White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters to You

White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters to You by Simon Johnson and James Kwak"White House Burning" is just a fantastic, accessible book that covers the topical, timely issue of the national debt. This is a book about US federal taxes and spending and how it impacts you and me. Economist Simon Johnson and fellow author James Kwak, takes us on a journey on how our country got to this economical point and what can be done to reduce the long-term national debt while preserving the most important social services. This excellent 368-page book is composed of the following seven chapters: 1. Immortal Credit, 2. End of Gold, 3. Deficits Don't Matter, 4. What Does the Federal Government Do?, 5. Why Worry, 6. Arguing First Principles and 7. Where Do We Go From Here?Positives:1. Excellent prose, well-researched book that delivers!2. Timely topic of national debt covered with expertise.3. Authors are even-handed and objective. The authors do a wonderful job of staying focused on the economics and treating the topic and individuals with utmost respect. No cheap shots here. Classy.4. Effective use of charts and illustrations. In particular an excellent table of Long-Term Reduction Proposals.5. Excellent job of introducing economic terms and keep it at a digestible level. Many books of this ilk tend to overwhelm readers. Furthermore, it helps the narration move along while providing more demanding readers with excellent references and an additional technical appendix.6. An interesting look at the history of national debt. The evolution of American politics.7. Great quotes and summaries that capture the essence of the concepts, "fiscal policy is about ensuring that the government has the resources necessary to address current public priorities and respond to future emergencies".8. Explains the different roles of the government with a focus of course on finances.9. An evolution of economic policies. The economical philosophies of the Presidents built into the narration. Fascinating insights and approaches and the impact it had on society.10. A look at the modern antitax movement.11. Influential characters throughout history that had a major role on fiscal policy. People like Grover Norquist. The policy differences. The ideological differences.12. Taxes, taxes, taxes...a look at the various forms of taxation. Tax expenditures.13. One of the best quotes ever, "In one of history's ironies, the economy was blown up not by the government debt that politicians had inveighed against for decades, but by private sector debt that banks had been manufacturing as fast as they could--and it was the federal government that had to pick up the pieces".14. Where does the money go? Breaking it down...key concepts like discretionary and mandatory spending defined.15. Debunking some well-ingrained myths...the fact is the federal government has been getting smaller over the last half century.16. A look at social insurance programs: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. How do we pay for all that? Answered to satisfaction.17. What the national debt means to its citizens. The authors lay out their deficit reduction strategy eloquently.18. Pragmatic proposals toward a sustainable level of national debt while maintaining protection from major risks to welfare today and a better more secure future.19. A look at those factors that contribute to the national debt and what we can do about it: tax cuts, social security, health care, national defense, energy, finance...20. Ways to reduce spending and/or increase tax revenues while promoting economic efficiency.21. Excellent links, as well referenced a book as you will find.Negatives:1. It's a book about national debt, taxes and spending...there are numbers thrown around, so if you are adverse to numbers well economics shouldn't really be your thing. I think overall, the authors do a wonderful job of moving the narration along.2. Some hardcore conservatives may have more objections than most. I felt the book was more centrist left.3. Economics is difficult. Some topics will still elude the layperson but overall I think this book gets it mostly right.4. A great notes section but a separate formal bibliography was warranted.In summary, I really enjoyed reading this book. It's just well written, educational and a book that delivers. I feel much more comfortable and better informed about the national debt. The excellent prose and the right level of economics makes this book a treat for anyone interested in learning about the national debt and the key terms and arguments associated with it. The authors provide a proposal of well thought-out list of recommendations to help control the national debt and secure our democracy. I can't recommend this book enough, get it!Further recommendations: "Red Ink: Inside the High-Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget" by David Wessel, "The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future" by Joseph E. Stiglitz, "End This Depression Now!" by Paul Krugman, "Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class" by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, "The Benefit and The Burden: Tax Reform-Why We Need It and What It Will Take", by Bruce Bartlett, "Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else" by David Cay Johnston, "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future" by Robert B. Reich, "Age of Greed: The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970 to the Present (Vintage)" by Jeff Madrick, "The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America--and Spawned a Global Crisis" by Michael W. Hudson, "The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street" by Robert Sheer, "The End of Growth" by Richard Heinberg and "The Crash Course" by Chris Martenson. All these books have been reviewed by yours truly, check for my tag, "Book Shark Review".

This book is for those interested in our current economic quagmire and how we got there. You'll read a lot about the history of the American economy and the politics behind it.I'm a big fan of both authors and recommend this book for its readability.Please note that the book has very little to do with the title. The burning of the White House during the War of 1812 is just a small aspect of what this book covers.

BUY THIS BOOK if you are wading through these reviews in order to decide if you should buy this book and are trying to educate yourself on why the national debt matters. it is worth buying.I am an educated person yet not in areas of finance and economics. I found the book tremendously helpful to understand better concepts and issues on federal debt / deficits and hence our budget. I believe I went from reliance on anecdotal evidence and some of my own political biases on theses issues to enlightened to question far more thoroughly. Social Security, Medicare, entitlement programs, why debt and tax are not "four letter words", ... I am more well armed.I am a fervent independent and abhor being labelled a conservative or liberal yet I find the preponderance of conservative leaning criticisms in these reviews understandable if you're of that ideology and feel compelled to lash out at anyone who differs with your opinion I find them unwarranted in discrediting the educational merits and defensible data of the authors. This book had a as a goal to understand the debt and present regular large deficits from a historical perspective and it does that. Some valuable critical reviews point out relevant issues missing and I can buy that criticism. I was rather worn out after 234 pages so degree to edit for what audience you're after comes into play.The authors make it clear that on pg 186 heading into their chapter Where Do We Go From Here "We do not expect all readers to agree with us on how the deficit should be reduced; even those who share our views about the historical causes of our current and future deficits will have different visions for our society and the place of the federal government. Our goal is simply to show that we can achieve a sustainable level of national debt while maintaining a government that plays a crucial role we expect from it today - protecting all of us from major risks to our welfare today and investing in a more prosperous future." The chapter accomplishes that goal and while I found myself disagreeing with some of their recommendations I did not get the feeling I was being brain-washed by ideologists.

The first 2 chapters are interesting and packed with many relevant and historic facts - very pertinent to the discussion of economics, debt, and the USA's current fiscal situation. However around page 66 a anti supply side liberal undercurrent begins to reveal itself, and continues throughout the book. The authors solution to the debt is higher taxes and the redistribution of wealth -how disappointing. I would have like to see solutions from the both sides of the isle.

This book should become a high school text so that every young person in the United States will be able to understand where their money is being spent and what it means to their future. The deficite solutions offered are comprehensive and cover the entire government spending profile. The book will lead to an understanding of how democrats and republicans are destroying your future by no longer being able to identify and solve problems. The founding fathers intended taxation to be used for the benifit of all. The original intent has now been replaced by political re-election self interests and as a result, the difunctioning of democracy. More books like this one will lead people to understand why total globalization does not work, and why the future of the middle class is dependant on changes to the way we allow politicians to govern. The White House is indeed burning.

日本は世界最大の国家債務（Our National Debt）を抱えているにもかかわらず、それをどのように解決しようとしているのか？消費税増税問題を政争の道具とするだけで、国民を巻き込んだ真剣な議論をしようとしない政治家。国家財政問題を全ての国民に分かりやすく解説するという努力を怠り、表面的にしか取り扱わないマスコミ。本書の著者は金融規制強化の急先鋒として米国金融業界にとっては煙たい存在のSimon Johnson,James Kwakです。現代およびこれからの政府はどうあるべきか、それは国民の選択であるという彼らの問題提起は、世界最大の国家債務を抱える我々日本人に対する問題提起でもあり、一読に値する本です。以下がこの本（と彼らのブログ）から抜粋したkey Wordsです。America faces a choice.Ultimately, our choice of government implies a choice of the kind of sciety we want to live in.The primary role of today’s federal government is protect ordinary people from risksthat are beyond their control,... (The Baseline Scenarioより）Most Americans, we think, are made better off by programs that require insurance contruibutions todaybut provide protection against unforeseeable and unavoidable risks in the long term.The question we leave you with is this:　Are you and your family willing to face these risks alone,not knowing what will happen in the future, or do you want to live in a society that will protect youfrom misfortunes that lie beyond your control? For this is what the debate over the national debt boilsdown to, and its outcome depends on you.いよいよ数日後に控えた大統領選挙で、アメリカ国民の選択が決まるようです。