Back to Work

Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy

By: Bill Clinton

Narrated by: Bill Clinton

Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

President Bill Clinton gives us his views on the challenges facing the United States today and why government matters - presenting his ideas on restoring economic growth, energy, job creation, resolving the mortgage crisis, and financial responsibility, and offering a plan to get us "back in the future business". He explains how we got into an economic crisis, and lays down a plan for long-term prosperity. He also offers specific recommendations on how we can put people back to work, increase bank lending and corporate investment, double our exports, restore our manufacturing base, and create new businesses. He supports President Obama's emphasis on green technology, saying that changing the way we produce and consume energy is the strategy most likely to spark a fast-growing economy while enhancing our national security.

Clinton also stresses that we need a strong private sector and a smart government working together to restore prosperity and progress, demonstrating that whenever we've given in to the temptation to blame government for all of our problems, we've lost our ability to produce sustained economic growth and shared prosperity. He believes our ability to compete in the 21st century is dependent on our willingness to invest in infrastructure: we need faster broadband, a state-of-the-art national electrical grid, modernized water and sewer systems, and the best airports, trains, roads, and bridges.

"There is simply no evidence that we can succeed in the 21st century with an anti-government strategy", writes Clinton, based on "a philosophy grounded in 'you're on your own' rather than 'we're all in this together.'" He believes that conflict between government and the private sector has proved to be good politics but has produced bad policies, giving us a weak economy with not enough jobs, growing income inequality and poverty, and a decline in our competitive position. In the real world, cooperation works much better than conflict, and "Americans need victories in real life."

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2011 Bill Clinton (P)2011 Random House

Great and it all makes sense

We loved this book and it all made sense as to what Bill Clinton says. Good reasoning and well laid out.

worth a careful reas

Where does Back to Work rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Upper quarter

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no

Any additional comments?

It would have been very helpful to have access to the chart files mentioned in the introduction.

Very Interesting and Thought Provoking

What made the experience of listening to Back to Work the most enjoyable?

His mastery of technical information was impressive; as were his arguments for methods of getting this economy back on track. He takes a reasonable bipartisan approach to finding solutions that work, acknowledging faults and successes of both Republican and Democratic ideals and ideas. Not a huge Bill Clinton fan, but he did a thorough, succinct job and read the book very well also.

Who was your favorite character and why?

N/A

What does Bill Clinton bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Reading his own words made it even more compelling.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

Clean energy initiatives and programs

Any additional comments?

We need this approach in DC; both sides have become too polarized.

Our smartest politician

I think even people who hate Bill Clinton would admit he is at least one of the smartest politicians in our lifetime (60 years in my case). In this book President Clinton gives a number of ideas (and I mean close to 50) for improving the economy and the nation as a whole. And these are commen sense ideas that would get bipartisan support if some would not regard "bipartisan" as being a synonym for "disloyal".
Having this book read by the author was critically important to me. But if his voice bugs you then you should try the printed version.
You have to be interested in things like "the economy" to enjoy this book but, if you do, I don't see how you can pass this by.

An Independent's Opinion

In this book Bill Clinton has done a fine job of convincing me that we really do need to do something about our Congress's inability to get anything done. I watch both MSNBC and FOX to get both of the party lines, then I watch John Stewart and Jay Leno to laugh about both parties. But it's really not a laughing matter, that which is happening to our country. Every day that goes by is another day of lost opportunity. I guess we are going to have to wait till 2012 to change the make-up of the House of Representatives back to a Democratic majority so that things can be done to move this nation forward. I'd have felt differently, perhaps, if the Presidents Bill had been brought up on the floor of the House for debate the day after it was submitted. The Republican's refusal to even consider it or to make one themselves that addresses our economy had made me wonder if I should vote Democratic in the upcoming election. This book has cemented that view. What a shame for them. They could have had me firmly on their side if they had simply put forth a bill of their own that addressed these issues, those addressed here in this book. And there are so many suggestions that President Clinton puts forward. Using only a few of them could have put us all back to work and on solid footing years ago. I'm almost as sad for the fate of the Republican majority in the house as I am for the unemployed... naaaaaaaa

Good'Ol Bill alive and kicking

Would you listen to Back to Work again? Why?

Yes, good and impartial analysis of the state of the affairs in the US.

What other book might you compare Back to Work to and why?

Common Wealth by Jeffrey Sachs, but Sachs book had significantly lot more beef on depth and breadth.

Have you listened to any of Bill Clinton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

My Life (unabridged)

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

Mr Clinton views of G8 countries as competitors when it comes to Government services, planning, and global positioning.

Any additional comments?

It is a good positive thoughts book where Mr Clinton decided to air his views against the rising tide of disappointment with the Democratic among the American people.

Bill Clinton reads

Would you listen to Back to Work again? Why?

I would listen to it because he goes into all sorts of different job creating policies that have many interesting components.

Sorry Mr. President I don't buy it

His viewpoints on alternative energy expansion are perfectly correct, and it is an endeavor that only the Government will or can undertake because it is not profitable for business to do so. His viewpoints as to why the economy thrived during his presidency, I don't buy into quite so much.

As a global community we should definitely look for immediate alternatives to gasoline combustion locomotion, on this I will agree 100%, but for different reasons. Gas prices dictate economic success, at least right now they do. He attributed the nation's economic success during his reign to his policies. I attribute the economic success during his presidency to the fact that a barrel of oil cost only $16 on average, during his reign, with a low of $11. If you compare the price of a barrel of oil from 1996 when oil was at its highest during the Clinton presidency, to the average price of a barrel of oil from 2003-2012, which was around $60, and if you multiply that by how many barrels of oil we used, then the the U.S. spent about 7 trillion dollars more on oil when George Bush was in office compared to when Bill Clinton was in office. There are other cost magnifiers involved in high oil prices also, but at the minimum, the U.S. had 7 trillion dollars evaporate from the economy. That 7 trillion dollars went not to goods or services, it went straight into the pockets of oil producers. So if you were President when there was an extra 7 trillion dollars floating around the economy because oil was at a relative all time low price, then you would be able to credit yourself with the largest economic expansion ever seen, also. This is how significant oil prices are to the expansion and contraction of the economy. Economist will deny it up and down, but economist rarely get anything right anyways, so what does it matter what they think, you can graph oil prices and graph economic growth through relative GDP, or graph the stock market, or whatever other indicator you want and the price of a barrel of oil will tell the tale, at least as far as the U.S. economy is concerned.

This is our biggest problem and our biggest fight with China. Oil, Oil, Oil. This is our biggest economic slow down, Oil, Oil, Oil. As soon as we figure out another way to get around, electric cars, or better public transportation, or everybody moving into big sky scrapers with no need to have our own cars and live 30 miles away from our jobs, then we will never grow as an economy. Urban sprawl will kill Americas growth unless we figure out how to drive real cheaply in the near future.

Good book

Would you consider the audio edition of Back to Work to be better than the print version?

This was a really good book and Clinton is a good reader but there is a lot of information and facts that you may want to write down because you won't be able to remember all of them. I was in the car and bookmarked a lot of places but is probably better in print.

Worth the read!

If you could sum up Back to Work in three words, what would they be?

While this book clearly has a bias there is a great deal solid information about the current economic environment. Much is about the importance of FUTURE thinking if we want future generations to have better opportunities then we have enjoyed. There is no one right answer and moving out of the current situation will not be easy, but we must open our minds and start to listen to each others and get to the table and start debating the options rather then remaining stagnant in political rhetoric.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Chapter 5, company behavior after 9/11 - ethical leadership in business!

Any additional comments?

"This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)