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A review by cavalary
Prețul inegalității: Cum societatea divizată din ziua de astăzi ne pune în pericol viitorul by Joseph E. Stiglitz
4.0
[EN: (RO below)]
More than simply not struggling and not being annoyed by this book, I surprisingly enjoyed most of it, especially the early chapters. Such excellent and thorough criticism of the economic system, also detailing how it corrupts politics, justice and various other aspects of society and behavior, making most even act against their own interests. There are too many good points to make a selection, but it was great to see it spelled out that the current system rewards those who are most predatory, best at exploiting the market, people and the environment, while progress is mainly owed to state involvement and those choosing to not profit from their breakthroughs, and also how the fact that businesses don’t pay in full for the environmental damage caused and the natural resources used constitutes subsidies, on top of the direct ones that even some of the worst polluters receive. Otherwise, notes are often lengthy comments that are well worth reading, though I spotted one with no correspondence in the text, and not fitting anywhere, making me wonder whether a bit of text was skipped in this edition.
Later chapters, especially the ninth, did become less enjoyable, however. Focusing in ever greater detail on the 2008 crisis in the United States and maybe the next few years makes it less interesting for me here and now, but worse is the firm stance against prioritizing low inflation, though inflation hurts those who aren’t wealthy more, and repeatedly stressing that full employment must be the target and unemployment is the biggest failure puts me completely at odds with the author, the biggest failure being that people still need jobs and to “earn a living” when they should be freed from this. And overall, despite going surprisingly far for someone who held such important positions within the system, aiming for continued growth and mere reforms, albeit major ones, instead of completely changing the system, makes the proposed solutions too little, too late, doing more harm than good by supporting the belief that such a fundamental and rapid shift and the end of growth aren’t desperately necessary.
[RO:]
Mai mult decat ca pur si simplu nu m-am chinuit si nu m-a enervat aceasta carte, in mod surprinzator mi-a placut in mare parte, in special primele capitole. Asa o critica excelenta si amanuntita a sistemului economic, detaliind si cum acesta corupe politica, justitia si diverse alte aspecte ale societatii si comportamentului, facand majoritatea sa actioneze chiar impotriva propriilor interese. Sunt prea multe puncte bune pentru a face o selectie, dar a fost minunat sa vad specificat ca sistemul actual ii recompenseaza pe cei mai pradatori, priceputi la exploatarea pietei, oamenilor si mediului, in timp ce progresul se datoreaza in principal implicarii statului si celor care aleg sa nu profite de pe urma descoperirilor lor, precum si cum faptul ca firmele nu platesc integral pentru pagubele cauzate mediului si resursele naturale folosite constituie subventii, pe langa cele directe pe care le primesc chiar si unii dintre cei mai mari poluatori. Altfel, notele sunt deseori comentarii lungi care chiar merita citite, desi am observat una fara corespondenta in text, si care nu se potrivea nicaieri, facandu-ma sa ma intreb daca o bucatica de text a fost sarita in aceasta editie.
Insa capitolele de mai tarziu, in special al noualea, au devenit mai putin placute. Axarea din ce in ce mai detaliata pe criza din 2008 din Statele Unite si poate urmatorii cativa ani o face mai putin interesanta pentru mine aici si acum, dar mai rea este pozitia ferma impotriva prioritizarii inflatiei scazute, desi inflatia face mai mult rau celor care nu sunt bogati, iar afirmatiile repetate ca ocuparea completa a fortei de munca trebuie sa fie tinta si somajul este cel mai mare esec ma plaseaza in opozitie completa fata de autor, cel mai mare esec fiind ca oamenii inca au nevoie de locuri de munca si sa-si "castige existenta" cand ar trebui sa fie eliberati de asta. Si per total, desi merge surprinzator de departe pentru cineva care a detinut pozitii asa de importante in sistem, tintirea cresterii continue si doar a unor reforme, chiar daca unele majore, in locul schimbarii complete a sistemului, face ca solutiile propuse sa fie prea putin, prea tarziu, facand mai mult rau decat bine prin sustinerea credintei ca o astfel de schimbare fundamentala si rapida si incetarea cresterii nu sunt imperios necesare.
More than simply not struggling and not being annoyed by this book, I surprisingly enjoyed most of it, especially the early chapters. Such excellent and thorough criticism of the economic system, also detailing how it corrupts politics, justice and various other aspects of society and behavior, making most even act against their own interests. There are too many good points to make a selection, but it was great to see it spelled out that the current system rewards those who are most predatory, best at exploiting the market, people and the environment, while progress is mainly owed to state involvement and those choosing to not profit from their breakthroughs, and also how the fact that businesses don’t pay in full for the environmental damage caused and the natural resources used constitutes subsidies, on top of the direct ones that even some of the worst polluters receive. Otherwise, notes are often lengthy comments that are well worth reading, though I spotted one with no correspondence in the text, and not fitting anywhere, making me wonder whether a bit of text was skipped in this edition.
Later chapters, especially the ninth, did become less enjoyable, however. Focusing in ever greater detail on the 2008 crisis in the United States and maybe the next few years makes it less interesting for me here and now, but worse is the firm stance against prioritizing low inflation, though inflation hurts those who aren’t wealthy more, and repeatedly stressing that full employment must be the target and unemployment is the biggest failure puts me completely at odds with the author, the biggest failure being that people still need jobs and to “earn a living” when they should be freed from this. And overall, despite going surprisingly far for someone who held such important positions within the system, aiming for continued growth and mere reforms, albeit major ones, instead of completely changing the system, makes the proposed solutions too little, too late, doing more harm than good by supporting the belief that such a fundamental and rapid shift and the end of growth aren’t desperately necessary.
[RO:]
Mai mult decat ca pur si simplu nu m-am chinuit si nu m-a enervat aceasta carte, in mod surprinzator mi-a placut in mare parte, in special primele capitole. Asa o critica excelenta si amanuntita a sistemului economic, detaliind si cum acesta corupe politica, justitia si diverse alte aspecte ale societatii si comportamentului, facand majoritatea sa actioneze chiar impotriva propriilor interese. Sunt prea multe puncte bune pentru a face o selectie, dar a fost minunat sa vad specificat ca sistemul actual ii recompenseaza pe cei mai pradatori, priceputi la exploatarea pietei, oamenilor si mediului, in timp ce progresul se datoreaza in principal implicarii statului si celor care aleg sa nu profite de pe urma descoperirilor lor, precum si cum faptul ca firmele nu platesc integral pentru pagubele cauzate mediului si resursele naturale folosite constituie subventii, pe langa cele directe pe care le primesc chiar si unii dintre cei mai mari poluatori. Altfel, notele sunt deseori comentarii lungi care chiar merita citite, desi am observat una fara corespondenta in text, si care nu se potrivea nicaieri, facandu-ma sa ma intreb daca o bucatica de text a fost sarita in aceasta editie.
Insa capitolele de mai tarziu, in special al noualea, au devenit mai putin placute. Axarea din ce in ce mai detaliata pe criza din 2008 din Statele Unite si poate urmatorii cativa ani o face mai putin interesanta pentru mine aici si acum, dar mai rea este pozitia ferma impotriva prioritizarii inflatiei scazute, desi inflatia face mai mult rau celor care nu sunt bogati, iar afirmatiile repetate ca ocuparea completa a fortei de munca trebuie sa fie tinta si somajul este cel mai mare esec ma plaseaza in opozitie completa fata de autor, cel mai mare esec fiind ca oamenii inca au nevoie de locuri de munca si sa-si "castige existenta" cand ar trebui sa fie eliberati de asta. Si per total, desi merge surprinzator de departe pentru cineva care a detinut pozitii asa de importante in sistem, tintirea cresterii continue si doar a unor reforme, chiar daca unele majore, in locul schimbarii complete a sistemului, face ca solutiile propuse sa fie prea putin, prea tarziu, facand mai mult rau decat bine prin sustinerea credintei ca o astfel de schimbare fundamentala si rapida si incetarea cresterii nu sunt imperios necesare.