Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future

Amazon.com

"Capitalism is the most successful wealth-creating economic system the world has ever known," declares Robert Gilpin. Yet it has skeptics. "Individual nations and powerful groups within nations that believe the world economy functions unfairly and to their disadvantage, or who wish to change the system to benefit themselves to the detriment of others, are an ever-present threat to the stability of the system." The task, then, is to ensure its survival through wise leadership that provides fair rules governing trade, investment, and currency. At a time when the economies of the world appear more linked than ever, and the tug of even further internationalization feels irresistible, Gilpin says nothing is inevitable. The whole system must rest on secure political foundations--foundations that Gilpin argues have weakened since the end of the cold war. "Growing concern over economic globalization and increased competition have intensified the movement toward economic regionalism and the appeal of protectionism," he writes. The Challenge of Global Capitalism was actually completed before the World Trade Organization's disastrous 1999 meeting in Seattle; after watching the protests unfold there, even the most Pollyannaish observers must admit that Gilpin warns of a real threat. His book will appeal mainly to economists, but serious nonspecialists will also find its sober prose accessible. --John J. Miller

Book Description

Many individuals proclaim that global capitalism is here to stay. Unfettered markets, they argue, now drive the world, and all countries must adjust, no matter how painful this may be for some. Robert Gilpin, author of the widely acclaimed Political Economy of International Relations (Princeton, 1987), urges us, however, not to take an open and integrated global economy for granted. Rather, we must consider the political circumstances that have enabled global markets to function and the probability that these conditions will continue. Gilpin's new book amounts to a magisterial inquiry into all major aspects of the contemporary world political economy. Beginning with the 1989 end of the Cold War and the subsequent collapse of communism, it focuses on globalization and rapid technological change and covers a broad sweep of economic developments and political cultures. Gilpin demonstrates the fragility of a global and integrated economy and recommends what can be done to strengthen it.

The international community has another chance to solidify the global market economy that collapsed with the outbreak of World War I. Yet, writes Gilpin, the full implications of this historic development for international affairs are not yet clear. Will socialist economies make a successful transition to market-type economies? What role will a dynamic China play in the world economy? Will the United States continue to exercise leadership or gravitate toward self-centered policies? Gilpin explores such questions along with problems in the areas of trade liberalization, multinational corporations, and destabilizing financial flows. He also investigates the struggles of less developed countries and the spread of economic regionalism, particularly in Europe, North America, and Pacific Asia, which directly threatens an open world economy.

The author maintains that global capitalism and economic globalization have rested and must continue to rest on a secure political foundation. However, this foundation has eroded since the end of the Soviet threat. To ensure survival of the global economy, Gilpin concludes, the United States and other major powers must recommit themselves to working together to rebuild its weakened political foundations.

Customer Reviews:

The Challenge of Global Capitalism: The World Economy in the 21st Century.......2006-11-05

Come in time for my college class. Arrived in excellent condition --- new book. Great price below campus book store prices.

To Free Global Capitalism or Too Free?.......2000-09-23

The main benefit of this book is to provide an overview of international economic forms of cooperation in the 20th century. That overview is, however, flawed by simplifications that often distort rather than illuminate that historical view. The argument about what must be done next is incomplete and unsatisfying. This book is written for the reader who has some college-level training in economics, and is interested in the interaction between national politics and international economics.

The basic argument is that free markets create excesses which can only be eliminated by international intervention. Such interventions were frequent and reasonably effective during the period just prior to World War I and in the free world after World War II. Professor Gilpin argues that parochial American leadership since the end of the cold war has undermined the international political system for stabilizing the international economy. He calls for stronger American leadership in forging a better coalition with the European Union countries and Japan.

The central thesis of the book is sound in one area: Unrestrained capital flows can create distortions in a world in which everything else (businesses, people, and trade flows) are not nearly so unrestrained. The problem here is that these rapid capital flows out of a country primarily occur because of years of earlier abuses (as I describe in The Irresitible Growth Enterprise) such as speculative spending on infrastructure and investments that are not needed (as happened in several Southeast Asian countries prior to their currency crises in 1998).

Virtually every problem that Professor Gilpin warns against and wants to solve with international authority is really created by poor national economic policies. We would probably create sounder world economic growth if we focused on encouraging all nations to pursue sound lending, appropriate national borrowing, and constructive trade policies (our attention is usually focused on the last). Where governments are weak or corrupt, abuses will always develop and linger. My counterargument would be that strong democracies will almost always pursue reasonably sound economic policies. Solve that problem of governmental form and effectiveness of political process at the national level, and the world economy will be sound. If this counterargument is right, then we may need a second generation of informational efforts in favor of effective democracy, in the same way that one was needed during the cold war through Radio Free Europe and Voice of America.

At another level, much of what is described here as weaknesses and problems can be attributed to weak currencies. Again, informational efforts and research could help countries with weak currencies appreciate how to strenthen those currencies. Certainly, pegging to stronger currencies is proving to be effective in many cases. Pegging to a basket of stronger currencies might work even better. There could even be a role for pegging to sound economic policies to change expectations, as some South American countries have done.

Many of the worldwide risks today relate to the U.S. trade imbalance. In the same way that greater public awareness and an economic boom led to eliminating the U.S. budget deficits, the trade imbalance can be solved. Again, this is a national issue, not an international one. The weak savings rate in the U.S. can also be solved by changing the tax laws, again at a national level.

Basically, the argument I am making is that the markets are having problems because national politics are impinging too much on free markets. In that regard, the free market of ideas that is democracy can then adjust the national politics to achieve more healthy, free market results. The U.S. should lead the way by improving the savings rate and reducing the trade deficit. That would take many of the strains off of the world economy, and create the basis for another ten years of economic boom in the United States. Can our U.S. politicians get together and work on this after the November election? I certainly hope so.

Another area where Professor Gilpin is misfocused is in his concern about the growth of trading blocs like the EU and NAFTA. Actually, these blocs are creating freer markets within them and are an unavoidable precursor to creating the same level of freedom internationally with all countries. If there were three trading blocs in the world, they would simply merge into one at some point. That would be progress.

Complexity science tells us that having many countries pursuing their own ideas of economic prosperity will work better than having an internationally coordinated system. And the more intelligent, responsive, and focused those countries are, the better the whole system will work.

After you have finished reading this book, can you think of other places where we rely on precedent too much in our thinking rather than potential? If you find any of this happening in your own thinking, how can you learn to seek out better solutions rather than simply aping past solutions?

Good start for a basic understanding.......2000-05-22

This is a higly readable and extensive survey of the major IPE issues facing Americans and the rest of the world today. It successfully analyzes and challenges the economists' arguments about the primacy of economics, or even economic theory, over politics or political science. This is an excellent book for someone just beginning to educate themselves about the nature and state of the international economy. It's significantly broad, but also does an excellent job of explaining complex phenomena. However, I have a few caveats. First, it moves too quickly and soflty over the larger issues, specifically, whether globalization has been helpful or harmful to the world polity. I agree with a previous review that it overestimates the threat of EU protectionism. In fact, he overestimates the threat of protectionism entirely. The greatest threat to, or promise against, globalization is the rise of social protest movements across the globe, being channeled in new ways not seen before. Therefore, I would urge most people to read this book, but then pick up either a contrarian book, like Grieder's One World: Ready or Not, or Globalization by Sasskia Sassen. Avoid Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree at all costs.

reasonable overview for graduate students.......2000-05-04

Prof. Gilpin has an excellent reputation in the field of IPE, International Political Economy, and I bought this book on that recommendation.

It gives a good overview of major developments in the globalization and globalization debate in the 90s, with political economy analysis and lots of references to economic analysis. I would recommend it for graduate students, but I must say i was a bit disappointed, not much new or inspirational there. I could read the book very quickly without ever really having to stop and think. Here i think it is only fair to reveal my own background, which is in international economic relations and history of EU integration. Some of his points on the nature and development of the European Union and the economics are frankly quite contestable, especially on the openness or closedness of the EU. The debate on 'Fortress Europe' is really out of date by now ever since it became clear that the Single European Act of 1987 and the '1992' project were not about closing the EU economy, quite the contrary. Do I detect an US bias here?

Yes, as prof. Gilpin points out, economists indeed disagree on many key issues. But you will find that strife also within IPE and political science and in any other social science discipline. So? It reflects the complexity of the issues rather than weakness of the discipline, i'd argue (but then, I would would I, as an economist...) A number of problems in globalization and the international financial system are presented as (relatively) new, but I'd argue that more often than not these problems were always there in history. Also, the point that regionalization threatens globalization is too strong as put there, and not necessarily correct and so clear-cut at all: many regional economic agreements were made in the course of the Uruguay Round trade negotiations at GATT/WTO out of frustration with the slow pace of negotiations and as a 'back-up' plan in case of UR failure. Hardly a threat to globalization which, in any case, throughout history never really progressed smoothly at all.

All that said, the book does do a solid job of pointing out some of the main issues and discussions and it will do well as a topical reference book.

Global Capitalism = American Corporate Imperialism.......2000-04-30

America began opening it's markets to the world in the 1970's. Since then, as the economy has grown steadily, most Americans have seen stagnant wages and the country has seen an increase in all types of inequality. The idea that the problems can be fixed presupposes a will to fix them. There is none. A palliative to this claptrap would be Chambers Johnson's book Blowback.

Crisis and Dollarization in Ecuador: Stability, Growth, and Social Equity (Directions in Development)

Average customer rating:

World Bank propaganda

Crisis and Dollarization in Ecuador: Stability, Growth, and Social Equity (Directions in Development)

Manufacturer: World Bank Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Crude Chronicles: Indigenous Politics, Multinational Oil, and Neoliberalism in Ecuador (American Encounters/Global Interactions)

ASIN: 082134837X

Book Description

Early in 2000, Ecuador, confronted with a serious economic crisis, adopted the US dollar as its national currency. This book examines the conditions that led to this action, describing the repeated cycles of crisis and failed stabilization that fatally undermined confidence in the Ecuadoran sucre. The book then analyzes dollarization's initial results and its effects on inflation, growth, poverty, inequality, marganilization, gender, and the Ecuadoran family. It also puts the Ecuadoran experience with dollarization in an international perspective. Economists, policymakers, and anyone with a serious interest in Latin American affairs will find this book invaluable.

Customer Reviews:

World Bank propaganda.......2007-04-04

This is nonsense from the perspective of Quito. Maybe it makes sense in their 5 star hotels hobknobbing with CEOs and investors.

The Dilbert Future: Thriving on Business Stupidity in the 21st Century

Average customer rating:

It's ok, but does not hold the audience like the Dilbert series
Stick with Dilbert Collections
I've had this book for a while...
The future is stupid
Amusing, but with some serious food for thought

The Dilbert Future: Thriving on Business Stupidity in the 21st Century
Scott Adams
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Dilbert | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

The Joy of Work: Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers
The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions
Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook
Dilbert: Seven Years Of Highly Defective People (P
Don'T Step In The Leadership:A Dilbert Book

ASIN: 0887309100

Amazon.com

Move over, Faith Popcorn! Cartoonist Scott Adams is back in book form, and this time he gives Dilbert and his cronies a free hand to forecast the trends that just might drive business and society during the next millennium. In typical Adams fashion, The Dilbert Future: Thriving on Stupidity in the 21st Century serves up a series of laugh-out-loud predictions on technology, marketing, work, jobs, gender relations, and even the future of democracy and capitalism.

Book Description

Step aside, Bill Gates! Here comes today's real technology guru and his totally original, laugh–out–loud New York Times bestseller that looks at the approaching new millennium and boldly predicts: more stupidity ahead.

In The Dilbert Principle and Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook, Scott Adams skewered the absurdities of the corporate world. Now he takes the next logical step, turning his keen analytical focus on how human greed, stupidity and horniness will shape the future. Featuring the same irresistible amalgam of essays and cartoons that made Adams߰revious works so singularly entertaining, this uproariously funny, dead–on–target tome offers half–truthful, half–farcical predictions that push all of today's hot buttons – from business and technology to society and government.

● Children – they are our future, so weᱥ pretty much hosed. Tip: Grab what you can while theyᱥ still too little to stop us.

●

Human Potential – we'll finally learn to use the 90 percent of the brain we don't use today, and find out that there wasn't anything in that part.

Customer Reviews:

It's ok, but does not hold the audience like the Dilbert series.......2007-06-03

I'm even being generous by giving this 2 stars. Scott Adams is very talented but he should just stick to Dilbert Comics.

Stick with Dilbert Collections.......2006-07-06

Scott Adams is a cartoonist. He is not a stand-up comedian nor is he Dave Barry, though this book makes it quite clear that he really wants to be. Still, there is a reason he tells jokes in three-panel comic strips instead of 30-minute monologues. Here he addresses various aspects of life and makes tongue-in-cheek predictions, interspersed with Dilbert cartoons. It was obviously written in sections rather than as a whole, and the entire time all I could think about was how much more fitting these musings would be in somebody's blog than a hardbound tome published by Harper Business, especially since so many of the predictions have gone out of date since its publication (such as his erroneous predictions for the futures of the cable modem and ISDN). There were some vaguely amusing parts but nothing was anywhere near laugh-out-loud funny, and I had to yawn a bit at the tired "women really rule the world" section - that idea was beaten to death decades ago and hasn't gotten any funnier in the meantime. Frankly, the most humorous parts were the cartoons, and if I wanted to read those I could have just picked up a collection.

The final chapter, "A New View of the Future," was inappropriate in this context. For this section Adams "turned the humor mode off" and discussed his personal philosophies. They were interesting but did not fit whatsoever with the rest of the book. His ideas on perception and cause and effect would also have been much more compelling had he bothered to actually research any of the theories and experiments he mentioned. I understand that the goal of this section was nothing more than to make the reader think about the universe a little differently, but it would have been much more effective had he spent an hour at the library finding a couple of references to cite. Saying things like "I'll simplify the explanation, probably getting the details wrong in the process, but you'll get the general idea" does not instill in me a desire to take him very seriously.

Despite the incongruity of the chapter, I still enjoyed it about as much as I did the rest of the book, but for different reasons (the first part was vaguely amusing, the second vaguely intriguing). Ultimately this felt like a Dilbert collection trying to be a Dave Barry book. I think I'll stick with the comic strips from now on.

I've had this book for a while..........2006-01-23

I've had this book for a while, and I would like to say that for the most part, half of Scott's predictions became true. For instance, after a terrorist attack, we have sacrificed a bunch of civil liberties in exchange for saftey. In addition, with the advent of the internet, every other yahoo is posting the news, or providing news content for free. He predicted that as well. Buy this book just to read all the predictions that came true. PEACE!

The future is stupid.......2005-03-19

What else could it be? It will be full of people like the ones around you today.

It will be full of managers who pull everyone out of work to all-day meetings to determine why productivity is low. It will be full of financial planners who couldn't make their living with their own money, so ask for a percentage of yours (about which they care somewhat less). It will be full of people who decide to work for those bosses and hire those financial planners. You know, the people we have now. Only more of them.

Or we could murder them all. Then we'd live in a future full of murderers. Was that supposed to be an improvement?

If you're the cash crop in a cube farm, Dilbert is your biopic in daily installments. (Call it a "comic" around other people or they'll look at you funny.) Adams's warped sense of absolutely literal reality has no equal on the bookshelves today.

It can become tiresome in large doses, though, and the reader might wish for more of the pictures and less of the text, especially in the last chapter. That's sort of like a warm, fuzzy, spiritual kind of thing, but without the spiritualism, warmth, or fuzziness.

I had to round up to give four stars, but Adams is the spokesman for my generation. Wherever people spend more time looking at computer screens than at other people, you'll find Dilbert taped to the wall. Loyalty counts for something - except where you make your living.

-- wiredweird

Amusing, but with some serious food for thought.......2004-09-10

Hmmm...not exactly the future I was expecting. Clearly this book was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek, it has to be read with the same mindset. This probably would have been much more effective if Adams had focused on his strengths, namely the world of work. The sections dealing with the worlds of work and business are by far the most effective sections of this book. While the convoluted logic used in the other sections are amusing, it often feels like Adams is trying too hard to be funny.

In the final chapter ("A New View of the Future") Adams steps out of his role as a humorist and provides some serious food for thought. I found this to be the most effective part of the book. His argument that finding alternative ways to perceive the universe can be empowering is actually quite persuasive, and his examples of such alternative perceptions are intiguing. If nothing else, it is helpful to be reminded that our current understanding of our world could prove to be just as inaccurate as earlier views of the universe. I read this expecting little more than some light entertainment, but I've come away with some serious food for thought...

Rediscovering American Values: The Foundations of our Freedom for the 21st Century

Average customer rating:

The Author's Security Detail
Just proves anyone can write a book if they have money.
Says one thing does another
A Company of Paradoxes
Should be required reading!

Rediscovering American Values: The Foundations of our Freedom for the 21st Century
Dick DeVos
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Motivation & Self-Improvement | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Ethics | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Compassionate Capitalism
Believe!

ASIN: 0452277582

Book Description

In Rediscovering American Values, Dick DeVos, a popular public speaker, celebrates the principles that make America great and that shape who we are, how we live, and how we treat each other. Through real-life examples, he offers lessons on how each of us can apply these values in everything we do. Ideals such as honesty, fairness, humility, initiative, service, compassion, and leadership are, he argues, not just a matter of preference but essential to both personal and collective freedom. DeVos relates inspiring stories of how Americans have applied these principles to their lives and dispels the notion that once admired standards have completely disappeared from our society. DeVos also draws on his own personal and business experiences and those of his father, Rich DeVos, the co-founder of Amway, a company that embodies the rewards of hard work and integrity that are part of the pantheon of American values. These same values were reflected in Rich DeVos's Dutton bestseller Compassionate Capitalism, which has sold over 200,000 copies.

Customer Reviews:

The Author's Security Detail.......2007-10-03

More fascinating to me than anything in the book, was the following incident. Mr. DeVos arrived at my home on a quiet street to submit to an author interview while he was on a book tour. Seconds before he arrived, two black SUVs pulled up in front of my house and blockaded the street and set up surveillance, communicating by wireless devices, presumably to others not in view. When I asked Mr. DeVos how his humble book warranted such a fanfare, he replied that with all the disgruntled former Amway dealers out there, he had reason to believe he might be in danger.

Just proves anyone can write a book if they have money........2006-11-02

This book is nothing more than statements about how someone must work hard to become successful, written by someone who was basically handed their massive inheritance by their father. DeVos writes that he worked in many jobs at Amway, but there is no question that had he not been the son of the co-founder, he certainly would not have risen to the top of the management food chain at that company. Don't buy this book -- buy something written by someone who got there through hard work, intelligence, and skill... not some book on how to be successful written by someone born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Says one thing does another.......2006-03-05

Kind of preachy book with a lot of ego thrown in for good measure. The message is that good people prosper (implying bad people don't).

This man inherited his billions from his dad, the founder of Amway. He didn't get rich living a Christian life full of values - he inherited his position. He talks about values in this book but in real life blatently downsized almost a thousand jobs from his home town to China.

He is very motivational and I will give him credit for that. However, his real life seems to completely contradict what this book says about the connection between values and business.

A Company of Paradoxes.......2002-07-14

No one denies Dick DeVos is a great seller of soap or would question his right to do so. The book presents us with a paradox, however. Dick would have us believe Amway salesmen aren't like other salesmen: they don't bear false witness, they are consistent in word and deed, treat others according to the golden rule, are humble, courageous, disciplined, and stand for freedom. You have to decide if he is deceiving you or not. If he is, then Amway's approach is deceptive and sales practices based on this deceptive doctrine are deceptive. If he is not, then he is violating the constitutional rights of the sales force. They have the right of freedom of speech, an implied right of privacy, freedom of religion or lack of it; in short, the right to make their own choices about how to live and feel and think without Amway telling them how they better do it. Moreover, even in Dick's own religion, he is paradoxical. The path of spirituality has never been through riches.

Should be required reading!.......1999-11-03

DeVos inspires us to take charge of our lives, to live it to the fullest. Outlines principals and values we all should be living by. If we all did, this world would be a better place to live and work.

On Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, & 9/11: A Story of Loss & Renewal

Average customer rating:

An amazing book
Insightful and Moving
Moving and Compelling
A Tribute to Brainwashing and Propaganda
Excellent and honest

On Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, & 9/11: A Story of Loss & Renewal
Tom Barbash
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Company Profiles | Biography & History | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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September 11 | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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The Last Good Chance: A Novel
City in the Sky : The Rise and Fall of the World Trade Center
102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers
Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11
Here Is New York: A Democracy of Photographs

ASIN: 0060510293
Release Date: 2003-01-21

Amazon.com

In the attacks of September 11, 2001, 658 of New York brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald's 1,000 New York employees were killed. Immediately following the events, author Tom Barbash traveled to New York to profile his college friend, Cantor CEO Howard Lutnick, and chronicle the firm's struggles to stay in business and help its employees' families. The result, On Top of the World, is a compulsively readable book that is difficult to categorize. Unlike many books about the attacks, its story goes well beyond September 11 and into the following year, helping to better demonstrate the human impact of the catastrophe. And while the book ably describes the horror of the events, it is as much a business study as anything: can a company that trades $200 billion a day in commodities futures survive the sudden death of over 65 percent of its New York employees, and its New York headquarters? Cantor Fitzgerald does endure, but soon Lutnick becomes the center of a media firestorm as Connie Chung, Bill O'Reilly from Fox News, and others question the sincerity of Lutnick's public appearances and denounce his method of compensating the families of those lost. Barbash, a novelist by trade, portrays his friend's struggles sympathetically but also provides well-researched dimension to the other people involved, which helps deepen the human drama of the efforts on the part of all involved to put their lives and their company back together. --John Moe

Book Description

On the morning of September 11, 2001, nearly seven hundred of Cantor Fitzgerald's one thousand New York employees were at their desks on the top floors of One World Trade Center when a hijacked passenger plane struck eight floors below. Not one of them lived.

Their friends and colleagues who survived did so through random luck: They missed a train, had a business trip, took a sick day, or, in the case of CEO Howard Lutnick, dropped off his son at his first day of kindergarten.

On Top of the World tells the story not only of that tragic day but also of the complicated and emotionally charged events that followed in its wake. It is an intimate, often harrowing look at how private families processed a public atrocity, how corporate war-room strategy sessions saved the company from liquidation and the efforts of opportunistic competitors.

The book examines the media scrutiny that followed Lutnick, a man who lost his brother and so many friends, who struggled to be at once the compassionate leader the grieving families needed and the tough-minded CEO his decimated company required. Finally, On Top of the World tells the story of a group of men and women -- some of whom were just starting out, others who had succeeded well beyond their expectations -- who were building homes and raising families together, who hired relatives and friends, and the brothers and sisters of those friends. That their business has survived and even flourished -- and that an initially uneasy but ultimately significant covenant has been formed between those who lived and the families of their lost friends is a powerful testament to the ability of a community to endure.

Customer Reviews:

An amazing book.......2006-09-26

I actually got this book from the library, so I didn't actually buy it. But I wouldn't have felt bad about buying it, after reading it. Tom Barbash's writing makes you feel like you were right there interviewing and witnessing conversations with survivors and their families. I truely felt Howard Lutnick's loss for his brother and his other familiy at work. How mind blowing is it to know that almost 700 out of 1000 employees have died, and that you have to get your company back to what it was Sept. 10, 2 days after the attacks, so the Cantor families wouldn't be just put out in the cold. And during all of this, you still have to greave for your brother, best friend, and try to attend over 600 funerals of co-workers and friends you saw every day at work. It's a shame that the media tried to make Howard an escape goat. I've actually have a very different opinion now about Connie Chung than I did before. We always think the reporter, and especially a well known one, would give the audience all the facts instead of eskuing it to one side.
Some reviewers have said it's a propaganda book--some propaganda book! The pain all these people went through are real. And I doubt that if that same reviewer was in Howard Lutnick's shoes, he would have done any better under the circumstances.
In any event, the book was very eye opening and I have more of appreciation for the survivors and their feelings. I don't think I could now ask a Sept 11 survivior their story anymore. The healing has to begin somewhere, and after 5 years, I think it has begun.

Insightful and Moving.......2005-09-13

When it comes to the world of finance, I'm a total idiot. I also don't spend much time thinking of such things, since I've never had enough money to invest in a savings account, much less comodities. So some of what the story is about eludes me. I can't identify with the amount of dollars being discussed, or the money these people make, but they become human because of the pain they endured and the losses they suffered. Cantor Fitzgerald suffered potential fatal harm that day and the people who struggled to pull the company out of the ashes are to be commended, as well as consoled. I had difficulty putting the book down once I started reading it. It is compelling. This is one of the few 9/11 books that should make it to your reading list.

Moving and Compelling.......2005-08-10

This book is fabulous. As I read each page, the writer expressed the sorrow the people felt after this inhumane tragedy. Having worked in the bond market for 25 years, I was quite shocked when I read that if "Cantor" could not open and thus subsequentyly go under, the bond market would potentially collasped! Howard, you are a stronger man than you think. Although Mr. Lutnick lost so much on this day, he made the effort to put the company back together so that our free market economy would move on and prosper in the world. In my religion we refer to people like Howard Lutnik as "angels". Mr. Lutnik this book is so well worth the read! Many thanks for what you've done for our country, economy and your employees.

A Tribute to Brainwashing and Propaganda.......2005-01-14

The reviews reproduced here are a tribute to Tom Barbash, just as Barbash wrote the book as a tribute -- and an exhoneration -- to his college buddy Howard Lutnick. Therein lies the tale. Barbash and Lutnick have artfully exploited the suffering of others -- one to write a book (and to promote a novel), the other to strike an innocent pose. It worked! Look at the reviews that blindly defend the book and charge that any criticism of it is tantamount to insensitivity toward the victims of 9/11!

This is wonderful propaganda indeed, and if I were to grade it on that scale the book would get five stars. Lutnick's obsession with looking good and Barbash's equally atrocious commitment to whitewashing exploits grief as it turns anger onto others. Sickening.

Excellent and honest.......2004-09-24

Bill O'Reilly, who is far more sleazy than Walter Winchell was at Winchell's worst, accused Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor, Fitzgerald, of failing to meet his obligations to his employee's families when 700 of Cantor Fitzgerald's about 1000 employees died in the World Trade Center.

This book clearly and honestly shows, however, that Cantor, Fitzgerald as a small to medium business was unable to pay deceased employees after September 15 2001 for the very good reason that the events including the temporary closure of the markets, and the loss of the employees, cut off the company's air supply.

Instead and in a matter that hasn't been sufficiently celebrated because the media (including O'Reilly and Connie Chung) specializes in the dissemination of false ideas, Howard and the remaining employees of his company worked terribly hard while grieving so as to pay out a far more generous amount in bonuses and other renumeration. They brought Cantor Fitzgerald back from a near-death experience.

O'Reilly's attack had a nasty undertone of anti-semitism because it was conducted from the "point of view" of the "ordinary working person" who labors under the apprehension that ALL companies large and small have unused funds laying about the office and that NO business manager might not sweat bullets to meet each and every payroll.

O'Reilly then took credit for "forcing" Lutnick to do what the latter had been planning to do all along, which was pay compensation based on 4Q 2001 profits which would not have been earned had the salaries been continued.

A company like Cantor Fitzgerald is not a moral agent except insofar as it stays within the letter and spirit of the law, which Cantor Fitzgerald of course has done. But a *mensch* like Howard is indeed a moral agent and as such did not deserve to be precipitated, as a focus for inchoate rage, into a media spotlight in such a manner that for thousands of people (including former NYC mayor Ed Koch) he was merely "that guy, what's his name, who cried on TV and screwed up".

Indeed, the situation was an almost mathematical model of how the media destroys knowledge by instead marshaling false consciousness. Lutnick was a decent person, no more or less good than the average CEO. But O'Reilly nonetheless used the Fascism of marshaling anger against "the unmentionable odor of death" to boost his own ratings.

This week, a court decision has absolved Fox news from any responsibility to the truth in a case of two journalists fired from Fox based on their refusal to file a story according to Fox's rules. Here is another document in a growing case against this media empire which is also the mouthpiece for the Bush administration.

Lutnick made a mark of himself by crying on TV shortly after the September 11 tragedy and was subject, I believe, to a post-human campaign conducted by a bully and a thug.

This story needs to be kept alive today, since Dan Rather is under attack for his good-faith reportage of documents attesting to Bush's failure to meet his Guard obligations. Rather was misled by a forgery and there's a possibility that the forgery was provided through third parties by Karl Rove in order to discredit the Democrats, at least on this issue.

In other words, systematic "spinning", primarily from the Right, have created a post-human climate of mistrust in which a CEO cannot also be a *mensch*, faced with a tricky business situation in which the banks could have put him out of business had he in fact paid salaries after September 15th.

In fact, a basically good person would have accepted Lutnick's story because basically good people need to feel not quite so alone. There is nothing to profit from stories of people who betray their employees, or feed false documents to third parties, unless, of course, there's a pre-existing pattern.

At the end of the day, even the ordinary reader of the New York Times can say that O'Reilly and Rove are thugs and bums while Howard L is probably OK.

At the end of the day, even such an ordinary person can conclude that a society which is so consistently beguiled to believe instead the worst is a Fascist society with a capital F.

The American Economy: The Struggle for Supremacy in the 21st Century (Cambridge Studies in Economic Policies and Institutions)

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Deceptive Title. Nothing Special Here.

The American Economy: The Struggle for Supremacy in the 21st Century (Cambridge Studies in Economic Policies and Institutions)
Nicolas Spulber
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521595835

Book Description

This work focuses on the economic challenges the American economy has met during the post-World War II era, and on the new challenges--represented notably by the competing economies of Japan, Germany, and the entire European union--that confront it as the twenty-first century approaches. The book shows how the transformations brought about by international competition fit the long-term processes of economic growth and change with respect to structural mutations, technological development, the role of the government, and the evolution of government-business relations. Nicholas Spulber presents a detailed critique of the thesis alleging that the American economy had experienced some kind of decline, and argues that the economy will continue to move forward energetically and successfully if growth and change are primarily left to emerge from the impulses and incentives of the private economy.

Customer Reviews:

Deceptive Title. Nothing Special Here........2001-02-21

Throughout the book, there is a careful discussion of planned economy versus free market guided economy. It carefully frames the discussion as follows. A partially planned economy may be a good idea say some writers. He shows that if the largely planned economies have consistently failed, how can some one argue that a little bit of planning will be successful. He shows how well known liberal economists that think a little bit of government planning will be good are really lazy thinkers. He refers to the powerful accuracy of the market place in preparing the economy for the future and discusses the place for government regulation. One day someone will write a book explaining how poorly boards of directors and top management forecast the future for planning purposes. But given the greater knowledge on the micro pieces of the economy by corporate officials and investors, their chances of foretelling the future is far greater than government officials. The market place works in amazing ways. He rejects the desire of some economists to see decline as the future of the American economy if governmental planning does not address the bogeyman created in the minds of the liberal views he discusses. He holds fast to the expectation that the impulses and incentives of the private economy assure long term growth. The federal government has a role in monetary policy, fiscal sensitivity to the business cycle and environmental regulation. Partnerships between governmental officials and industry have a record of doing more harm than good.

For the first 200 pages, the book does provide a sleepy review of the American Economy in comparison to Japan, German and Europe for the period of 1947 to 1989. Big picture comparative data does not provide much insight. In a review of the economy since WWII, there is an attempt at comparing the economy under all the presidential administrations. It leaves out what is happening in congress and at the Federal Reserve. An economist should know better than to ascribe excessive economic powers to the respective presidents. The process is drawn out to show Democratic bias for government directed planning for the economy and the Republican commitment to market directed forces. He takes the Clinton administration to task for its heavy handed bias for government planning.

The first printing of the book is 1995 and yet the data in the book stops at 1990. Did the author die or vegetate. What ever the reason potential buyers should have been warned of its dated status at first printing.

The book's subtitle "The Struggle for Supremacy in the 21st Century" appears to be a belated addendum to help sell a book with a very shallow purpose. The chapter on Government-Business Relationship is lifeless particularly in its treatment of research and development and technology. The author is oblivious to the applied technology engine that is drive economic progress in many areas-- thanks to the venture capital community. He reveals a bias that university originated research is what really counts. In the long-run it is the vital raw material, but the venture capital applications that draw on any country (even the former Soviet Union science) are what is so uniquely American.

Book Description

When Congress enacted Social Secuirty in 1935, with the age of retirement set at age 65, average life expectancy was 62 years. By the time Medicare was enacted 30 years later, life expectancy had risen to age 70. Since the enactment of Medicare, life expectancy has risen to age 76 today and may be expected to increase further in the decades to come. Clearly, the increase in post-retirement life expectancy has significant implications for the level of national expenditures attributable to an aging population. One of the approaches suggested as a solution to the so-called income transfer problem is to redefine old age, that is, to push retirement and its associated benefits off to a later age. This would effectively increase the size of the workforce, with older workers continuing to contribute their payroll taxes for an extended period of time. The critical question Sicker poses is, will there be enough appropriate employment opportunities for a growing number of older workers in the workforce of the future? The evidence for a positive response is far from clear or compelling. Sicker examines the prospective place of the aging worker in the employment environment of the 21st century in light of the restructuring of American business and the world of work in the final decades of the last century. In doing so, he raises serious concerns about the validity and utility of some of the neoclassical economic ideas and assumptions that have become part of the conventional wisdom of our time. Sicker contends that these dubious propositions have unwittingly contributed signficantly to the problem through their manifestation in public policy. However, the principal focus of his analysis is not on economic theory as such, but on the realities and uncertainties that an aging American workforce will face in the decades to come. This book is significant reading for scholars, researchers, and the general public interested in labor force and aging policy issues.

United States Tax Reform in the 21st Century

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United States Tax Reform in the 21st Century

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521803837

Book Description

Tax reform debates in the United States have for some time been dominated by the question of whether the existing corporate and individual income tax system should be replaced with some form of a national consumption tax. This book contains essays by a group of internationally recognized tax experts who describe the current state of the art in economic thinking on the issue of whether fundamental tax reform is preferable to continued incremental reform of the existing income tax. The collection covers a wide range of tax policy issues related to consumption tax reforms, including their economic effects, distributional consequences, effects on administrative and compliance costs, transitional issues and the political aspects of fundamental tax reform, and international comparisons.

Customer Reviews:

loved it.......2004-07-05

this is an amazing book!!! it has very good points!! you have to read it!!! you wont regret it!!

loved it.......2004-07-05

I thought this was the best tax reform book i have ever read. it had amazing points. it is the best book ever. you have to read it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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American Finance for the 21st Century
Robert E. Litan , and Jonathan Rauch
Manufacturer: Brookings Institution Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

As recently as thirty years ago, Americans lived in a financial world that today seems distant. Investment and borrowing choices were meager: virtually all transactions were conducted in cash or by check. The financial services industry was heavily regulated, as an outgrowth of the Depression, while an elaborate safety net was constructed to prevent a repeat of that dismal episode in American history. Today, consumers and businesses have a dizzying array of choices about where to invest and borrow. Plastic credit cards and electronic transfers increasingly are replacing cash and checks. Much regulation has been dismantled, although the industry remains fragmented by rules that continue to separate banks from other enterprises. Meanwhile, finance has gone global and increasingly high-tech. This book, originally prepared as a report to Congress by the Treasury Department, outlines a framework for setting policy toward the financial services industry in the coming decades. The authors, who worked closely with senior Treasury officials in developing their recommendations, identify three core principles that lie at the heart of that framework: an enhanced role for competition; a shift in emphasis from preventing failures of financial institutions at all cost toward containing the damage of any failures that inevitably occur in a competitive market; and a greater reliance on more targeted interventions to achieve policy goals rather than broad measures, such as flat prohibitions on certain activities.

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