Book Bits: 4 October 2025

● The Mismeasurement of America: How Outdated Government Statistics Mask the Economic Struggle of Everyday Americans
Gene Ludwig
Review by Jared Bernstein via Washington Monthly
This duality between the data and how people experience the economy is the subject of The Mismeasurement of America, by Gene Ludwig, a former comptroller of the currency during the Clinton administration. Focusing on unemployment, wages, inflation, and the growing economic distance between Americans at the top and the bottom of the income scale, Ludwig argues that the problem is that the numbers I was touting were, if not quite wrong, then “profoundly misleading.” He then develops his own set of numbers, which he argues better explain why people have long felt a lot worse about the economy than you’d glean from the government’s top-line statistics. [Bernstein is the former chairman of the United States Council of Economic Advisers under President Joe Biden.]

● Is Inequality the Problem?
Lane Kenworthy
Summary via publisher (Oxford U. Press)
Increasing economic inequality is now one of the most studied subjects in the social sciences. The general view is that while its increase represents a bad social outcome in and of itself, its negative impact extends into numerous other realms of social life: declines in living standards for those in the lower deciles of the income ladder, worse health outcomes, reductions in happiness, and less opportunity for most. In Is Inequality the Problem?, Lane Kenworthy draws from a vast trove of research on the rich democracies to argue that while inequality is normatively a problem and we should therefore work to reduce it, the evidence from wealthier countries does not show that income inequality has contributed much at all to the other social ills it is associated with, like poor health outcomes.

● 1971: How All of America’s Problems Can Be Traced to a Singular Day in History
Paul Stone and Dave Erickson
Summary via publisher (Post Hill Press)
In this urgent and provocative book, Paul Stone uncovers the far-reaching consequences of Richard Nixon’s decision to remove the US dollar from the gold standard—a single act that reshaped America’s economy and set the stage for decades of instability, inflation, and mounting debt. With meticulous research and a fearless perspective, Stone exposes how this pivotal moment led to the erosion of middle-class prosperity and the looming financial collapse we face today.

● How to Make Money in Any Market
James J. Cramer
Summary via publisher (Simon & Schuster)
Except for the one percent of the one percent, nobody learns how to make your money grow in the stock market. Jim Cramer has spent his career determined to change that. Now a household name after twenty seasons of Mad Money with Jim Cramer, cohost of Squawk on the Street, and host of CNBC’s Investing Club, Cramer shows you how to get rich by understanding the market and investing in the right growth and income stocks—ones that he can help you identify. How to Make Money in Any Market is your guide to overcoming your fear about investing, to be able to make bigger money with what you have, no matter how small—in any market.

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