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Sabatoge: How the Republican Party Crippled America’s Economic Recovery

Chat with Daniel Altman about his new book, hosted by Maureen Tkacik.

In this important election-year book, Daniel Altman, author of “Neoconomy: George Bush’s Revolutionary Gamble With America’s Future”, reveals how the Republican Party sabotaged America’s recovery in the aftermath of its worst downturn in decades.

Altman traces the Republican’s actions and rhetoric from the moment they took control of the House of Representatives in the election of 2010. At every opportunity, they thwarted policies that could have helped the economy to regain its strength. They even tried to stop the Federal Reserve from stepping in to act where Congress had not.

All of their actions served to advance one goal: the defeat of President Barack Obama in the election of 2012. Everyone knew that if the unemployment rate stayed high, the president would face a tough fight for re-election. The Republicans did everything they could to make that fight tougher, and the American people suffered enormously as a result. “SABOTAGE” reveals how the Republicans forced average Americans to pay the price for the their political ambitions, and the hypocrisy that underpinned their every move. He also exposes the devastating effects the Republicans’ policies would have on the American economy if they were to regain the White House in 2012.

Daniel Altman is an economist and internationally bestselling author. He has written economic commentary on the staffs of The Economist, The International Herald Tribune, and The New York Times, where he was also one of the youngest-ever members of the editorial board. In between stints as a journalist, he was an economic advisor in the British government. Daniel currently teaches economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business and serves as chief economist of Big Think. In addition, he is the founder and president of North Yard Economics, a non-profit consulting firm serving developing countries. Most recently, Daniel founded Emerging Design Centers, a for-profit enterprise that brings cutting-edge tools for product design to poor communities. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the expert advisory board at Dalberg Global Development Advisors. Daniel was born in Connecticut and received his doctorate in economics from Harvard University. He has lived and worked on four continents and is a citizen of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.