The Global Class War - by Jeff Faux (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Class warfare, not economic fate or national interest, best explains why Republican and Democratic leaders have encouraged the outsourcing, trade deficits, and energy dependence that are rushing America toward an inevitable decline in living standards. Jeff Faux breaks through the current stale debate with a compelling case for making globalization responsive to democracy, including an inspiring proposal for a radically revised NAFTA. Full of new insights, political drama, and crisp analysis, The Global Class War argues that only by confronting the realities of the global market will Americans -as well as the citizens of other nations--gain control of their economic future.

Conventional wisdom portrays globalization as competition among countries--America versus Mexico or China or Europe. But today the rich and powerful of every nation have more in common with each other than they do with their fellow citizens who must work for a living. What's good for General Motors--or Microsoft, Exxon, or Wal-Mart--is no longer good for America.

In The Global Class War, Jeff Faux argues that the politics of the new world market is dominated by a virtual "Party of Davos," the globe-trotting network of corporate investor and CEOs and the politicians and journalists who work on their behalf. Clinton and his treasury secretary, Robert Rubin, and Bush and his defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, may use different strategies, but they promote the same globalization agenda in which the benefits go to America's corporate investors--and the costs are paid by ordinary Americans in outsourced jobs, military casualties, and an unsustainable foreign debt.

From the Back Cover

"You will never think about 'free trade' the same way after reading Jeff Faux's superb book. As Faux makes clear, the globalization debate is really about whose interests are served by global elites, and how we need to go about reclaiming a democracy that serves ordinary people. This book should transform public discourse in America."

--Robert Kuttner, founding coeditor of The American Prospect and a contributing columnist to BusinessWeek

"Faux is clearly correct that the balance of power between labor and capital has shifted dramatically. Today, investment capital moves at blinding speed, while labor still must go by boat, train, and plane--and that's if it's lucky."
--Michael Hirsh, The New York Times

"A persuasive and revealing framework for understanding globalization in terms of class. It's a much-needed corrective to the way in which most news about the changing world economy is viewed, usually through a free market fundamentalist or, less frequently, a nationalist lens."
--David Moberg, In These Times

"Globalization is a cover for American imperialism, but the beneficiaries are not the American people at the expense of foreigners but corporate executives at the expense of working class and poor people wherever they may be. Jeff Faux offers a comprehensive and devastating analysis."
--Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire

"Incisive, rancorous . . . with a fluid grasp of both history and economics, Faux, founder of the Economic Policy Institute, critiques both Democrats and Republicans for protecting transnational corporations 'while abandoning the rest of us to an unregulated, and therefore brutal and merciless, global market.'"
--Publishers Weekly

"Jeff Faux's astonishing story of how class works will scandalize the best names in Wall Street and Washington--especially the much admired Robert Rubin, who along with other elites, colluded behind the backs of ordinary citizens in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. The most cynical Americans will be shocked by the sordid details. This really is an important book."
--William Greider, author of The Soul of Capitalism and Secrets of the Temple

Review Quotes

Acclaim for The Global Class War
"You will never think about 'free trade' the same way after reading Jeff Faux's superb book. As Faux makes clear, the globalization debate is really about whose interests are served by global elites, and how we need to go about reclaiming a democracy that serves ordinary people. This book should transform public discourse in America." -Robert Kuttner, founding coeditor of the American Prospect and a contributing columnist to BusinessWeek
"Jeff Faux's astonishing story of how class works will scandalize the best names in Wall Street and Washington-especially the much admired Robert Rubin, who along with other elites colluded behind the backs of ordinary citizens in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. The most cynical Americans will be shocked by the sordid details. This really is an important book." --William Greider, author of The Soul of Capitalism and Secrets of the Temple
"Globalization is a cover for American imperialism, but the beneficiaries are not the American people at the expense of foreigners but corporate executives at the expense of working-class and poor people wherever they may be. Jeff Faux offers a comprehensive and devastating analysis." --Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire

About the Author

JEFF FAUX is the founder and former president of the Economic Policy Institute. His articles and commentary have appeared in the Washington Post, the Nation, the New York Times, USA Today, and Harper's.