Lectum Ergo Sum

By Bill Clinton

Back to Work - By Bill Clinton

Type: Non Fiction
Started: April 24, 2012
Finished: May 6, 2012
Pages: 208

Regardless of who is at fault. Regardless of your political views. Regardless of what country you live in. Regardless of your nationality. The United States economic crisis of the last seven years and the massive unemployment rate it has produced have affected the entire world in one way or another. Directly or indirectly. Friend or foe.

The 42^nd President of the United States published this small but meaty book in November 2011 in which he set out to explain how the anti-government views started by Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s have affected the country in the last 31 years and has brought what once was the model nation for wealth and prosperity to a steady decline.

Clinton explains straightforwardly how the concept of cutting taxes and government doing the bare minimum just doesn’t work. While Republicans in Congress fight to give more and more breaks to the “job creators”, the ones who are suffering because such jobs don’t seem to trickle down the inequality ladder get none of those benefits. He explains how hypocritical is for a Republican Congress to complain about the deficit and excessive spending of the current administration when they inherited a balanced budget and a surplus back in 1992 and then proceeded to put two wars on the credit card while cutting taxes.

Clinton insists that the country needs to get back into the “Future Business”. With a rampant sentiment that government is the enemy and the main focus of big business being immediate returns to the stock holders instead of a long term strategy to build quality products that people may actually want to purchase, the country has gone off track and into decline. Don’t forget that the financial system collapsed because of lack of government regulations and it did not become a full-scale depression because the government acted. Strong government is needed.

It is important to remember that Clinton has nothing to gain politically by writing this book. He can’t be President again, does not need the money and certainly does not need additional fame or recognition. And even though he is a well known Democrat, this book is not a whiplash against Republicans, but a straightforward account from his points of view of why things got the way they are at this point.

Other than talking about it like a know-it-all, Clinton also suggests ideas to fix some of the main issues affecting our nation. 46 of them. They go from the obvious ones like closing the trade deficit, to immigration reforms, fairness in taxing, employer incentives to insource jobs and repatriation of capitals sitting offshore. Most of these ideas make so much sense that there is no way they could pass in a dysfunctional Congress and that is a shame.

This book will keep you thinking, analyzing and understanding the current state of the country. It is well worth the time and money regardless of your political views. And, in an electoral year, it will certainly assist you to understand what’s at stake so you can make a well informed decision when casting your vote in November.

And to finish, because I am writing this review and this is my blog, I am closing this review with my personal commentary: It doesn’t matter if you are Republican or Democrat as long as you want your country to succeed. If you rather see the country fail than see Obama reelected, you should pack your bags and move to your favorite totalitarian state, where the succession of the one-view-or-else politics is assured. Hear that, Teabaggers??