Trade Wars are Class Wars, Matthew Klein and Michael Pettis

Trade disputes are usually understood as conflicts between countries with competing national interests, but as Matthew Klein and Michael Pettis show, 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. In their new book, ""Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace," 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 thirty 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.
Matthew Klein is the Economics Commentator at Barron's. Previously he wrote for the Financial Times, Bloomberg View, and The Economist. He has also been a Research Associate at the Council on Foreign Relations and an Investment Associate at Bridgewater.
Michael Pettis is a professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, where he specializes in Chinese financial markets. He has also taught, from 2002 to 2004, at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management and, from 1992 to 2001, at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. Pettis has worked on Wall Street in trading, capital markets, and corporate finance since 1987, when he joined the Sovereign Debt trading team at Manufacturers Hanover (now JP Morgan). Most recently, from 1996 to 2001, Pettis worked at Bear Stearns, where he was Managing Director-Principal heading the Latin American Capital Markets and the Liability Management groups. Visit: China Financial Markets (www.mpettis.com)

[@MrBenjaminCole]

The real deal...great insights

[@Passionoffootball23]

Can i have this book on pdf form??

[@jonathangilmore3193]

A damn shame that Mr. Klein seems unable to understand how his rapid, anxious speech detracts from the public’s better understanding of such important economic concepts!

[@lukehua5989]

Unless Americans are willing to reduce the quality of life or change the lifestyle

[@NieroRa]

What is your point? If you listen to authors they would argue reducing the quality of life of Americans would drive down their consumption share of income and increase savings and investment. So your solution is that China should exports capital to the US to fuel investments there? Could the US productively absorb that amount of investment? I doubt it