Change We Can Believe In - Matt Miller on the Tyranny of Dead Ideas

http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2009/01/tyrannyca.html

Matt Miller, host of KCRW's "Left, Right & Center" and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, discusses his provocative new book, The Tyranny of Dead Ideas, in which he lays bare the greatest threat to our economic future: the things we think we know – but don't with New York Times columnist David Brooks.

America is at a crossroads. In the face of global competition and rapid technological change, our economy is about to face its most severe test in nearly a century - one that will make the recent turmoil in the financial system look like a modest setback by comparison. Yet our leaders have failed to prepare us for what lies ahead because they are in the grip of a set of "dead ideas" about how a modern economy should work. They wrongly believe that:

* Our kids will earn more than we do
* Free trade is always good, no matter who gets hurt
* Employers should be responsible for health coverage
* Taxes hurt the economy
* Schools are a local matter
* Money follows merit

These ways of thinking—dubious at best and often dead wrong—are on a collision course with economic developments that are irreversible.

In The Tyranny of Dead Ideas, Matt Miller offers a unique blend of insights from history, psychology, and economics to illuminate where today’s destructive conventional wisdom came from and how it holds our country back. He also introduces us to a new way of thinking - what he calls "tomorrow's destined ideas" - that can reinvigorate our economy, our politics, and our day-to-day lives. These destined ideas may seem counterintuitive now, but they will coalesce in the coming years in ways that will transform American capitalism and democracy for the 21st century.

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