Author Description

In this compelling and impassioned book, Business Week chief economist Bill Wolman and Anne Colamosca say what our business and government leaders are unwilling to admit, but most Americans know in their gut: in the brave new global economy, big money holds all the cards while workers - including white-collar professionals - are increasingly expendable.Until now, our leaders have chosen to ignore that the new global economy has rewritten the economic rules that have governed our thinking over the last fifty years. The consequences for American competitiveness and morale are dire. Yet there are many actions we could take, the authors show, if only Americans would not let themselves be blinded by a false faith in ever-rising stock market, and would begin to question the dogma of the politicians and economists who assure us that the American economy is getting healthier for all of us.The downsizing trend will continue, the authors argue, whether or not America grows more competitive. A vastly expanded global labor pool, and the ability of corporations to move more and more of their operations to low-wage developing countries, guarantees this. The authors underscore this point in a chilling chapter on the rise of an educated, high-tech, and high-morale workforce in Bangalore, India, ready for international work and a study in contrast with the demoralized American middle class.Wolman and Colamosca pointedly expose reengineering and other management fads as mainly ways for corporations to justify or obscure the firing of their workers. The insidious effect of these purges is that workers blame themselves for their fate. Furthermore, the panacea of the downsized - starting you own business - is a mirage, according to the authors. To succeed in the new economy you need capital, and contrary to the hype only a lucky few will prosper on their own. In clear terms the authors explain why, economically, this is so. The dynamics of the global securities markets, and the control