Trade Wars Are Class Wars

How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace

By: Matthew C. Klein, Michael Pettis

Narrated by: Bob Souer

A provocative look at how today's trade conflicts are caused by governments promoting the interests of elites at the expense of workers.

Trade disputes are usually understood as conflicts between countries with competing national interests, but as Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis show in this book, they are often the unexpected result of domestic political choices to serve the interests of the rich at the expense of workers and ordinary retirees.

Klein and Pettis trace the origins of today's trade wars to decisions made by politicians and business leaders in China, Europe, and the United States over the past 30 years. Across the world, the rich have prospered while workers can no longer afford to buy what they produce, have lost their jobs, or have been forced into higher levels of debt.

In this thought-provoking challenge to mainstream views, the authors provide a cohesive narrative that shows how the class wars of rising inequality are a threat to the global economy and international peace-and what we can do about it.

©2020 Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis (P)2020 Tantor

Insightful and Knowledgeable

If you want to understand more about the root behind the purpose of trade wars, them this book offers excellent insight. This book really helped open my eyes to many ideas and concepts that were foreign to me.

The only complaint I have is the narrator's breathing. In an earbud it can get annoying.

well worth it but a difficult read

The topics in this book are very interesting and the author definitely goes into enough detail but this isn't the kind of book you can let your mind wander during.

An excellent account of Trade and Economics

This is an excellent economics book that is clearly narrated and educates the reader on an astonishing array of factors in Finance, Economics, and Trade. Treats the subject like a science. From pure models like Ricardo to complex political economics of money-flow between nations.

The best - explaining how different economies managed development. Like the Early United States. Gives an excellent and intelligent explanation of the modern Japanese malaise. Even things like early 19th century banking and international finance.

Eurozone chapter, amazing. The explanation of tax haven mechanics, the best I have read, anywhere. Also, the chapter on trade and logistics optimization is great. I learned a great deal. This book is so good, It should cost 2 Credits.

When a book is this good, 5 stars is not enough.

Interesting prospective on global trade

Thought provoking book, with an excellent history of global trade imbalances and interesting speculation on their causes. Conclusions about how to correct current imbalances challenge every day solutions, and should promote some good policy discussions. Highly recommend reading this.

Crescendo of Greed

My main complaint with this book is not that what it says, but what it doesn't.

The basic case is this. People who are not rich spend most of what they earn. But rich people do not. This gap between income and consumption is called "savings" and, inevitably, the greater the gap between rich and non-rich in a society (called "wealth inequality") the greater the savings.

Generally speaking, the goal of those who possess these savings is not merely to retain them, but to grow them through investment. What's more (as Piketty has shown) the rate of return on investment has historically been greater than the growth in national income, so wealth inequality in a society tends to grow, compounding geometrically over time. The book did not discuss Piketty, and might have been better if it had. But that is not the main point. The main point is, that while excess savings may be viewed as a boon by the rich, they are a curse to everyone else, creating havoc as they chase around the globe like insatiable demons, looking for ways to reproduce themselves.

While all this is true enough, and the authors make a convincing historic case, what's lacking (despite the title) is the moral dimension. At the end of the day, the problem is not economic. After all, there is nothing to prevent the rich from donating excess savings back to the government, or to a chosen worthy cause. Sorry, to say, the problem is deeper than that, It is simple, human greed: the endless impulse to accumulate. (And to be charitable, the other side of the coin, the fear of loss.) All the revolutions and elections and rational policy prescriptions on earth cannot stamp out greed. In the end, the only hope is spiritual insight, Without it, moral restraint has no reliable support. Until we are convinced that happiness cannot be acquired at the expense of others, greed will be with us. The merry-go-round will continue to turn. Nevertheless, one by one, we can each decide to step off.

Could not put Down

Very insightful book about how global capital flows
lower the worlds economic output and employment.

Speaking of class...

Well-written, well-narrated. this book really made me think about inequality in our society today, and in particular about how I can't believe Jeff Bezos made so much money while Amazon workers contracted COVID-19 due to unsafe workplace policies with minimal hazard pay and were fired (and in some cases smeared and ruined) for organizing for dignified working conditions.

Very well done

This book does an excellent job convering difficult material. The book is extremely well organized and pleasure to listen to. The thesis is clear, presented at the beginning of the book, and followed through to the end with actual suggestions on how to make the world a better place. The book avoids the normal pitfalls of these type of books. It avoids the endless blow by blow accounts of world financial history that seem to revel in recounting the minutia of every global event. It also avoids the extreme superficial accounts containing some books that breeze at 100,000 ft over the landscape. Instead, it presented good detail where it was needed and moved quickly over areas that were not essential to what it was discussing It was also nice that they didn't just throw up their hands at the end of the book and seemed resigned to everything going to crap. Instead, they presented some solutions, although they may be difficult solutions to implement, but at least they were some solutions. Overall, a great book and an essential read to understand what is happening in the world today, especially if in the United States and Europe and China.

Rich in perspective but difficult to follow

Necessary ideas to contend with exist here, but I should have read the book instead of listening to the audiobook.

Story of or current trade troubles and what to do

Although a bit robotic reading, this is a great story of how we evolved, our current, global trade, the problems with it, and potential solutions.

The basic problem is if a society is allowed to pay workers, such that they cannot afford the basic goods produced by that society, and that society is allowed to export their demand to other societies, a cascading sequence of disasters ensues.