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.

在这本有力而慷慨激昂的书中，杰弗里·D·萨克斯 (Jeffrey D. Sachs) 对我国的经济弊病进行了尖锐而深刻的诊断，并紧急呼吁美国人恢复公平、诚实和远见等核心美德，将其作为国家繁荣的基础。

萨克斯发现，两个政党——以及许多领先的经济学家——都忽略了大局，严重低估了全球化的长期影响并提出了短视的解决方案。

他描述了一个受制于大捐助者和有影响力的游说者的政治体系，以及一种缺乏社会信任和同情心的消费驱动文化。

他呼吁读者重拾良好公民的美德和对经济以及彼此的正念。 最重要的是，他敦促我们每个人都接受文明的代价，以便我们共同恢复美国的伟大承诺。 《文明的代价》是一幅精湛的繁荣路线图，建立在美国最深刻的价值观和对 21 世纪世界经济的严谨理解之上。 

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.
书摘
三十多年来，杰弗里·D·萨克斯 (Jeffrey D. Sachs) 一直处于解决国际经济问题的最前沿。 但萨克斯在《文明的代价》中将注意力转回国内，这本书对每个美国人来说都是必不可少的读物。 他以有力、热情和个人的声音，不仅对我国的经济弊病进行了尖锐而深刻的诊断，而且还紧急呼吁美国人恢复公平、诚实和远见的美德，将其作为国家繁荣的基础。

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.
正如他在全球数十个国家/地区在经济危机中所做的那样，萨克斯将他独特的诊断技能运用到困扰美国经济的问题上。 他发现，两个政党——以及许多领先的经济学家——都没有看到大局，提供了短视的解决方案，例如刺激支出或减税，以解决需要更深层次解决方案的复杂经济问题。 萨克斯认为，我们严重低估了全球化对我们国家的长期影响，它在就业、收入、贫困和环境方面造成了深刻的、基本上未解决的挑战。 萨克斯认为，美国最大的经济失败是它无法应对新的全球经济现实。

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，萨克斯比经济诊断更深入。 通过采取广泛、全面的方法——审视国内政治、地缘政治、社会心理和自然环境——萨克斯揭示了我国当前危机背后的更大裂痕。 他展示了华盛顿如何一直未能解决美国的经济需求。 他描述了一个失去道德基础的政治制度，在这个制度中，不断增加的竞选捐款和游说支出压倒了公民的声音。 他还审视了我们文化中的危机，在这种危机中，过度刺激和消费驱动的民众正在疯狂地追求财富，现在却缺乏社会信任、诚实和同情心。

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.

最后，萨克斯提出了一个扭转危机的计划。 他有说服力地指出，问题不在于美国始终如一的价值观，这些价值观仍然慷慨和务实，而在于政治旋转和消费主义围绕这些价值观的轻而易举。 他呼吁读者重拾良好公民身份的优点，以及对经济和彼此的正念。 最重要的是，他要求我们每个人都接受文明的代价，这样我们才能共同恢复美国的伟大前途。

《文明的代价》是一幅精湛的繁荣路线图，建立在美国最深刻的价值观和对 21 世纪世界经济的严谨理解之上。

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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]

文明的代价：重新唤醒美国的美德与繁荣 (ISBN 978-1-4000-6841-8) 是经济学家杰弗里·萨克斯 (Jeffrey Sachs) 的一本书。 于2011年10月4日在美国由兰登书屋出版，同年10月6日在英国由Bodley Head出版。 在书中，萨克斯批评过度游说以及美国政府对全球化的不良反应，并将美国政治描述为“强大的企业利益集团主导政策议程”的公司政治。[1] 萨克斯建议两个政党 是中间偏右的，并确定了四个强大的游说团体：军工联合体、华尔街-华盛顿联合体、石油巨头-运输-军事联合体和医疗保健行业。 [2]

这本书有 336 页长。 正如兰登书屋所描述的那样：这本书是“对我国经济弊病的深刻诊断，同时也紧急呼吁美国人恢复公平、诚实和远见的美德，作为国家繁荣的基础。”[3] 书名来自 摘自小奥利弗·温德尔·霍姆斯 (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr) 的话：“税收是我们为文明付出的代价。” 在《华尔街日报》的评论中，美国政治家保罗·瑞安 (Paul Ryan) 指出：“然而，文明的代价的核心与税收或经济学无关。正如一位学者所理解的那样，它是关于‘追求幸福’的。”[4]

该书重点关注世界上正在发生的变化、这些变化对经济状况的影响，以及如果美国要取得成功，在这个新世界中应对这些变化所需采取的必要行动。

萨克斯批评过度游说干涉民主，并认为美国的两党制扼杀了较小的政党。 [5] 他指责第一个过去的投票后安排是导致两党制的因素之一：

美国多数派特征的主要原因是国会的选举制度。 国会议员根据“第一任职者”（FPTP）原则在单人区选举，这意味着拥有多个选票的候选人是国会席位的赢家。 失败的政党或政党根本没有任何代表。 首先举行的选举往往会产生少数主要政党，也许只有两个，这是政治学中被称为Duverger定律的原则。 较小的政党被践踏在第一任选举中。

 - 经济学家杰弗里·D·萨克斯（Jeffrey D. Sachs），以文明的价格，第107页，2011年[5]