Jeffrey Sachs I wanted US better

Title: Jeffrey Sachs | Full Q&A | Oxford Union
Oct. 17, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExT9tlerC6c

I like my country you know I wanted to do well, I don't diss it for the sake of being cute or controversial; and my family's there, my children are there, my grandchildren are there, so I don't want it to to go bad at all; so I wrote a book called the price of civilization in 2012; which was my first quote American book of trying to understand what's so messed up and the idea of that title is a quotation from a great Justice of the U.S Supreme Court Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, who said I like to pay taxes that's the price of civilization, a concept basically unknown to most
Americans over the last 40 years and I've spent more and more time worrying about the US of course I don't want to give up the other issues that I find compelling and important and I remain advisor to the
Secretary General of the UN and I really treasure that that role and that
opportunity but I'm more and more launching political activities in the
United States including on Monday a set of goals like the sustainable
development goals for America where I'm really actively encouraging and will unveil them on Monday encouraging American politicians to get
out of the rut of corruption which is massive in the U.S; because we have so much money it's legal; but it's corruption nonetheless, seven eight billion dollars per federal election cycle right now and that's money given by big powerful interests and a lot of nasty people to a lot of politicians who sell themselves on the Cheap on the whole so you can really buy the whole Republican party for just a few hundred million dollars, which is what the Koch brothers have done; so the idea is to unveil some goals that could be ways to reorient the country towards important things; and one of my abiding beliefs for good economics and good public policy in
general is set some clear objectives set some goals on the horizon not for
today or next year but for 10 or 20 years from now for the work of the
generation and say what could we achieve here's how we could form a path to actually build or rebuild a society and then work on that so my hope is it's it's actually going to be pretty active engagement
politically is that people of both politic major political parties both the Democrats and Republicans could sign on to a common set of goals; as a kind of orientation for where we should go and to get out of the really the craziness that and we've got to come back to the idea that we need
clear shared aspirations above greed, which we don't have in the United States right now, one of the

The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity 

by Jeffrey D. Sachs  (Author) August 21, 2012

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
 
“Succinct, humane, and politically astute . . . Sachs lays out a detailed path to reform, regulation, and recovery.”—The American Prospect
 

In this forceful and impassioned book, Jeffrey D. Sachs offers a searing and incisive diagnosis of our country’s economic ills, and an urgent call for Americans to restore the core virtues of fairness, honesty, and foresight as the foundations of national prosperity. 

Sachs finds that both political parties—and many leading economists—have missed the big picture, profoundly underestimating globalization's long-term effects and offering shortsighted solutions.

He describes a political system that is beholden to big donors and influential lobbyists and a consumption-driven culture that suffers shortfalls of social trust and compassion. 

He bids readers to reclaim the virtues of good citizenship and mindfulness toward the economy and each one another. Most important, he urges each of us to accept the price of civilization, so that together we restore America to its great promise. The Price of Civilization is a masterly road map for prosperity, founded on America’s deepest values and on a rigorous understanding of the twenty-first-century world economy.

在這本有力而慷慨激昂的書中，傑弗裏·D·薩克斯 (Jeffrey D. Sachs) 對我國的經濟弊病進行了尖銳而深刻的診斷，並緊急呼籲美國人恢複公平、誠實和遠見等核心美德，將其作為國家繁榮的基礎。

薩克斯發現，兩個政黨——以及許多領先的經濟學家——都忽略了大局，嚴重低估了全球化的長期影響並提出了短視的解決方案。

他描述了一個受製於大捐助者和有影響力的遊說者的政治體係，以及一種缺乏社會信任和同情心的消費驅動文化。

他呼籲讀者重拾良好公民的美德和對經濟以及彼此的正念。 最重要的是，他敦促我們每個人都接受文明的代價，以便我們共同恢複美國的偉大承諾。 《文明的代價》是一幅精湛的繁榮路線圖，建立在美國最深刻的價值觀和對 21 世紀世界經濟的嚴謹理解之上。 

Book Summary
For more than three decades, Jeffrey D. Sachs has been at the forefront of international economic problem solving.  But Sachs turns his attention back home in The Price of Civilization, a book that is essential reading for every American. In a forceful, impassioned, and personal voice, he offers not only a searing and incisive diagnosis of our country's economic ills but also an urgent call for Americans to restore the virtues of fairness, honesty, and foresight as the foundations of national prosperity.
書摘
三十多年來，傑弗裏·D·薩克斯 (Jeffrey D. Sachs) 一直處於解決國際經濟問題的最前沿。 但薩克斯在《文明的代價》中將注意力轉回國內，這本書對每個美國人來說都是必不可少的讀物。 他以有力、熱情和個人的聲音，不僅對我國的經濟弊病進行了尖銳而深刻的診斷，而且還緊急呼籲美國人恢複公平、誠實和遠見的美德，將其作為國家繁榮的基礎。

As he has done in dozens of countries around the world in the midst of economic crises, Sachs turns his unique diagnostic skills to what ails the American economy. He finds that both political parties - and many leading economists - have missed the big picture, offering shortsighted solutions such as stimulus spending or tax cuts to address complex economic problems that require deeper solutions. Sachs argues that we have profoundly underestimated globalization's long-term effects on our country, which create deep and largely unmet challenges with regard to jobs, incomes, poverty, and the environment. America's single biggest economic failure, Sachs argues, is its inability to come to grips with the new global economic realities.
正如他在全球數十個國家/地區在經濟危機中所做的那樣，薩克斯將他獨特的診斷技能運用到困擾美國經濟的問題上。 他發現，兩個政黨——以及許多領先的經濟學家——都沒有看到大局，提供了短視的解決方案，例如刺激支出或減稅，以解決需要更深層次解決方案的複雜經濟問題。 薩克斯認為，我們嚴重低估了全球化對我們國家的長期影響，它在就業、收入、貧困和環境方麵造成了深刻的、基本上未解決的挑戰。 薩克斯認為，美國最大的經濟失敗是它無法應對新的全球經濟現實。

Yet Sachs goes deeper than an economic diagnosis. By taking a broad, holistic approach - looking at domestic politics, geopolitics, social psychology, and the natural environment as well - Sachs reveals the larger fissures underlying our country's current crisis. He shows how Washington has consistently failed to address America's economic needs. He describes a political system that has lost its ethical moorings, in which ever-rising campaign contributions and lobbying outlays overpower the voice of the citizenry. He also looks at the crisis in our culture, in which an overstimulated and consumption-driven populace in a ferocious quest for wealth now suffers shortfalls of social trust, honesty, and compassion.
然而，薩克斯比經濟診斷更深入。 通過采取廣泛、全麵的方法——審視國內政治、地緣政治、社會心理和自然環境——薩克斯揭示了我國當前危機背後的更大裂痕。 他展示了華盛頓如何一直未能解決美國的經濟需求。 他描述了一個失去道德基礎的政治製度，在這個製度中，不斷增加的競選捐款和遊說支出壓倒了公民的聲音。 他還審視了我們文化中的危機，在這種危機中，過度刺激和消費驅動的民眾正在瘋狂地追求財富，現在卻缺乏社會信任、誠實和同情心。

Finally, Sachs offers a plan to turn the crisis around. He argues persuasively that the problem is not America's abiding values, which remain generous and pragmatic, but the ease with which political spin and consumerism run circles around those values. He bids the reader to reclaim the virtues of good citizenship and mindfulness toward the economy and one another. Most important, he bids each of us to accept the price of civilization, so that together we can restore America to its great promise.  

The Price of Civilization is a masterly road map for prosperity, founded on America's deepest values and on a rigorous understanding of the twenty-first-century world economy.

最後，薩克斯提出了一個扭轉危機的計劃。 他有說服力地指出，問題不在於美國始終如一的價值觀，這些價值觀仍然慷慨和務實，而在於政治旋轉和消費主義圍繞這些價值觀的輕而易舉。 他呼籲讀者重拾良好公民身份的優點，以及對經濟和彼此的正念。 最重要的是，他要求我們每個人都接受文明的代價，這樣我們才能共同恢複美國的偉大前途。

《文明的代價》是一幅精湛的繁榮路線圖，建立在美國最深刻的價值觀和對 21 世紀世界經濟的嚴謹理解之上。

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Price_of_Civilization 

The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity (ISBN 978-1-4000-6841-8) is a book by economist Jeffrey Sachs. It was published by Random House on October 4, 2011 in the United States and by Bodley Head in the United Kingdom on October 6 of the same year. In the book, Sachs criticizes excessive lobbying, as well as a poor response by American government to globalization, and describes American politics as a corporatocracy in which "powerful corporate interest groups dominate the policy agenda."[1] Sachs suggests that both political parties are right-of-center, and identifies four powerful lobbies: the military–industrial complex, the Wall Street–Washington complex, the Big Oil–transport–military complex and the health care industry.[2]

The book is 336 pages long. As described by Random House: the book is an "incisive diagnosis of our country’s economic ills but also an urgent call for Americans to restore the virtues of fairness, honesty, and foresight as the foundations of national prosperity."[3] The title comes from the quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr: "Taxes are the price we pay for civilization." In the review in the Wall Street Journal, American politician Paul Ryan states: "Yet at its core The Price of Civilization is not about taxes or economics. It is about the 'pursuit of happiness' as one academic understands it."[4]

The book focuses on the changes going on in the world, the effects of these changes on the economic conditions and the necessary actions that will be required to deal with these changes in this new world if America is going to succeed.

Sachs criticizes excessive lobbying for interfering with democracy, and sees America's two-party system as stifling lesser parties.[5] He blames the first past the post voting arrangement for being one of the factors leading to a two-party system:

The main reason for America's majoritarian character is the electoral system for Congress. Members of Congress are elected in single-member districts according to the "first-past-the-post" (FPTP) principle, meaning that the candidate with the plurality of votes is the winner of the congressional seat. The losing party or parties win no representation at all. The first-past-the-post election tends to produce a small number of major parties, perhaps just two, a principle known in political science as Duverger's Law. Smaller parties are trampled in first-past-the-post elections.

— Economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, in The Price of Civilization, page 107, 2011[5]

文明的代價：重新喚醒美國的美德與繁榮 (ISBN 978-1-4000-6841-8) 是經濟學家傑弗裏·薩克斯 (Jeffrey Sachs) 的一本書。 於2011年10月4日在美國由蘭登書屋出版，同年10月6日在英國由Bodley Head出版。 在書中，薩克斯批評過度遊說以及美國政府對全球化的不良反應，並將美國政治描述為“強大的企業利益集團主導政策議程”的公司政治。[1] 薩克斯建議兩個政黨 是中間偏右的，並確定了四個強大的遊說團體：軍工聯合體、華爾街-華盛頓聯合體、石油巨頭-運輸-軍事聯合體和醫療保健行業。 [2]

這本書有 336 頁長。 正如蘭登書屋所描述的那樣：這本書是“對我國經濟弊病的深刻診斷，同時也緊急呼籲美國人恢複公平、誠實和遠見的美德，作為國家繁榮的基礎。”[3] 書名來自 摘自小奧利弗·溫德爾·霍姆斯 (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr) 的話：“稅收是我們為文明付出的代價。” 在《華爾街日報》的評論中，美國政治家保羅·瑞安 (Paul Ryan) 指出：“然而，文明的代價的核心與稅收或經濟學無關。正如一位學者所理解的那樣，它是關於‘追求幸福’的。”[4]

該書重點關注世界上正在發生的變化、這些變化對經濟狀況的影響，以及如果美國要取得成功，在這個新世界中應對這些變化所需采取的必要行動。

薩克斯批評過度遊說幹涉民主，並認為美國的兩黨製扼殺了較小的政黨。 [5] 他指責第一個過去的投票後安排是導致兩黨製的因素之一：

美國多數派特征的主要原因是國會的選舉製度。 國會議員根據“第一任職者”（FPTP）原則在單人區選舉，這意味著擁有多個選票的候選人是國會席位的贏家。 失敗的政黨或政黨根本沒有任何代表。 首先舉行的選舉往往會產生少數主要政黨，也許隻有兩個，這是政治學中被稱為Duverger定律的原則。 較小的政黨被踐踏在第一任選舉中。

 - 經濟學家傑弗裏·D·薩克斯（Jeffrey D. Sachs），以文明的價格，第107頁，2011年[5]