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Feb 02, 2017JCLLauraH rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
This book was a challenge for me to read because I am not well-versed in politics and take for granted as fact several of the ideas he challenges in the book. The author is obviously frustrated by the state of the Democratic party, and his tone is sarcastic, which makes it difficult to follow if you're not familiar with the historical and political terms he mentions. He brought up some really intriguing ideas -- however, since the book is aimed at criticizing the Party rather that teaching the reader, I found myself wondering, "But why do you think that is true when I've always thought this other thing is true?" For example, while criticizing NAFTA Frank says, "NAFTA was supposed to encourage US exports to Mexico. The opposite is what happened, and in a huge way. NAFTA was supposed to increase employment in the U.S.; a study from 2010 counts almost 700,000 jobs lost thanks to the treaty." But there are others who argue that there were minimal effects on the U.S. economy and that jobs actually did increase. Stating the fact that jobs were actually lost, as Frank does, doesn't address why the other side believes the opposite and leaves me wondering what the truth really is. There are many cases of these kind of statements throughout the book, and if you don't already know the history of Welfare Reform, Free Trade, Dodd-Frank, The Great Recession, etc., you may be a little lost as to exactly why everything is so terrible, even if you get the sense that he's probably right.