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A review by cavalary
Marea divizare: societăţile inegale şi ce putem face în privinţa lor by Joseph E. Stiglitz
informative
medium-paced
2.0
[EN: (RO below)]
At least I just borrowed this from the Library, but I still feel cheated, expecting an actual book and getting a collection of essays already published over a span of several years, which isn’t mentioned anywhere on the cover, so you need to get quite a number of pages into the introduction to find out. And those essays are completely unchanged, resulting in content that’s more outdated and far shallower than you’d expect the book to be, plus that plenty of ideas are simply repeated time and time again. Admittedly, this also makes the book particularly easy to read.
The only sections that are written specifically for this book are the introductions for each part, and while they mostly just provide a little context for the essays, some are more notable and interesting, such as the one for part one and the parts about trade agreements and intellectual property from the one for part six. And it was pleasing to see trade agreements and intellectual property being approached in such a critical manner in itself. And I must definitely say the same about describing how capitalism currently works as privatizing the profits while socializing or nationalizing the losses, externalizing the costs, and freeloading on public services and infrastructure and state-supported research. And I could keep nodding along to plenty of other ideas.
The fact that the vast majority of the book is focused on the United States did make me feel rather disconnected, and the essays that are strictly about the 2008 crisis were even worse from that point of view. But, besides that, the problem is that the author remains such a staunch supporter of capitalism, just aiming to limit its worst excesses, when the system itself is the problem and it needs to be replaced with something different. In addition, he continues to push for growth and full employment, states that the major problem is the lack of demand, disagrees with prioritizing fighting inflation and supports the concept of people, businesses and states continuing to live on credit in itself, all of which I firmly oppose.
[RO:]
Macar doar am imprumutat-o de la Biblioteca, dar tot ma simt inselat, asteptandu-ma la o carte propriu-zisa si primind o colectie de eseuri deja publicate de-a lungul mai multor ani, ceea ce nu se mentioneaza nicaieri pe coperta, deci trebuie sa ajungi niste pagini bune in introducere ca sa afli. Si acele eseuri sunt complet neschimbate, rezultand in continut care e mai depasit si mult mai superficial decat te-ai astepta sa fie cartea, plus ca multe idei sunt pur si simplu repetate iar si iar. Sigur, asta face cartea sa fie deosebit de usor de citit.
Singurele sectiuni care sunt scrise special pentru aceasta carte sunt introducerile fiecarei parti, si chiar daca in principal doar ofera putin context pentru eseuri, unele sunt mai notabile si interesante, cum ar fi cea pentru prima parte si partile despre acordurile comerciale si proprietatea intelectuala din cea pentru partea a sasea. Si a fost placut sa vad acordurile comerciale si proprietatea intelectuala abordate intr-o maniera asa de critica in sine. Si cu siguranta trebuie sa spun acelasi lucru despre descrierea modului in care capitalismul functioneaza in prezent ca privatizarea profiturilor in timp ce se socializeaza sau nationalizeaza pierderile, se externalizeaza costurile, si se profita de serviciile si infrastructura publica si de cercetarea sustinuta de stat. Si am putut sa tot aprob multe alte idei.
Faptul ca imensa majoritate a cartii este concentrata pe Statele Unite m-a facut insa sa ma simt destul de deconectat, iar eseurile care sunt strict despre criza din 2008 au fost si mai rele din acel punct de vedere. Dar, pe langa asta, problema este ca autorul ramane un sustinator atat de loial al capitalismului, doar vizand sa-i limiteze cele mai grave excese, cand sistemul in sine este problema si trebuie schimbat cu ceva diferit. In plus, continua sa sustina cresterea si ocuparea deplina, afirma ca problema majora este lipsa cererii, nu este de acord cu prioritizarea luptei impotriva inflatiei si sustine in sine conceptul ca oamenii, agentii economici si statele sa continue sa traiasca pe credit, toate fiind lucruri carora eu ma opun ferm.
At least I just borrowed this from the Library, but I still feel cheated, expecting an actual book and getting a collection of essays already published over a span of several years, which isn’t mentioned anywhere on the cover, so you need to get quite a number of pages into the introduction to find out. And those essays are completely unchanged, resulting in content that’s more outdated and far shallower than you’d expect the book to be, plus that plenty of ideas are simply repeated time and time again. Admittedly, this also makes the book particularly easy to read.
The only sections that are written specifically for this book are the introductions for each part, and while they mostly just provide a little context for the essays, some are more notable and interesting, such as the one for part one and the parts about trade agreements and intellectual property from the one for part six. And it was pleasing to see trade agreements and intellectual property being approached in such a critical manner in itself. And I must definitely say the same about describing how capitalism currently works as privatizing the profits while socializing or nationalizing the losses, externalizing the costs, and freeloading on public services and infrastructure and state-supported research. And I could keep nodding along to plenty of other ideas.
The fact that the vast majority of the book is focused on the United States did make me feel rather disconnected, and the essays that are strictly about the 2008 crisis were even worse from that point of view. But, besides that, the problem is that the author remains such a staunch supporter of capitalism, just aiming to limit its worst excesses, when the system itself is the problem and it needs to be replaced with something different. In addition, he continues to push for growth and full employment, states that the major problem is the lack of demand, disagrees with prioritizing fighting inflation and supports the concept of people, businesses and states continuing to live on credit in itself, all of which I firmly oppose.
[RO:]
Macar doar am imprumutat-o de la Biblioteca, dar tot ma simt inselat, asteptandu-ma la o carte propriu-zisa si primind o colectie de eseuri deja publicate de-a lungul mai multor ani, ceea ce nu se mentioneaza nicaieri pe coperta, deci trebuie sa ajungi niste pagini bune in introducere ca sa afli. Si acele eseuri sunt complet neschimbate, rezultand in continut care e mai depasit si mult mai superficial decat te-ai astepta sa fie cartea, plus ca multe idei sunt pur si simplu repetate iar si iar. Sigur, asta face cartea sa fie deosebit de usor de citit.
Singurele sectiuni care sunt scrise special pentru aceasta carte sunt introducerile fiecarei parti, si chiar daca in principal doar ofera putin context pentru eseuri, unele sunt mai notabile si interesante, cum ar fi cea pentru prima parte si partile despre acordurile comerciale si proprietatea intelectuala din cea pentru partea a sasea. Si a fost placut sa vad acordurile comerciale si proprietatea intelectuala abordate intr-o maniera asa de critica in sine. Si cu siguranta trebuie sa spun acelasi lucru despre descrierea modului in care capitalismul functioneaza in prezent ca privatizarea profiturilor in timp ce se socializeaza sau nationalizeaza pierderile, se externalizeaza costurile, si se profita de serviciile si infrastructura publica si de cercetarea sustinuta de stat. Si am putut sa tot aprob multe alte idei.
Faptul ca imensa majoritate a cartii este concentrata pe Statele Unite m-a facut insa sa ma simt destul de deconectat, iar eseurile care sunt strict despre criza din 2008 au fost si mai rele din acel punct de vedere. Dar, pe langa asta, problema este ca autorul ramane un sustinator atat de loial al capitalismului, doar vizand sa-i limiteze cele mai grave excese, cand sistemul in sine este problema si trebuie schimbat cu ceva diferit. In plus, continua sa sustina cresterea si ocuparea deplina, afirma ca problema majora este lipsa cererii, nu este de acord cu prioritizarea luptei impotriva inflatiei si sustine in sine conceptul ca oamenii, agentii economici si statele sa continue sa traiasca pe credit, toate fiind lucruri carora eu ma opun ferm.