| A PRESIDENCY IN PERIL: The Inside Story of Obama's Promise, Wall Street's Power, and the Struggle To Control Our Economic Future Robert Kuttner White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishers, 2010 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-1-60358-270-4 | ||||
| ISBN-10 1-60358-270-3 | 300pp. | HC | $25.00 | |
| Page 21: | "He [Larry Summers] had the tragic flaw of certitude, but also an endearing quality to acknowledge old mistakes." |
| Is this not a contradiction in terms? And what is "the tragic flaw of certitude" — a reference to Dunning-Kruger? |
| Page 84: | "...but set aside an astonishing 64 cents out of every dollar of gross revenue for employee compensation — a total of $14.4 for salaries and bonuses." |
| Missing suffix: S/B "$14.4 billion". |
| Page 86: | "In the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, there were, in embryonic form, a number of initiatives of the sort that American liberals have only dreamed about including almost $100 bilion of sundry green initiatives." |
| Missing comma: S/B "about, including". |
| Page 106: | "The 187-page bill was a Christmas present of gifts for traders and investment bankers." |
| Wording: S/B "a Christmas basket of gifts". (Maybe) |
| Page 122: | "...to guarantee a large pile of securities that were deeply underwater." |
| Missing space: S/B "under water". |
| Page 135: | "Barofsky also nailed the dishonesty in Goldman's claim that it had other ways of covering its losses and didn't really need the taxpayer money." |
| So Goldman did need the taxpayer money? This contradicts what Kuttner says earlier, in mentioning the passthrough from AIG of some $35B for securities that weren't in default. |
| Page 167: | "...except that the banking industry was well represented all too well by the panel's two Republicans..." |
| Extra word: S/B "represented all too well". |
| Page 171: | Elizabeth Warren: "Like a duck on a june bug." |
| Capitalization: S/B "a June bug". |
| Page 172: | "When the next round of warrants were repurchased, large banks..." |
| Number: S/B "was repurchased". |
| Page 221: | "But in fact, there are times when economic progress precisely requires displacing the malign influence of economic elites." |
| Missing comma: S/B "But, in fact,". |
| Page 228: | "...it would gain the enthusiastic support of liberals who were lukewarm about substituting the existing, inefficient existing private insurance system." |
| Repeated word: S/B "inefficient private". |
| Page 235: | "Yet a year later, in much the spirit of Einstein's definition of insanity..." |
| Word order: S/B "much in". (Alternatively, it could become "in much the same spirit as Einstein's definition...") |
| Page 238: | "Finally, on March 3, Obama spoke for twenty minutes from the Oval Office, urging the passage of his bill." |
| Someone has their history wrong. Much news was devoted to the fact that the gravity of the Gulf Gusher occasioned Obama's first address from the Oval Office on 16 June. The White House's own blog will confirm this. |
| Page 258: | "Most big multinationals are now too cozy with foreign mercantilists to put up much of a fuss anymore." |
| Missing space: S/B "any more". |
| Page 268: | "Unlike corporations, which are (imperfectly) accountable to shareholders and financial traders [. . .] states via their elected leaders are accountable to democratic electorates." |
| Missing comma: S/B "traders [. . .], states". |
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