A Most Thorough Review of Enjoy the Decline

Elusive Wapiti wrote a review of "Enjoy the Decline" over at The Spearhead.  I mention it not just for self-promotion purposes, but because it is probably the best and most thorough review of the book.  If you or somebody you know is wondering "what is it about, and do I want to buy it" Elusive's review is pretty much spot on.

An example:

By far the most useful aspect of this book, in my opinion, is in the case that it makes for readers to realize that whatever bourgeois values they may presently possess, there is a high probability those values are maladaptive in the present economic and social climate. Up has become down and right has become wrong in these last days of the American republic. Work hard and save for retirement? Don’t be ridiculous.  Why save when the nation’s leaders gleefully debauch the currency, pulling a “stealth Cyprus” to the tune of 8 – 10% each year? Why delay gratification  when there will likely be little / no Social Security for Xers and younger generations, particularly if the government will simply appropriate your savings through an outright Cyprus/France/Hungary/Ireland/Argentina/Poland-style seizure? Why work hard, when doing so only qualifies you to be taxed even more to support an income redistribution scheme consuming more than 2/3 of the Federal budget, “spread [your hard-earned monies] around a little“, to bankroll parasites who didn’t earn it? Why hope for things to get better when unemployment is presently at around 14% and the labor force participation rate is at a 30-year low, is trending downward, and has been so for decades? And why scrimp to pay for college while the higher ed bubble continues to inflate, making your parent’s advice to “get an education” in order to succeed nearly financially suicidal and economically ill-advised in the new economic reality?  For that matter, why marry and have children? Silly rabbit, very few men and women these days are equipped to be proper husbands and wives.  Moreover, 5,000 years of traditional Marriage 1.0 has been subsumed by Marriage 2.0–and now, by homogamy–and is characterized by easy divorce and the subsequent trafficking in former spouses (usu but not always ex husbands) for the pecuniary interests of the state and ex-wives.

You can find the book here.