The Great Equalizer: How Main Street Capitalism Can Create an Economy for Everyone

The experts say that America's best days are behind us, that mediocre long-term economic growth is baked in the cake, and that politically, socially, and racially, the United States will continue to tear itself apart. But David Smick-hedge fund strategist and author of the 2008 bestseller The World Is Curved-argues that the experts are wrong. In recent decades, a Corporate Capitalism of top down mismanagement and backroom deal-making has smothered America's innovative spirit. Policy now favors the big, the corporate, and the status quo at the expense of the small, the inventive, and the entrepreneurial. The result is that working and middle class Americans have seen their incomes flat-lining and their American Dreams slipping away. In response, Smick calls for the great equalizer, a Main Street Capitalism of mass small-business startups and bottom-up innovation, all unfolding on a level playing field. Introducing a fourteen-point plan of bipartisan reforms for unleashing America's creativity and confidence, his forward-thinking book describes a new climate of dynamism where every man and woman is a potential entrepreneur-especially those at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Ultimately, Smick argues, economies are more than statistical measurements of supply and demand, economic output, and rates of return. Economies are people-their hopes, fears, dreams, and expectations. The Great Equalizer is a call for a set of new paradigms that inspire and empower average American people to reimagine and reboot their economy. It is a manifesto asserting that, with a new kind of economic policy, America's best days lie ahead.

About the Author :
David Smick is a financial market consultant and a nonfiction author. He is the chairman and CEO of Johnson Smick International, an advisory firm in Washington, D.C and the publisher and the founding editor of the quarterly magazine International Economy. He also published widely, including in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Kiff VandenHeuvel, voice talent and audiobook narrator, is originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is an alumni of the Second City comedy theater. He is an accomplished improviser and sketch comedy director, and he teaches voice-over, improv, and directing at Second City Hollywood. He has appeared in hundreds of television and radio commercials and is well known in the video game community as the voice of Zachary Hale Comstock in Bioshock: Infinite.

Review :
Agree or disagree and I do some of both, David Smick has written an important tract on restoring comity in Washington and a sense of economic hope across the country. Whoever advises the next president on economics will want to read this book.-- "Former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Lawrence Summers" David Smick's analytical insights are always worthwhile reading.-- "Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors" David Smick's probing insights on the global economy stem from an extraordinary vantage point few observers can match.-- "George Soros" Smick describes a bold vision with specific, actionable recommendations. His ideas--written in an easy-to-understand, engaging style--are light years beyond anything advocated during the long election season. A must read with any highly innovative policy framework.-- "Jeffrey E. Garten, Yale School of Management" Smick's call for a fairer capitalism makes for bracing reading for students of the modern economy and polity.-- "Kirkus Reviews" This call to arms regarding the need to get audacious and adventurous about U.S. economic growth is a thought-provoking, entertaining read.-- "Publishers Weekly" "Chock full of canny insights and bold ideas; it definitely deserves a close read." -- "Paul Ryan, Speaker of the US House of Representatives" "This call to arms regarding the need to get audacious and adventurous about US economic growth is a thought-provoking, entertaining read." -- "Publishers Weekly" David Smick was a key leader in the revolution which led to two decades of prosperity. Now, in The Great Equalizer, he courageously takes on the policies which are crippling our economy and shifting money from working Americans to Wall Street. This is an important book.-- "Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives" Never one to aim low, David Smick is calling for America to reinvent herself so all of us can enjoy another era of 'mass flourishing.' And even more impressive, he's written a whole book on how to do it. The Great Equalizer is chock full of canny insights and bold ideas; it definitely deserves a close read.-- "Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan" The next U.S. President should thank David Smick for The Great Equalizer. It offers a prescription for how an American leader can succeed in a time of divided government. Having lived the American Dream, Smick has a clear-sighted view of what is best about America. His optimistic attitude, his big heart and personal experience in finance and politics offers a unique window into what ails America and what can be done about it. Specifically, his legislative experience allows him to see how Congressional deals can actually happen--deals in which each side gets some of what it wants and the American people get what they want: action not stalemate; progress not paralysis.-- "Bill Bradley, former U.S. Senator"