About this title: In his acclaimed book "American Theocracy", Kevin Phillips warned of the perilous interaction of debt, financial recklessness, and the spiking cost (and growing scarcity) of oil - warnings that are proving to be frighteningly accurate. Now, in his most significant and timely book yet, Phillips takes the full measure of this crisis. They are part of what he calls 'bad money' - not just the depreciated dollar, but also the dangerous attitudes and the flawed products of wayward mega-finance. His devastating conclusion: In its hubris, the financial sector has hijacked the American economy and put ...
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Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Adult
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780670019076ISBN:0670019070
Description: Very good. 2008; Hardcover; No notes/hiliting; Good dustcover; Bumped corners; Clean pages; Lightly edgeworn dustcover; No dog-ears; Strong binding. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780143114802ISBN:0143114808
Description: Very Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in excellent condition. Pages are intact and are not marked by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. ******PLEASE NOTE****** Orders placed after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery before Christmas unless you select EXPEDITED shipping! Thank you & Happy Holidays! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2009-03-31
ISBN-13:9780143114802ISBN:0143114808
Description: Very Good. Some shelf wear on cover, pages in good reading condition. Ships promptly in a padded mailer w/ delivery confirmation. read more
Description: New. A Brand New Copy. Never Read. Buy with confidence from an Independent Bookstore where the owners, a husband and wife team, have over 30 years of combined bookselling experience. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Books
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780670019076ISBN:0670019070
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. excellent shape; no marks. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 256 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Date Published: 2009-03-31
ISBN-13:9780143114802ISBN:0143114808
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780143114802. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Adult
ISBN-13:9780670019076ISBN:0670019070
Description: Used-Good in Fair jacket. FIRST EDITION hardcover; Good Condition. DJ Fair Condition, Minor tears and wrinkles. clean pages; book has minor shelf wear; Tight spine uncreased; Reliable customer service and no-hassle return policy. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780143114802ISBN:0143114808
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"This book brings to mind two catch phrases from the character Dr. Smith on TV's "Lost in Space".
"We're doomed! Doomed!" and "Oh the pain, the pain!"
Apparently according to Phillips the US is one big debtor nation that as been just barely surviving on tricky finances. We have very little manufacturing and services are being placed offshore. The powers that be think this country can be run like one big Ponzi scheme. Well, it can't and we are rapidly moving to a plutocracy where there will be a vast majority of poor people run by a few wealthy elite."
""The potential U.S. embarrassment, which this chapter must weigh, is whether the emergency of a reckless, hubris-driven financial sector in early-twenty-first-century America is a sunset phenomenon like the lesser versions of Edwardian and pre-1914 Britain, eighteenth-century Holland, and early-seventeenth-century Spain, economically centered on the gold and silver entrepot of Seville and its port of Cadiz." (p. 185)
What does this mean?
This statement means that the current financial situation may further America's demise as the world's financial super power.
Author Kevin Phillips revised edition of "Bad Money" outlines the current financial crisis facing America and the world today, describes the changes in our financial structure over the past 150 plus years, and openly discusses issues that need to be discussed by lawmakers and the President as quickly as possible in order to slow down the train wreck our economy and reputation is on.
Even though the book is a bit "thick" at times with its use of financial language and economic concepts, Kevin Phillips does a great job at making it all "make sense" without belittling the intelligence or turning off the average American reader. At one point in the book, he even called Americans out on our ignorance:
"Many people today think hat today's finance is too complicated for ordinary citizens to fathom or handle. Bubbles aside, other financial terms used by the media - credit derivatives, securitization, and even current account deficit - do not lend themselves to conversations in neighborhood bars or beauty parlors. Americans are excusing themselves accordingly. Still, if the farmers of more than a century ago could study and understand Sherman Silver Purchase Act provisions and details of the nationwide currency shrinkage - and many studied and somehow managed - can't we expect as much today? Alas, probably not.
That last part made me sad because the author is probably right.
I have very little background in finance and economics and I was able to take a lot from this book. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to understand our current financial situation and to those wondering what America's place on the global scene will be in five, ten, even fifty years."
"Economics and finance are outside my field, so I can't make any solid claims about how this book stacks up compared to others. I can claim that this is the most accessible and readable book I've come across yet on the topic. To be more precise, the several topics, as Phillips ties together several intertwined threads related to international economics and finance. Perhaps most notable and interesting for today are the chapters on oil and "Bullnomics" in light of current events. But rather than just tossing these topics out there with a handful of buzzwords, Phillips craftily ties them into the other related issues that have not attracted as much attention. At least not yet.
On the cover of the edition I've been reading (2009 release) it quotes Bill Moyers as saying something to the effect of, "If you read one book on the economic crisis, read this one." I agree wholeheartedly that this is probably the best summary and explanation out there, but this book goes well beyond the issues of the most recent events and goes deeper into the causes of how all this came about (reaching back, 30 or 100 or 400 years for examples and comparisons).
Phillips's prose is light and accessible, not overly technical, and full of straight-forward examples instead of (all too common) rhetoric and abstract discussion of general principles. There are too many "get rich quick with these simple investment principles" and "how to be a hedge fund manager" books out there; this isn't one of them. He treats the material seriously and openly, and seems to have no particular axe to grind. Anyone with a high school education shouldn't struggle too much and should be able to gloss over some of the vocab without losing the message. This book sets the standard for explaining economics and finance to people who don't study economics and finance."
"Read this when the economy started sliding. Phillips is very smart, and I fear that he is right that this will be a very long term downturn. His main thesis is that the financial services industry became too large a part of our GDP, and since it doesn't actually produce anything other than paper wealth, it was not a long term source of growth."
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