ALL TOGETHER NOW COMMON SENSE FOR A FAIR ECONOMY

As the new century unfolds, Americans face prodigious economic and social challenges, yet nothing unifies the various strategies and causes that attempt to meet these challenges. Economist Jared Bernstein believes that frames such as "the ownership society" stress an ever-shrinking role for government and an ever-increasing risk for individuals, clearly implying "You're on your own." Arguing that this shift toward extreme individualism needlessly reduces the country's economic security and the living standards of most families, he describes the political and economic forces that pushed the country away from collective action and exposes the significant societal costs associated with the shift. Most importantly, he presents a new vision, one that applauds individual liberties while emphasizing that such freedoms are best realized with a collectivist approach to public policy. A timely alternative to a go-it-alone society, "All Together Now shows readers how to tap their "better selves" to meet the coming challenges as one.

JARED BERNSTEIN is senior fellow and director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. His areas of research include income and wage inequality, technology's impact on wages and employment, low-wage labor markets and poverty, minimum wage analysis, and international comparisons. Between 1995 and 1996, he held the post of deputy chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. He has published extensively in popular and academic journals, including The American Prospect and Research in Economics and Statistics, and is the coauthor of seven editions of The State of Working America.