Why did we lose the broadly decent economy of the era after World War II? Why did reformers win all the important arguments about how to renew a good society, only to lose the politics? Why do democracies keep saving capitalismâonly to watch plutocrats undermine democracy again and again? How did the failure to restore broad prosperity lead to political backlash and Trump? What lessons might we learn so that next time we win the arguments and the politics? And how do we make sure that there is a next time?
In Notes for Next Time, Robert Kuttnerâveteran journalist, co-founder of The American Prospect, and one of America's leading political economistsâoffers a sweeping and deeply personal account of how we got here and how we might still change course, after Trump and despite Trump. From the triumph of the New Deal through the rise of neoliberalism, and into the fraught politics of the present, Kuttner traces the recurring cycle in which the power of big money undermines the means of a decent life for ordinary people, both parties get corrupted, democracy falters, and the far right picks up the pieces.
Part memoir, part political history, and part urgent manifesto, Notes for Next Time draws on Kuttner's five decades at the center of progressive thought and actionâfrom advising lawmakers and labor leaders to reporting from the front lines of Washington and Wall Street, to building institutions. He revisits the pivotal moments when different choices could have led to a fairer economy and a stronger democracyâand lays out a hopeful path for rebuilding both.
Kuttner's argument is clear and compelling: democracy and markets can only coexist when capitalism is constrained by public purpose. Without that balance, inequality deepens, trust collapses, and authoritarianism finds fertile ground. But he also finds reason for optimism that democracy may yet be rebuilt.
With the clarity of a journalist, the depth of a historian, and the conviction of an engaged citizen, Kuttner makes the case that the work of saving democracy and linking it to a just economy is not just for policy experts or politiciansâit's for all of us.
Notes for Next Time is both a diagnosis and a rallying cry: a reminder that history doesn't repeat by accidentâand that next time, we still have a chance to get it right.