A Country That Works: Getting America Back on Track

In his eye-opening diagnosis that makes the urgency of the threats vividly clear, Stern shows that Americans are contending with the most disruptive economic upheaval in the world economy since the Industrial Revolution. Yet, in the face of this daunting challenge, the American system simply isn't working well enough for most of us. Stern powerfully portrays how with the pace of globalization relentlessly quickening, the competitive pressures on our jobs and quality of life are heating up even more, especially as housing, health care, and oil prices skyrocket. While CEO salaries soar and business and the wealthy are handed plentiful tax shelters, the incomes of both white-collar and blue-collar workers stagnate, leaving most Americans struggling to pay off ever-escalating debt, instead of saving for retirement. The plain fact is that our system is out of whack, serving the interests of the top sliver of the most wealthy while putting the squeeze on the rest of us.

Meanwhile, our politicians irresponsibly sidestep the crucial solutions that we so desperately need in order to make sure Americans can move into the twenty-first century with their futures secure. As Stern so persuasively shows, it is time for bold thinking and creative solutions to overhaul a health care system in crisis; correct a tax system rigged in favor of business and the wealthy; revamp our inadequate retirement system; and make truly innovative improvements in education. He presents a set of course-correction reforms so compelling, simple, and achievable that readers will find themselves enraged that they haven't yet been enacted. Americans have a right to expect our government to work for us. Andy Stern shows how we can get things back on track to make sure it does.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Would Have Made A Good Pamphlet, 2008-02-20
Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) comes now with his own addition to the host of literature that describes how the re-distribution of wealth in the United States is harming workers and the nation. This is a vitally important topic: Lee Iacocca wrote about this more than 20 years ago, Michael Moore wrote about this more than 10 years ago, and recently, everyone from Jim Hightower to Arianna Huffington to Al Franken have joined in. With enough voices, perhaps people will finally force their elected policy makers to reconstruct the safeties that were in place to prevent the degradation of the middle class that we are watching accelerate right now.

But will "A Country That Works" convert people from consumers back into citizens? Stern's ideas are good, practical, and positive, but they are not new. What has been lacking is an activism to force these ideas onto the agendas of both parties. To his credit, Stern does not "red-bait" the reader, but his ideas will never make it past the right-wing. Were this possible, we would not be in this fix, with economic and political uncertainty looming with growing immediacy. Stern has great ideas but he presents no plan of action; no intent to mobilize the SEIU toward national momentum.

Stern includes some backstory to his life and some snippets of the labor movement, but nothing in depth. He chooses his words carefully, especially as regards John Sweeney--Stern has been a good, effective leader but this has forced him to become a politician in his own right. There is nothing wrong with this, this is the nature of things, and Stern doesn't want to rock the boat too much.

So, with very little information in the form of memoir or history of labor, "A Country That Works" serves instead as a bullet-pointed list of excellent progressive ideas that were released as a $24.00 hardcover book. Many service workers might have to work three or four hours to pay for this book. It would have helped workers more if it had been published as a pamphlet.


1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Practical Populism., 2007-09-13
Andy Stern does a great job of addressing the elephant in the room, corporate globalization, that is sold to populations around the world as "inevitable," but is being resisted all over the world. This particular form of globalization (also known as "neoliberalism" - although, not having anything to do with progressive liberalism) has been more of an investor's rights agreement, protecting shareholders while leaving other stakeholders in society - labor, local economies, the environment, indigenous communities - in dire straights. Stern recognizes what concerned people all over the world know, that the policies of NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO, the IMF, et al, are not laws of gravity and are subject to reform, if not complete rejection.
International Socialist Review

Interestingly, Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado recently recommended Stern's book during an interview on a 50,000 watt station here in Denver. That's the sort of media activism on behalf of labor that all sorts of people need to be doing; to counter the years of anti-labor rhetoric all over the airwaves that are owned and sponsored by Big Business. Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media

While some segments of organized labor have seen declines, SEIU is growing; thanks to the sort of popular ideas in "A Country That Works," and also due to the organizing efforts of both documented and undocumented workers. I imagine the aggressive organizing of the immigrant population is part of the reason why there has been such a harsh dehumanization campaign and an increase in ICE raids, deportations and so forth. Working class people across borders need to recognize that with capital and corporate executives operating transnationally, labor needs to do the same. No One Is Illegal: Fighting Violence and State Repression on the U.S.-Mexico Border

For another good resource to teach people about the importance of labor organizing, I'd recommend the movie starring Adrien Brody that the SEIU helped to produce. Bread and Roses

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." - Abraham Lincoln, speech to Congress, 12/3/1861


13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

The Hard Truth, 2007-01-09
Andy Stern deepens and extends previous efforts to describe and analyze the state of America's -- and, implicitly, the globe's -- socio-economic condition, and he supplies suggestions and proposals meant to remedy the more egregious symptoms of our civilization's decline. Long ago, Stern became the first major American labor leader to point publicly to the need for workers' action at the global level, and he turned heads three years ago with the somewhat heretical suggestion that US labor reconsider its monogamous relationship with the Democratic Party, a frequently unfaithful partner. For those who favor social change, A Country That Works provides a thoughtful overview and myriad leads toward a better future for all.


16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

If you like your country, read this book!, 2006-10-22
After a long period of corruption, arrogance and distain for American values and American working people, a new generation of leaders is beginning to emerge...fresh voices with solid ideas and much to say to the Amerian people. The author of this book is one of them and he is inspriring the younger generations. Read this to understand how and why! A must read! Those who favor the status quo won't like it at all..those who are more optimistic will love it.


18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

Clear and compelling, 2006-10-08
This book spells out in a clear and compelling fashion the challenges that American workers face in our global economy, and what can be done to stop the American dream from disintegrating any further.

You may think of unions as a quaint, irrelevant relic of a bygone era, or perhaps you see them as a blight on business. After you read this book, you'll understand how Stern's progressive union, the SEIU, has the potential to be a real force for good, not just for workers, but for employers and the country as a whole.

The best thing about Stern's book is that it doesn't just describe all the problems plaguing American workers, it offers innovative solutions from a union leader who is, on the one hand, willing to reach out to CEO's and conservatives, while also taking on Wal-Mart and other corporations who shortchange their own employees to boost their bottom line. Stern's even traveled to China five times to get a handle on our competition and how best to handle it.

I got to hear Stern speak at a book party for A Country That Works the other night, and he spoke so passionately and persuasively that I decided I really had to get a second copy of his book to give my dad, who's always held an anti-union bias. Unfortunately, Stern did such a great job pitching his ideas that they sold the forty copies of A Country That Works his publisher had provided before I could get my hands on one. Looks like my dad will have to settle for an unsigned copy!

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