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The Comeback
Book

The Comeback

How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream

Gary Shapiro
Beaufort, 2011
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Analytical
  • Overview

Recommendation

Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro makes a clear, focused and unabashedly conservative case for his central themes: The United States can come back from its current weak economic position, and innovation is the key to success. Shapiro has been involved with innovation throughout his career and has a knack for boiling complex situations down to clear and enthusiastically right-leaning statements. Building more nuclear power plants might not be a very popular idea for a while after Japan’s Fukushima disaster, but the problems Shapiro mentions are definitely worth discussing even if you disagree with the solutions he proposes. getAbstract recommends this book to those interested in innovation and in Shapiro’s notions regarding how the US can effect economic recovery.

Summary

America in Decline

America is sinking compared to rising economies like China’s, in absolute economic, practical and even ethical terms. Personal responsibility once defined the American spirit, as represented by generations of people who sacrificed all they could so their kids might have a better life.

The United States once was the home of industry and innovation. Those days are over. America is massively in debt. By spending excessively, the country steals from future generations. You can see the gap between the old and new Americas by looking at Detroit, which once was a vibrant industrial city. Now Detroit’s unemployment rate is more than 20%, and the city “lost over 250,000 jobs” between 2000 and 2010, the worst job-loss rate in the country.

Government is the only industry insulated from the current recession. Money flows into Washington to pay lawyers and lobbyists who make or influence laws that interfere with innovation or call for wasteful government spending. America stands on the verge of economic collapse due to federal, state and consumer debt. Some states and cities may go bankrupt.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans are willing to take the...

About the Author

Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

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