The Roller Coaster Economy : Financial Crisis, Great Recession and the Public Option

Contents: Preface and acknowledgements. I. Problems of the roller coaster economy: 1. Boom, bust and misery: the curse of capitalism. 2. History of the roller coaster. 3. How unstable is the American economy? II. Diagnosing the roller coaster: 4. The income gap. 5. The consumption gap. 6. The housing crisis. 7. Investment and profit. 8. The credit balloon and the financial crisis. 9. Government spending and taxes. 10. The trade gap: how boom and bust spread around the globe. III. Diagnosis and cure of the roller coaster economy: 11. How violent profit swings cause the roller coaster. 12. The public option for health and jobs: how democratization can end the business cycle.

The longest, most severe recession since the Great depression is chronicled by an authority on American business cycles in this compelling and engaging book. Author Howard J. Sherman explores the root causes of the boom and bust cycle, which he argues, causes the courses of the economy to closely resemble that of a roller coaster. He focuses on explaining why the economic downturn of 2007 became so severe as to become the great recession of 2007 to 2009. He makes a powerful argument that recessions and the resulting painful involuntary unemployment are part of capitalism itself. He clearly illustrates the mechanisms of business cycles, such as a public option for full employment.