can Do," Clinton offers a series of 46 recommendations with varying degrees of breadth and magnitude of discussion on moving forward into the future. His recommendations might be grouped under headings such as mortgage relief, corporate tax structure, energy and infrastructure development, creation of incentives for domestic manufacturing, tourism, and trade and export. Perhaps the most succinct is Clinton's recommendation No. 32: "Sell, sell, sell."

The value of Back to Work lies primarily in the feeling Clinton conveys of optimism, persistence and patriotism in the face of difficulty. The former president tries to redirect debate from considering how to weaken the scope of government to questions such as "How can we move back to a full-employment economy with good jobs and rising middle-class incomes? How can we restore American leadership for peace and prosperity and leave our children and grandchildren a brighter future? What do Americans need government to do to achieve these goals?" As Bill Clinton writes, "There is simply no evidence that we can succeed in the twenty-first century with an anti-government strategy." For those reading the book, emphasis should be placed on understanding the nature of a problem rather than upon whether the reader agrees with the specific recommendations Clinton proposes. Americans from across the political spectrum have much to contribute in answering these questions and will gain a great deal by reading Former President Clinton's book.

Robin Friedman

[Carisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is basically Clinton’s own brainstorming about what should be changed in the US economic policies. He provides some interesting ideas, the writing is fresh and with a lot of financial data. It has some flaws, like he uses examples of actions he took during his government that cannot be applied today since the world economy –not only the US economy- has radically changed since then. Also, the ideas he points as working well in other countries cannot be simply copied and applied to the American economy, given the different cultures and key comparative advantages –or disadvantages- that exist between them. I agree with his arguments on defense expending– the US should have left Afghanistan just after the Taliban was gone, etc.- but the reality is that the deficit is not the worst problem of the US, but what can the US do to revitalize its private sector with a multiplying effect in increased output and job creation. I also agree that bank lending can and should play a more important role on economic reactivation. The production side of the economy should be fortified; incentives for new business should also be a priority. If this is not accomplished, the private sector will not be able to shoulder, for example, the burden of social security or growing international competition –especially amidst world recession. An effective government does not mean a larger or smaller one, but one which has set priorities and stick by them. At the least, the author’s ideas were thought-provoking.

[Suneel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank god Clinton was president in the 90s and not the 2010s. Almost every idea in this book aged like milk

Criticizing ideas is easier than proposing them and hindsight is 20/20. It’s still almost impressive how backwards all of Clinton’s proposals turned out to be. The government needs to spend more to inflate the value of boomers homes? We need to subsidize fracking because it’s cleaner and safer than nuclear? Be fr

[Joe Robles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I can actually point to 3 things I think made this book really good.

1. President Clinton used data from what works in other countries and from local governments to make the case for his suggestions and initiatives. This is a problem with many people who push policy. They ignore when something similar was tried elsewhere (whether to good or bad result). If a program has been tried, then expand it. It takes a little of the risk of investment out of the solution.

2. The book is filled with actionable items. If you're in business, you know how important action items are. You can talk about changing a culture, but without action items, it's just philosophy.

3. The book suggests we try a lot of things and keep what works. This is a tenet of Jim Collins research on what makes a great company (one of many) and is something we should do. The problem is that I don't think the United States government has the flexibility to attempt many new things (especially not with a conservative government - even Dems are conservative when it comes to new ideas)

The problem, and one that Clinton points out, is that there is a fear of spending. It's understandable given the bank bailouts. But the problem is that the bank bailouts were done with no strings attached. That was the equivalent throwing money at the problem (which Republicans always accuse Democrats of doing). Intelligent spending (which may be impossible for our Congress) spends money where it needs to be spent and asks for results. For instance, if you have a leaky roof, it's not throwing money at the problem to hire a roofer to fix it. But you would expect the money you spent to stop the leak. Clinton's book, figuratively, gives us the names of several great roofing companies.

I don't know how much of this book will be implemented, but there are so many solutions that trying just a handful could have great positive results.

Great read for anyone looking for solutions to our current economic crisis.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant in so many ways - primarily because of Bill Clinton's effortless explanation of the complicated facts that lead to the recession of 2008 (dating all the way back to Reaganomics) and how he was able to make it comprehensive. This book is not just another example of a liberal screaming at the Tea Partiers about what the other side has done wrong but a clever, collected, educated approach at trying to fix the biggest problem in our country today.

[Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old Bill is as Partisan as ever in this little book, and although his denial of responsibility for creating the path to financial destruction through massive deregulation in the financial sector by his administration was probably the saddest thing I've ever read, I still think that he makes a lot of valid points in this book. I just wish he would admit that eliminating Glass-Steagall was a really big mistake. I mean, nobody could have really seen the financial crisis coming back then, and I don't think it was really his fault in the grand scheme of things. But really Bill, just say oops, I made a mistake. Honestly thats the only reason I ever picked up this book in the first place, because I wanted to see what he had to say about his part in creating the path to the current woes we are in, in relation to the financial meltdown. Heck, I mean I make mistakes all the time. Difference is I can admit them.

Oooohhhhh partisan politics. Anyhow, other than his inability to admit some partial responsibility for our current woes, I found a lot of his points both interesting and valid. I also like how he extensively cites his evidence from other books that have been written by him, which I'm pretty sure you aren't really supposed to extensively do, but really it is rather harmless in the grand scheme of things. You can't take facts and numbers for their face value when reading books by people actively involved in politics, as one should know anyways, so it's not even really a big deal. I DO think Bill spent some time thinking this current crisis through however, and I'm actually really quite blown away by how intelligent he actually is in creating ways to solve the rather complex problems America currently faces. Pretty interesting read overall.

[Leanna Pohevitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were many times reading this book where I was frustrated that actions were not already being taken in certain fields. I appreciate how he lays out strategies and policies of other countries that are doing better than the US in things like energy consumption and clean energy production and jobs creation and explains how they could work in the US. The problem is that all 60+ of his ideas would take years of implementation when facing a split Congress. I took quite a lot of notes, because some of these ideas seem like no-brainers. Namely, I appreciate the retrofits section, and the explanation of how certain states are making strides themselves, namely Arkansas. If states were able to make the decision to push forward themselves with easy fixes, such as painting all state-owned properties white in the south, to cut cooling costs significantly and using that utility savings to create jobs retrofitting, which would produce more savings, I believe a positive shift would be just around the corner. Now it's just starting the process.

I hope one day there is a leader who is supported by both Dems and Reps and Independents and others who can take the smart ideas from this book and its opponents to help bring the US back to a position of forward-thinking.

The reason I marked the book 4/5 is because he definitely assumes the reader already agrees with him. I was hoping to be convinced of the merit of the policies and to have him answer some of the critics but that wasn't really present. It was more an outline for people who are already liberal leaning economically.

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s rather odd to inaugurate my presidential reading with Back to Work, since far more interesting and memorable books have been written by holders of the office—Obama’s The Audacity of Hope and Clinton’s My Life among them. At the same time, I wish there were more opportunities to read a politician’s general worldviews in fewer than 200 pages, with supporting data, examples and an extremely limited amount of doublespeak. Way back in the day, I somewhat lampooned Arianna Huffington for wasting book time on ideas that might have been better expressed on her own eponymous website. Ironically, while Clinton’s writing style in Back to Work is very similar to Huffington’s in Third World America, here I found it a pleasant surprise, perhaps because I’m so unaccustomed to directness from our nation’s leaders.

I wouldn’t say run out and buy this book, because while enjoyable, it’s not exactly a page-turner. But it is a nice breath of fresh air, a voice of reason from someone who actually has run the country, and pretty well at that. If you want to give yourself a little hope, that they’re not all arrogant windbags, or right-wing Christian nutjobs, or ideologically endearing (but totally un-electable) grandpas, then maybe this is a good book to read. We miss you, Bill. Cigar fetish and all.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most frequently used words in this book are first person pronouns:
"I did this"
"my administration"
"my Foundation"
"the Clinton Global Initiative"
which leads me to believe he really did write the book himself. You can hear his voice throughout. It's always all about him. Sometimes this tone becomes intrusive and you find yourself counting the "I"s.

While Clinton does offer a good outlook on the problems (limited bank loans, dismal education rankings, etc.) and comprehensively lists over 30 "solutions" and while he recognizes the political stalemate at present, he offers no solution on how to get these initiatives passed in the current Congress. I don't see any of these suggestions being implemented until after the 2012 election---and only then depending on how deeply government continues to be divided.

If you like Clinton and the progressive Democrats, you'll like this book; if you're a Paul Ryan Republican, you probably won't.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. President Clinton presents a concise - and not too technical -- plan for our economy. While partisan at points, I felt many of the proposals were of the type that either party may have offered before the current polarization came into force.

I really enjoyed how he explained things and provided sources for his information. Yes, he's a Democrat. And, yes, he plugged President Obama. But I felt the book should just be read with an open mind and that the different ideas would make good talking points for not just our federal government, but in our States too.

[Scott Asher · Rating 4 out of 5]

In America today, we suffer from high unemployment, two wars and a couple of non-war war-like engagements, the looming threat of Iran and a Middle East filled with unrest, an economy that is stagnant and threatening to tumble down again, and two political parties that seem to believe that their only job is to thwart each other. Where are those who can speak calm into this storm with ideas instead of complaints and finger pointing? Apparently, only former Presidents.

Back to Work
Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy
By Bill Clinton
Random House Audio / Knopf
November 2011

The book is separated into two main sections starting with the situation we are in, then moving into some ideas on how we can get out of the malaise. The first section is the most obviously leftist section of the book as he unashamedly defends some of President Obama’s actions over the last three years. But he doesn’t dwell there and quickly moves into ideas and a call to work together. It is in this section that the book shines.

Clinton gives dozens and dozens of ideas on how to get the economy back on track offering them along with evidence from other countrieswho have implimented similar ideas, or top thinkers in the fields saying how the ideas may work. Anyone who reads this book can’t help but come away with admiration for the vastness of options offered, especially in contrast to the current President and Congress where it seems that ideas are mostly counterarguments.

Clinton’s book is assuredly left-center and mostly left at times, but it is a book about ideas and ideas shouldn’t have labels like left and right, rather wrong and right. Some on the right may be immediately inclined to ignore President Clinton’s ideas, but that is the mistake that has America in the situation it is: stagnant where ideology rules and everyone suffers under its cruel reign.

Clinton says at one point, “If you ask the right question you may get the wrong answer, but if you ask the wrong question you cannot get the right answer.” Exactly. This book is about ideas and the politicians in Washington ought to take them seriously and both parties should consider these and every other good idea to focus on turning the economy around.

Highly recommended for all concerned Americans, and especially for Republicans who would never pick something up written by Clinton and Democrats who don’t think they need any ideas because they already know everything.

A note about the audio book version: Bill Clinton does a great job reading his work and his inflection and charm shine through. Authors almost always do a better job reading their works, and having a President read their work is even more compelling and works to build empathy – something increasingly missing in America.


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Published at BookGateway.com. This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was watching a sitting U.S. Senator being interviewed on television yesterday. He was promoting his new book on global warming. The premise of the book is that global warming is a great hoax. Hmmmph. That may well be (NOT!), but even if the premise of his book is correct, he could not convince me of that. In response to the interviewer's simple questions, the senator offered rambling commentary about his "favorite" liberals, claimed not to know of prominent members of a foreign government in a country of which just moments before he had bragged about visiting on several occasions and pulled a "Ronald Reagan" to avoiding answering by pretending not to hear. The interview was painful to watch. Here is a U.S. senator being interviewed on national television and he appears to be functionally illiterate.

Why do I recall this painful example of the lack of leadership that currently exists in Washington? Because there is no greater contrast to that type of idiocy than Bill Clinton. There isn't a man or woman today that can explain public policy to the average American and make it sound like common sense government. He enunciates his beliefs using real world examples from history. There is always and example or a reasoning based in fact on why he knows a particular policy will make a difference. Even if you do not agree with his policy positions, you have to respect the fact that he doesn't pull opinions out of the air and almost none of his solutions are based on ideology.

He touts development of alternative energies as a way both produce jobs, cut the cost of government and fuel our future. How does he know this? Well, turns out the U.S. Army uses 80% of the fuel the government purchases and the federal government is the largest purchaser of fuel in the country. To get fuel to bases in Afghanistan, large convoys carrying fuel travel 11 days through rough, enemy terrain and are exposed to hostile fire. Apparently, we've lost a lot of U.S. servicemen's lives on these convoy deliveries. Clinton writes what if the military bases use portable solar panels with battery back-ups for fuel. Fewer convoy deliveries of fuel, which means less loss of life and lower cost. According to Clinton, the U.S. army has more than 100 alternative fuel projects underway now. By investing in alternative fuel, he sites the 75% expansion in Denmark's economy by encouraging farms to install windmills, upgrading efficiency standards.

Of course, this is a simplification of all that Clinton presents in the book. But, man-o-man, he makes you believe that there is hope and that there are things we can do to get America Back to Work.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The president has tons and tons of ideas in this slim book. He strongly feels that clean energy could be an excellent way to get Americans back to work. He mentions this concept several times in this book. Reading this reminded me of what observers used to say about Clinton: His intelligence is formidable. He can study up on a subject and have it under his belt and thinking of solutions while most of us are still trying to figure out the original subject. He really is a wonk. A lot of his ideas seem very workable to me. With his background, he has practical experience most of us don't have. He is a strong advocate of public-private enterprises. He emphasizes that what is needed is cooperation in Washington, not refusal to work together. While not rubbing it in, he credited one idea as originally coming from Newt Gingrich. It is good to see him practicing what he is preaching and acknowledging that all sides can have good suggestions. But they do have to work together to get us working!

It lost a couple of stars because there were just so many ideas thrown at me in the book that I was rather overwhelmed by all of them. I'm not interested enough to read it again and soak up the ideas I missed the first time, but I sincerely hope that many people who can influence things in Washington DO read this carefully!

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has two sections, which differed drastically in their quality.

The first section discusses how our current economic situation got to be so bad. I found this part of the book to be a political, partisan hack job and I wish that I would have known to skip over this portion of the book, since it lowered my esteem for President Clinton.

The second part is a giant list of recommendations for things that would help lower the unemployment rate. I found this list to be non-ideological (there are conservative AND liberal ideas), thoughtful, and expansive in the range of ideas presented.

While I do not share the author's view that all of these ideas are worth implementing (we particularly diverge around topics about nuclear energy), and while I found his focus on green energy to be a little much, I enjoyed reading each idea because they were all thoughtful and thought-provoking, they were all reasonable, and because they represented such a wide range of ideas around what the government could do to reduce the unemployment rate.

[Kristin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clinton has well researched, legitimate criticisms of anti-government policy and sentiment; pointing out time and time again where the results don't match the ideology. But his writing style was just plain boring. I could picture him droning on and on, shaking his fist all the the while. It's not that I don't agree with a lot of what he had to say, he just needs to polish the delivery of his message. So for that he gets 2 stars instead of 3.

Also, instead of making me feel hopeful about all the possibilities that are out there to put America back to work, he made me feel bad because we are so far behind other countries that have a better handle on job growth in their economies in things like green tech and exporting more goods than we do. But I guess that's the point, to rattle our cage a bit to get past partisan politics and start investing in areas that create jobs and long-term economic growth.

[Stan Lanier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love him or hate him, you deny the intelligence of Bill Clinton at your own peril. Regardless of Christopher Hitchens, I love the man. It is so refreshing to read such a clearly written book, wonkish as its longest chapter is. Some commentators have said President Clinton has let himself off light for his part in laying the groundwork for the conditions which when exacerbated by President Cheney (oops, I mean Bush)became the Great Recession. One does need to be an expert to judge the merits of all of his 46 proposals. But no one has layed out so clearly how we got here as this argument. There is a simplicity to the case against the anti-government crowd that crystallizes our contemporary political problems. Even if not all of his proposals are workable, it is refreshingly hopeful to see a huge intellect engaged with solving problems that affect us all (though primarily the 99%.) Thank you President Clinton.

[Bobby Simic]

Concise and to-the-point, the former President offers insight on our current econonomic status and the surrounding political climate that has hindered much of the progress that could be made if "we could all just get along." Clinton provides actions in the second half that could get the U.S. onto the road to recovery.

Honestly, much of it went over my head (I've never had much of a head for finances and government), which is why I chose not to assign it any rating, but I still got a lot out of it because of Clinton's clear and un-fussy writing style. Some of his solutions seem like no-brainers, which makes the politicians' behavior in Washington -- concerned more with pandering and re-elections than finding actual solutions to our problems -- all the more frustrating.

[Anna Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly candid and relatively unbiased analysis of the current job crisis in the United States, the book presents what I felt were solid ideas for doing *something* to get the economy moving again, instead of focusing on who to blame for the mess. I read it in hope, wishing everyone could try to look at options as clearly and impartially, rather than getting tripped up over partisan propaganda.

[Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I'd like this book a lot more than I did. I think Bill Clinton is largely right in his worldview about government, its role, and its worthwhile goals, but I felt like the ideas were punctuated with defenses of his presidency, and that made me feel like I was reading his political memoir and not a proposition for America's future.

[Roland Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those of you that like economics, Bill's plan is basically a plan to boost open economy national savings. I think it's fantastic. I really wish he would cut out the name dropping and backslapping though. You can't serve another term, so quit campaigning. Great book but you can tell it was written by a politician.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unless you're an avid armchair economist, Back to Work is pretty dull reading: dry, technical, and more than a little self-serving. It's also a plea for Americans to put more trust in government...though, to me, more of our trust is one thing our government hasn't been too deserving of lately.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting and I kept finding myself wondering why I didn't think of some of these things that he was suggesting. However, some of his suggestions are a bit pie in the sky and could never be effectively implemented.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Common sense...We have stopped using it and let greed take over. Tsk tsk..

[CTEP]

For the month of February, I read “Back to Work” by President Bill Clinton. The book lays out several policy ideas for getting Americans back to work and defines how government should play a role in helping us accomplish this. While I am an avid news reader and hopeful that someday I’ll compete on a current events game show, but I find that too often the mainstream media leaves me with only catchy sound bites rather than a whole picture. Obviously, this is one side to an argument and there is a bias, but in his current work with the Clinton Global Initiative, Clinton’s job is to bring together Democrats, Republicans, and independents to reach common goal and to improve the common good - and he uses evidence to effectively back up each of his arguments.

For those of you who listen to the news but lack a real understanding of the budget debate (like myself), Clinton does a great job of explaining the federal budget and where our taxes go, as well as how we developed such a huge deficit. The take away here is that when we talk about non-defense, non-entitlement programs spending, we’re only talking about a fraction of our budget (this is where the AmeriCorps program falls). Contrary to conventional wisdom, cutting these programs – and the jobs that go with them – in a time of economic hardship actually leads to a deficit increase because more people will rely on programs such as food stamps and unemployment while our tax base will decrease because there are fewer people working. He also pointed out why foreign aid is a good investment in our international security – but it’s often one of the first things people say we should cut. Foreign aid only represents 1% of our budget, and Clinton argues that the cost of building infrastructure and sending food relief to other countries makes us more friends abroad and that translates into a safer world for Americans and fewer conflicts (which cost a lot more money).

I never thought much of Obama’s stimulus to improve infrastructure beyond the potholes on my street. But Clinton believes modern infrastructure could play a huge role in getting us back on the right track. Infrastructure includes highways and high-speed rail, but also broadband access and a modern electrical grid to keep us competitive with other wealthy nations. We spend around 3% on infrastructure, compared to European countries that spend between 5-6% and China, who is trying to catch up, at 9%. As CTEPers, we know the value of internet access and use, and how many Americans still lack that access and knowledge. Because we have not been spending on infrastructure like other countries, our high-speed is actually much slower than say, South Korea’s high-speed internet. We live in a global economy and to be successful in that economy, every American citizen needs competitive internet speeds and access so that their products and content can have a fighting chance at success.

This whole book is really good if policy is your thing. Ultimately, we need a strong public and private sector partnership to be successful in the future. We also need to base our decision on evidence rather than ideology – and that goes for both sides of the aisle. A number of my students are working on documentary projects that look at government program cuts and who is affected. I think I’ll be able to help them break down the budget questions more easily now.

[Hina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This latest book, while quite small and short, took me a while to read. Part of the reason is that I was on vacation for over a week (and correctly figured I wouldn’t have the time or desire to read), but the bigger reason is that it just wasn’t a story, as I would have liked. Back to Work, by Bill Clinton, wasn’t supposed to read like a story, but, silly me, I saw a book written by a Clinton and grabbed it. Now, I’m not saying that this a bad book, because it’s very informative, and Clinton obviously put a lot of thought into it, it’s just not, say, the type of leisure book you might read to pass the time on your commute (assuming you’re taking public transportation!).

So what is Back to Work all about? Well, Clinton talks about how our country, our economy, our collective well-being, has been crumbling under the hands of ardent anti-government interests. Obviously a Democrat, Clinton advocates for a strong government, but he also advocates for a strong private sector. He sees a balance between the public and private sectors as the only way to raise our country out of a rut and get us back on track to being the most successful nation in the world.

In this book, he presents several ideas which are very well thought out. He recognizes the need for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to work together for the betterment of everyone, for us to adopt the “we’re all in this together” attitude and shun the “you’re on your own” mindset.

Even though the book was published three years ago, it’s still relevant to today. Barack Obama is still President, and Americans in general are still struggling with the weak economy. So the ideas presented here by Clinton are still important and necessary.

Reading about how people are struggling makes me very thankful that I not only have no student debt (or any debt, really), but that I also have a secure, well-paying job that I enjoy. Maybe one day that will be the standard, but right now it’s not, so I consider myself very lucky.

By the way, I just have to say that Bill Clinton is aging very well 🙂 And the vegan diet is certainly helping. His cover photo looks very good…. just sayin’.

[Samarth Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our Thirty-Year Antigovernment Obsession:
• 30% of stimulus was sent to local/state gov to prevent layoffs of teachers, health workers, cops, etc.
• Only a third of stimulus money went into direct job projects
• Mark Twain- two things people should never watch being made are sausage and laws
• The 'status quo' lobby group is much more powerful than groups trying to make change
• "The antigovernment paradigm blinds us to possibilities that lie outside its ideological litmus tests and prevents us from creating new networks of cooperation that can restore economic growth bring economic opportunity to more people and places, and increase our ability to lead the world to a better future."
The 2010 Election and Its Place in the History of Antigovernment Policies:
• Clinton Admin: 4 budget surpluses, 16000 pages of regulation gone, reduced federal work force, lots of job growth, lots less poverty
• Our Constitution was designed by people who were idealistic not ideological
• 1990 Budget had PAYGO rule, requires Congress to fund new programs by cutting spending or raising revenue
• 6.1 Trillion in debt during George W., 1.5 in Reagan, 1.4 with Clinton, 1.5 with George HW,
• 1981-1993 and 2001-2009 health care costs rose 3 times faster than inflation
• 1992 Community Reinvestment Act required banks to make loans in communities from which they took deposits
• 1993 Clinton budget eliminated 90% of deficit before Balanced Budget Bill even happened
• Gore's Reinventing Government initiative took 16000 pages out of regulations, ended unnecessary programs, and changed government procurement
• Gov can be efficient - in 1995 SSA in an independent study had the best customer service out of anything including FedEx, Disney, etc
Why We Need Government:
• Government Accountability Office said we should collect the taxes that are owed but unpaid, which would give $345 billion a year, and put no-bid government contracts up for bids which could cut $170 billion of spending
• Erskine Bowles at the Small Business Administration reduced loan applications from one inch thick to one page front and back and cut waiting time for approval for ten to three weeks
• Foreign aid is only about ~1 of budget
So What About Debt?
• Simpson-Bowles Commission suggests raising SSA to 69 because people are living longer
• Improving immigration will help with SSA because more people paying into it and more employers paying into it
• Another problem with SS is inequality --> the people making more money aren't paying more to SS because of the cap. Simpson Bowles suggests raising cap to 190 k
• Every time more people go without insurance, health care spending goes up and deficit goes up
• Medicare spending per person has increased 400 percent since 1970 and private insurance has increased 700 percent in that time
• Big corporations aren't paying the higher tax rate, ExxonMobil only paid about ~18 well below the average American rate of about ~20%
How Are We Doing Compared with Our Own Past and with Today's Competition:
• Between WW2 and 1980 the bottom 90% made 65% of income and the top 1% made 10% of income. Now 90% makes about 52%
• Annual average increase of jobs greatest during LBJ at around ~4 and lowest during Bushes at close to 0. At Clinton it was about 2.5 and Regan about 2
• GDP growth greatest during JFK and LBJ with Clinton next then Reagan. Lowest during Bushes for presidents since 1955
• US not in top ten in high school graduation, science, math, kindergarten to twelfth education, or 25-34 year old with college degrees
• Germany near 100% HS graduation rate
• Economic mobility greater in Canada than US
• We are not in top 20 as of 2011 in infrastructure which is bad for economy because of more gas used and more time wasted
• Denial is not just a river in Egypt
Part 2
How Do We Get Back To Business?
1. End Mortgage Crisis - reduced payments or give the option of swapping deed for a multiyear lease until they pay it back (turn land or home into equity for bank and rent it to the owners, Harvard economist Rogoff's idea). Retrofit houses, creates jobs and in long run makes money.
2. Refinance government guaranteed mortgages and refinance debts
3. Fed should give banks incentive to lend - Fed can impose a fee of .25% for each dollar banks deposit so that banks don't deposit as much and lend more
4. Give corporations incentives to bring money back to the US - lower corporate tax rates to make them competitive with other nations. Tax rate is 35% but lots of companies pay only around 23%, the big companies should be paying the 23% not small ones.
5. Let companies repatriate the cash with no tax liability if it's reinvested to create jobs - only we tax money made overseas
6. Pass Obama's payroll tax cut
• Infrastructure bonds, people invest and make good returns, we have money to improve infrastructure
• Bush invested in wind tech while governor \
• "Just Say Yes" program, eco friend building renovations and have owners pay it back with utility savings
7. Build 21st century infrastructure
8. Speed up process for approving and completing projects
9. Launch a retrofit initiative - and exempt schools from retrofitting as part of their debt limit so that they can borrow to do it
10. States and local gov should have their own retrofit initiatives - HEAL in Ark under Clinton (employers give savings from retrofitting to employees who use it to retrofit their houses)
11. Use pension funds for retrofitting - solid investment,
12. Paint roofs white - 20-30% less energy on a hot day
13. Full tax credit for green jobs
14. More grids and transmission lines
15. More geothermal energy
16. landfills into power generators - Gothenburg, Sweden has waste to energy system that saves a ton and reduces carbon dioxide emissions
17. Develop our natural gas resources - fracking process must be transparent
18. Develop biofuels for more energy independence
19. Tax cuts for hybrids
20. Military spending on energy transformation
21. New energy efficiency rules for common household appliances
22. Invest rest of rapid-rail money smartly
23. Support state and local innovations and encourage them nation wide
24. Pick one or two US states and make them completely energy independent
25. More smaller companies in on exports
26. Food exports to Sauds, Chinese, and nations with food shortages
27. Pass trade agreements with SK, Colombia, and Panama
28. Enforce trade
29. Offer a prize to promote innovation and job creation
30. Replicate prosperity centers, like in MIT laws
31. concentrate on increasing export potential of cities
32. Export services
33. Get to emerging opportunities before others (like infrastructure in Africa)
34. Sell sell sell
35. Enlarge Small Business Adminstration
36. Crowdfunding for small businesses
37. On site training for jobs to fill job vacancies
38. Incentive to employ long term unemployed
39. Incentive to not lay off, like Germany's "short work" when work is reduced instead of lay offs
40. Insource outsourced jobs
41. Increase number of empowerment zones and reach of New Market Initiative
42. Increase STEM
43. Immigration reform, especially for STEM
44. More tourists
45. affordable to "buy American"
46. Support national jobs day
47. where they give access to technology for new companies in exchange for stock in the new companies

[Book Shark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy by former President Bill Clinton

“Back to Work...” is a pragmatic book that provides a history of what worked and didn't over the recent thirty years , and why government still matters. President Bill Clinton needs no formal introduction, his opinion and expertise matters. He provides a unique, and a matter-of-fact approach on what needs to be done to achieve a strong economy. This 208-page book is composed of the following six chapters: Our Thirty-Year Antigovernment Obsession, 2. The 2010 Election and its Place in the History of Antigovernment Politics, 3. Why We Need Government, 4. So What About the Debt?, 5. How Are We Doing Compared with Our Own Past and Today's Competition?, and 6. How Do We Get Back in the Future Business?

Positives:
1. As pragmatic a book as you will find.
2. This book comes from as good an authority as they come. Clinton's unique insight, experience and knowledge gives him the perfect qualities to provide meaningful opinions.
3. An accessible book. Written in plain English and gets straight to the points.
4. Clinton provides a very focused book. This book is strictly about the economy and the important role our governments plays in it.
5. Firm but respectful tone throughout. He focuses his criticisms on the policies. Never took a cheap shot at the opposition.
6. Throughout the book he provides compelling arguments to back his points. This is the strongest positive of this book. Clinton states what he believes and follows it up with forceful and persuasive arguments.
7. If you are looking for a book that gives you a big picture look
8. Does a very good job of debunking myths.
9. Of course, Clinton is a democratic icon but I really felt he did a great job of being fair and evenhanded with his criticism. "For reasons that are unclear, the president and the Democratic Congress did not raise the debt ceiling after the election, in November or December 2010, when they still had a majority."
10. An education on balanced budgets.
11. Effective use of charts. Not too many charts but what's included is really good.
12. One of the recurring themes of this book is the antigovernment obsession or ideologue that kills any opportunity for compromise. "fervent insistence on an ideology makes evidence, experience, and argument irrelevant: If you posses the absolute truth, those who disagree are by definition wrong, and evidence of success or failure is irrelevant."
13. Goes over what worked during his administration (four surplus budgets) and how it compares to past and the present administration. Quite educational.
14. A helpful look at how the Republicans made significant gains in the 2010 election cycle. This is where Clinton shines in this book. His keen insight, his ability to stay engaged, and unquestioned expertise allows him to skillfully deconstruct the results.
15. Clinton wisdom cuts to the heart of many arguments, "Our constitution was designed by people who were idealistic but not ideological."
16. The importance of climate change and some interesting insight on business opportunities even embraced by the military.
17. Placing the unique economic challenges that President Obama face in perspective.
18. What really caused the mortgage crisis...interesting.
19. The role of the government...listen up.
20. The three things we can do to turn the debt problem around.
21. Some keen insight into the health insurance industry and government policies. "Medicare spending per person has increased 400 percent since 1970, while private insurance has skyrocketed 700 percent."
22. References the Simpson-Bowles Commission recommendations and provides his takes.
23. Interesting chapter on how we compare with our past and other countries. The numbers are eye-opening, take high school graduation rate as an example...we placed 18th from 25 countries.
24. The Tea Party...Clinton's view.
25. A look at America's strengths.
26. In the second part of the book or final chapter. Clinton shows off his leadership by providing a complete chapter on what we can do to get the economy and America back. Great stuff.
27. Among the highlights of action items: how to deal with the mortgage mess, job incentives, improving infrastructure, retrofit and green-minded initiatives, high-end manufacturing, the need to export more products and services, more degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematical) fields, and innovation.
28. The epilogue was probably the most engaging chapter in the book. Clinton finally seems to let his hair down and talk from the heart.
29. Notes at the end of each chapter.

Negatives:
1. My biggest negative of this book is the dry prose. The book doesn't reflect Clinton's charisma. It does reflect his unquestioned leadership skills but not the rest of his engaging personality. The epilogue was the only section in the book where Clinton was so.
2. Conservatives may look at the first part of the book as a defense of Clinton politics and a defense of Obama. In other words, the first part might upset conservatives and the like.
3. There are moments of self aggrandizing. At times the book felt more about the accomplishments of former President Clinton versus what we need to do. Honestly, it didn't bother me but for the sake of fairness it was my observation.
4. Very few groundbreaking ideas but it's nice to have a long list as reference and to get the former president's takes.
5. This book focuses on economics so if you are looking to get Clinton's takes on social issues you will need to get one of his previous books.
6. Clinton did mention some books he referenced but I would have loved a bibliography. He is so well read that I would have liked a bibliography to reference from.

In summary, I enjoyed reading this book. Clinton met my expectations. He provided compelling arguments why a strong government is required as part of a vital partnership to a strong economy. The book may have been a little dry, too matter-a-fact but at the need of the day this brief book packed a large punch of practical and worthwhile ideas to pursue. Reading this book will help you understand the most important on-going economic issues of our country. Read it and get enlightened.
Further suggestions: "Decision Points" by former President George W. Bush, "The Post-American World" by Fareed Zakaria, "That Used to Be Us" by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum, "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future" by Robert B. Reich, "The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America" by Michael W. Hudson, "The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy" by Joshua Holland, "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class" by Thom Hartmann, "War on the Middle Class" by Lou Dobbs, "Winner-Take-All Politics" by Jacob S. Hacker & Paul Pierson, "The End of Growth" by Richard Heinberg, and "Deadly Spin" by Wendell Potter.