EBOOK Mountains of Debt:Crisis and Change in Renaissance Florence, Victorian Britain, and Postwar Am

Like the United States today, Renaissance Florence and Victorian Britain were the        richest, most dynamic economic systems of their times. Yet each succumbed to a        fiscal crisis brought on by public debt and taxation and eventually fell into        long-term economic decline. Now, public debt and taxation dominate the America        policy agenda. Must the United States follow the same dismal pattern of fiscal        crisis and economic decline? Mountains of Debt argues that it is not too late for        the United States to change directions and suggests a comprehensive program for        reform of American fiscal institutions that would reduce the deficit problem and at        the same time reverse the long-term structural trends that are both the cause and        the effect of the fiscal crisis today. Offering proposals for reducing the deficit,        this new analysis could alter the current course of the United States        economy.