<br >This book iS one of many products of ten years of collaboration in<br >which the authors explored alternative ways tO manage the American<br >economy£®Oor enterprise had a number of dimensions£®W e wrote<br >articles and pamphlets£¬gave speeches£¬and testified before Congress¡¤<br >We organized£¬performed£¬and published research studies on a wide<br >variety of topics£¬including the banking system£¬infation£¬cooperatives£¬<br >small¡£busiss£®naturalÒ»Ò»resource planning£¬economic policies in<br >Europe£¬public enterprise£¬food production£¬and the waste of unem¡ª<br >ployment£®We attempted tO help£»a group of citizens and steelworkers<br >in Youngstown£¬Ohio£¬rehabilitate shut¡ªdown steel mill£®we helped<br >organize a coalition of organizations representing millions of Ameri¡ª<br >cans tO promote a solution tO 1nflfition that did not require massive<br > unemployment£®And we became involved in a variety of political<br > campaigns that we hoped would create the space for a more open and<br > responsible national dialogue on America¡¯S future£®<br > Some of the efforts can be said tO have succeeded£»some--relative tO<br > our hoDes¡ª¡ªdid not£®But all contributed tO this book£¬and the combina¡ª<br >tion of research and action projects established the context for the<br > development of our ideas£®Moreover£¬they all belong tO the larger work<br > of building an economy that serves human growth and development£¬<br >of which this book tOO is but a part£®<br > Reflecting on these experiences£¬we concluded that the major prob¡ª<br >lem facing the American political economy was not a lack of detailed<br > Droposals£®but the lack of fit between the way the world actually 1S and<br >7zJ of the way the world is£®we concluded that there is no<br > solution tO the dilemmas that beset US£¬e£®g£®£¬the apparent incompanbil<br >itv between full employment and price stability£¬the challenge of for¡ª<br >eign competition£¬the waste of military spending£¬the tenslons between<br > conservation and economic growth，without a recognmon 0t the im¡ª<br >portance of ideology in American economic life£® £® £®<br > To ignore prevailing ideology iS tO be utopian£®But tO recognize It<br > does not mean tO accept it£®This book tries tO address a central ques¡£<br >tion£ºWhat kind of economic policies meet the needs of the new<br > economic era while reinforcing certain values¡ªespecially cornmunlty and<br >[airness--essential tO support the kind of economic policies we need?A<br > value¡ªfree economics iS impossible£»and only if we are clear about our<br > values can We make informed decisions about them£®<br ><br ><br >