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Globalization and Its Discontents: Essays on the New Mobility of People and Money

Average customer rating:

brilliant ideas, mediocre writing
Warning: Contents Older than Globalization
Muddled and Confused
Globalization and Its Disappointments
Actually 4 and a Half

Globalization and Its Discontents: Essays on the New Mobility of People and Money
Saskia Sassen
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo.
The New Asian Immigration in Los Angeles and Global Restructuring (Asian American History and Culture)
The Cultures of Globalization (Post-Contemporary Interventions)
Between Two Worlds: Mexican Immigrants in the United States (Jaguar Books on Latin America)
Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages

ASIN: 1565845188

Book Description

Groundbreaking essays on the new global economy from an "expert observer" (Forecast). Saskia Sassen is an internationally recognized expert on globalization whose writings have appeared in journals and magazines worldwide. Now available in paperback, Globalization and Its Discontents is a collection of Sassen's essays dealing with topics such as the "global city," gender and migration (reconceived as the globalization of labor), information technology, and the new dynamics of inequality. Sassen brings together cultural and literary studies, feminist theory, political economics, sociology, and political science, showing how vast the chasm between metropolitan business centers and low-income inner cities has become. Incisive and original, she takes on common political, cultural, and economic misconceptions of globalization and offers a thoughtful, provocative new look at our increasingly global society.

Customer Reviews:

brilliant ideas, mediocre writing.......2005-11-08

This is probably as good an introduction to Sassen's work as any, as she covers most of her major ideas with relative brevity. The title is rather misleading (as is the case of Stiglitz's (later published) work of the same name)--she focuses on the dynamics and effects of globalization and does not discuss organized resistance by social movements to it. Sassen sees three macro-level phenomena at work--the hypermobility of capital, the "unbundling" of state sovereignty, and the rise of global cities. It is the last of these ideas for which she is probably best known. She does not really get into an analysis of the hypermobility of capital here, but many other authors have covered that matter. Her analyses of the unbundling of state sovereignty and the rise of global cities are far more original. Against the background of these macro-phenomena, Sassen also analyzes the rise of the service economy, immigration patterns, and the changing roles of women.

I'm not sure how to fairly summarize Sassen's ideas in a brief review. To hit the high points, she argues that as systems of international law grow, the traditional sovereignty of the state is transformed, with its pieces of it being unbundles and some elements being transferred to international organizations, such as the UN and WTO. There are actually two distinct international law regimes--the human rights regime and the more powerful neoliberal regime, enforced by the likes of the WTO and IMF. This neoliberal regime has enabled the rise of the global economy.

Contrary to all the hype about globalization, the internet, and a "dematerialized" economy though, Sassen argues that the politics of place remain as important ever. This brings her to her analysis of global cities. If we are to have the high speed communications created by the internet, we need a physical infrastructure for it, fiber-optic cables and all that--a seemingly obvious point, but one often overlooked. This infrastructure is not evenly distributed either internationally or nationally. It is in fact concentrated in global cities, most of which are, not coincidentally, in the first world. The three chief global cities are, in fact, New York, London, and Tokyo. These global cities are at the heart of the new service sector that is so important to the global economy. As corporations' operations are more globally decentralized, power--control of these operations--has become more centralized in the global cities, which have the telecommunications infrastructure to do all the necessary coordinating of information.

Much of this coordination is in fact outsourced to specialized corporations providing services to the other corporations, in such fields as accounting, insurance and--the truly dominant force in gloablization--finances. These corporations are staffed by a new professional class, which has moved to the city, abondonning the suburbs, demanding upscale services. The downside of this is the shrinking of the traditional middle-class and the old economy based on mass production, mass consumption, and mass prosprity. Instead what is growing is a poor working class of workers providing personal (as opposed to corporate) services (such as house-cleaning, child care, janitorial services, or retail), often to the professionals who work doing corporate services. Thus there is a growing economic divide in the global cities. A disproportionate number of the people working in the poorly paid personal service sector are women and immigrants.

Sassen notes that, not only is globalization responsible for the rise of the poorly paid service sector, but immigration as well. Contrary to popular myths that the best way to stop immigration is to encourage foreign investment in immigrant-sending countries and create jobs there, Sassen actually argues that this creates more immigration, not less. Current patterns of foreign investment tend to exacerbate poverty, not cure it. And by working for foreign companies, workers gain some familiarity with the cultures of the US, Europe and increasingly Japan. This familiarity makes it easier for them to then immigrate to the first world in search of work. And there are a lot of other ideas I'm leaving out.

So, if I think this book is so brilliant, why am I only giving it four stars? Poor writing. As a previous reviewer noted, all the essays in this book were previously published elsewhere. I don't think this makes this book worthless (and therefore worthy of only one star)--it is convenient to have them gathered all in one place--but it does make the book somewhat disjointed and repetitive. But original works by Sassen, such as /Global City/, have the same problem. The fact is, despite her intellectual brilliance, she is a poor writer. Mind you, she is not like some writers, such as Hegel or Baudrillard, who seem to revel in their own incomprehensibility. She can be understood, but her writing is often something of a slog. She needs a good editor or some writing lessons.

Despite that, this book is definitely worth reading if you want to explore in-depth some important, unorthodox ideas about globalization.

Warning: Contents Older than Globalization.......2002-09-29

What purports to be a book on globalization is actually only peripherally about globalization writ large. Sassen is interested in more specific aspects of globalization: its impact on migration (the huge theme of this book), its place-specificity, and its resultant dispersal of powers that used to belong solely to the nation-state. Her points are good, but you don't need this book to get them, since she's made them all elsewhere and ages ago; in brief, the occasional new insights are not worth it.

Sassen's biggest contribution to the theorization of globalization is her attention to the global city, which she posits as a site of the physical infrastructure that enables the more diffuse projections of the world market. In these cities (like New York, L.A., Tokyo, London, Rio, etc.), high-wage, white-collar workers brush against the low-wage, largely immigrant diasporae that keep the global city running; immigrants form blocs that see a certain degree of enfranchisement and force adjustments in transnational immigration law; and globalization marches on. It's interesting stuff, but it's not new. Sassen's own book on "The Global City" scoops these chapters. And that's pretty much true of the rest of the book.

The two chapters on gender and globalization are much more valuable (and more recent) here, as she starts in on what she calls "the unbundling of sovereignty," the appropriation of political punch from nation-states and the relocation of it into the hands of NGOs and the global market. Unfortunately, while she opens up a great area of inquiry, she doesn't take it very far at all, "since the effort here was not to gain closure but to open up an analytic field." As they stand, these chapters are frustratingly suggestive but ultimately not very thorough or useful. Hopefully she'll revisit the theme later.

The stylistic question is a thorny one; several reviewers have already blasted Sassen for the way she writes. She's certainly not the easiest read, and her incessant neologisms are annoying. ("Operationalizing"? Can we not say, "making operational"?) You can fault her for that. But you can't fault her for writing like a sociologist, and that is largely how she writes. It's dry, there are charts and facts and figures, but the prose is economical and fairly clear (fake words aside!).

By and large, though, this isn't a must-read. If you're really interested, check out her books, "The Global City" and "The Mobility of Labor and Capital." They treat the same subjects, but in more useful detail.

Muddled and Confused.......2002-02-21

This book suffers from the kind of obfuscated language that a growing number of scholars seem to be able to get away with. Don't get me wrong: there are some interesting ideas in here. But their rewards do not outweigh the costs of sifting through the jargon-laden prose. The author should take a basic writing course.

Globalization and Its Disappointments.......2000-11-16

I had much hope for this book. I was expecting a work which would shift debates about globalization in a new direction. What we get, on the other hand, is poorly written, badly argued, and repetitive work that offers very little in the way of substantive theory or analysis.

The book is a collection of essays that Sassen has published elsewhere between 1984 and 1997. Except for the introduction, there is no new material here. Furthermore, in many cases the content of one article is reproduced in another article in the book. Rather than reinforcing important arguments, it seems clear that Sassen is trying to get as much mileage possible out of her work. It doesn't work.

The book contains hundreds of endnotes (in many cases they contain the most important information) which should have been incorporated into the text. Furthermore, she offers no conclusion to her analysis and the last chapter itself is quite unsatisfactory.

In short, this book is poorly written, tedious, and unoriginal.

Actually 4 and a Half.......2000-06-13

An excellent overview of the changing conditions of the Global Cities and a fresh look after her excellent book "Global Cities". Especially liked the essays about the concentration of power and wealth in cities like New York, London or Tokyo amid the exploitation of cheap immigrant labor.

Essential fro everybody who's trying to understand the processes that have lead so many to oppose globablization trends the GATT and NAFTA agreements and others that keep changing the worl we live in

Maestro: Greenspan's Fed And The American Boom

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I Can't Believe I LOVED a Book on Greenspan!
Maestro
How to feel your way to the correct interest rate
Fed primer
Fed Chief Profile Okay But Dry

Maestro: Greenspan's Fed And The American Boom
Bob Woodward
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
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Binding: Hardcover

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The Commanders
Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987
Shadow : Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate
The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House
An Introduction to Financial Markets and Institutions

ASIN: 0743204123
Release Date: 2000-11-14

Amazon.com

Bob Woodward called his biography of Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan Maestro for two reasons. First, Greenspan is a musician. He started out as a Julliard-trained jazz sax man. "He wasn't a good improviser," Woodward reports. And while the other guys got stoned all night, Greenspan "read economics and business books and eventually became the band's bookkeeper." He also cultivated powerful pals, like Ayn Rand, whose coterie dubbed the dour young man "The Undertaker."

More profoundly, Greenspan is a maestro, a conductor, exquisitely attuned to every instrument in the political and economic orchestra. He rules by consensus, but with a firm hand and notoriously inscrutable words. Marvelously, Woodward relates that Greenspan had to propose twice to his wife, the violinist-turned-TV news star Andrea Mitchell, before she understood: "His verbal obscurity and caution were so ingrained that Mitchell didn't even know that he had asked her to marry him." Woodward gives us the inside story of what Greenspan really thinks and how he outmaneuvered the most ruthless politicians on earth in some of the hairiest times imaginable, from the 1987 stock market crash to the 1994-95 Mexican crisis to the stomach-churning turn of the century. It turns out that for all his awesome knowledge of monetary minutiae, the Fed chief literally relies on "a pain in the pit of my stomach" to make decisions. "At times, he found his body sensed danger before his head," writes Woodward. The Fed chief also adapts Einstein's technique to economics, hunting for discrepancies as keys to deeper theories. Einstein made breakthroughs out of bent light; Greenspan deduced productivity gains that government statisticians had overlooked for years. (The gains appeared when Greenspan made the statisticians calculate productivity by business sector, the way it's done in the real world.)

Woodward's prose is cool and rational, not exuberant. But if you're into economics and politics, you'll find a rich gossip trove here. Who knew Reagan had a draft of a presidential order to shut down Wall Street trading at hand in 1987? Scary! Reading Maestro is better than sitting with Greenspan in his famous tub as he charts your future--it's like being right there inside his head. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

In eight Tuesdays each year, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan convenes a small committee to set the short-term interest rate that can move through the American and world economies like an electric jolt. As much as any, the committee's actions determine the economic well-being of every American. The availability of money for business or consumer loans, mortgages, job creation and overall national economic growth flows from those decisions. Perhaps the last Washington secret is how the Federal Reserve and its enigmatic chairman, Alan Greenspan, operate. In Maestro, Bob Woodward takes you inside the Fed and Greenspan's thinking. We listen to the Fed's internal debates as the American economy is pushed into a historic 10-year expansion while the world economy lurches from financial crisis to financial crisis. Greenspan plays a sometimes subtle, sometimes blunt behind-the-scenes role. He appears in Maestro up close as never before -- alternately nervous and calm, plunging into mathematics one moment and politics the next, skeptical, dispassionate, always struggling -- often alone.

Maestro traces a fascinating intellectual journey as Greenspan, an old-school anti-inflation hawk of the traditional economy, is among the first to realize the potential in the modern, high-productivity new economy -- the foundation of the current American boom. Woodward's account of the Greenspan years is a remarkable portrait of a man who has become the symbol of American economic preeminence.

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Woodward's bestselling "The Agenda" presented a thrilling, intimate portrait of the making of economic policy during President Clinton's first year in office. The author now returns to the economic arena to examine why and how the present boom came to be.

Customer Reviews:

I Can't Believe I LOVED a Book on Greenspan!.......2007-04-10

I read this book wanting to be better informed about how The Fed and Greenspan operate, and wound up being nicely informed and entertained. Understanding how banks, the White House and political appointments co-exist in the field of economics, I never thought I would ever use the phrase "hard-to-put-down" in connection with an economics/banking book but this one really did it for me. It is a genuine page turner and definitely Woodward's most underrated and under-discussed books. (No caller mentioned this work during his 3-hour C-Span interview a few months back.) Get your hands on a copy of this book and prepare for an interesting and enjoyable ride. My one complaint: I wish it were longer. Although this book answered all my "Fed" questions, I wished its time track would continue to the present, or perhaps delve a little deeper into the past. But this minor complaint notwithstanding, the book was an excellent and engaging read.

Maestro.......2006-12-02

First, a brief note about what others have stated about the author and his relationship with the "establishment." Bob Woodward has always gotten close to the sources and heart of the story. It seems Woodward is inside and part of the system much moreso than than simply observing and reporting about it from the outside. In "Maestro," perhaps such conjecture is irrelevant. (Some biographers are more sympathetic to the subject.) If one is on the inside he/she has greater access to corroborated information and gets to know what's really going on behind the scenes.

The downside is that a person can also develop relationships with the people they write about (e.g. become friends, or admiring acquaintances). Insider or not, Woodward is and has been....a part of the establishment. But this isn't necessarily a reason to take anything away from him in this book. Woodward provides lots of details into Greenspan, the FOMC, and daily working of the Fed, as well as the politics and motivations behind individual and institutional actions.

This bio starts with brief glimpses into Greenspan's parents, his upbringing, and school days. It then moves to his young adulthood and formative years. The young Greenspan was 26 when he met philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand. He held many discussions with her and became a part of her inner circle. Then, as now, Greenspan believes in the philosophy of "Logical Positivism," which asserts that "nothing could be known rationally with total certainty."

"Maestro" spends a lot of time on the workings, structure, and politics of the Fed. As for the structure of the Federal Reserve Board, the President appoints board members to the Fed and the Senate confirms them, to a term of 14 years. These lengthy terms are designed to position the board members above politics. The appointments however, are influential and political. The Secretary of Treasury traditionally acts as a liaison between the administration and board members.

The FOMC is the Federal Open Market Committee, (then) chaired by By Greenspan. The FOMC has 12 voting members, seven of which which, are Fed Governors. 5 of are presidents (out of a total of twelve) of the Federal Reserve district banks in the U.S. The FOMC meets every six weeks to discuss and set the the short-term funds rate.

This book also notes how Greenspan's statements are interpreted by the media and the markets that react to them.

Greenspan's famous and carefully crafted ambiguous statements are misinterpreted, oversimplified, and over-reacted to constantly by the 'talking heads' and knee-jerk profit takers and short-termers.

It's become so common in recent years to listen to talking heads Analyze phrases, words, and sentences given by Greenspan (and now Bernanke) when they present reports and testimony. Below is one example of what commonly happens after the Fed Chairman utters his alphabet soup of ambiguity, as in this 1995 comment from Allen Greenspan:

"I don't see any problem that really disturb me" followed by, "As a consequence of the sluggish economic outlook, the probabilities, as some of my colleagues have indicated, of a recession have edged up, as indeed one would expect." This statement was made in 1995 at an international banking conference in Seattle .

Here are two major headlines responses to this statement:

"Greenspan Sees Chance of Recession" --The New York Times.

"Recession Is Unlikely, Greenspan Concludes" --The Washington Post.

Greenspan refers to these responses by the media and talking heads as "Constructive Ambiguity" (p. 147).

The Chairman of the Federal Reserve and board is considered to be the most important position in the governance and overseeing of the U.S. economy. This book makes a mundane topic and institution interesting.

One thing I liked about Greenspan. He believed in an "institutional rule of survival" in Washington: bring the bad news yourself. Look people in the eye, lay out the facts, and be direct (p. 53).

Some people think there is an element of fawning in this biography. Sometimes there seems to be some subtle praise. Aside from this, the media's categorization of Greenspan as a 'rock star' is oversimplified. It seems Woodward liked Greenspan's tenure. A lot of people did.

How to feel your way to the correct interest rate.......2006-05-03

Woodward will give you a feel for how Greenspan feels (this feeling is developed from massive amounts of economic dated and dicussions with other experts) his way along to a decision on interest rates. There is no clear-cut method for getting the interest rates to just the right level. Now that Greenspan is gone and left us with a boom, we have to be concerned that Ben Bernanke will also develop just the right feel. And probably more importantly--may he be just as lucky as Alan Greenspan.

Fed primer.......2005-10-01

A great intro to our central banking system that shows us just how tenuously we sway between prosperity and decay, and how guys like Alan Greenspan ride the serpent in the hopes they can get it to go where they want it to, with mixed results. I find it nothing short of existentially frightening that the best economists in the world really don't fully understand how modern macroeconomics works, and that our most important fiscal policies are based on incomplete models.

Basically, according to Woodward, Greenpan suggests that Clinton pay down the national debt to lower long term bond rates, which coupled with the tech explosion, results in the fat times those in stocks enjoyed under Clinton. Greenspan, always cautious of an economy wild with risk and speculation that could rubberband into a recession, apparently didn't put the brakes on hard enough, but he did try without kiboshing the prosperity. Ergo, the American Boom. The book does an adequate job discussing the boom and Greenspan's positive effects on it-but of course would be a more complete volume if it chronicled the tough times we are now going through because we rode high on the hog in the 90s.

Fed Chief Profile Okay But Dry.......2005-09-30

From 1987 to 1999, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan presided over one of the most remarkable economic turnarounds ever recorded. Just two months after he took office, the New York Stock Exchange had its single worst day ever, losing over a fifth of its total value and plunging below 2,000 points. Twelve years later, Greenspan was accepting plaudits from a grateful nation as the same index floated toward 12,000.

What did he do right?

It's a question author Bob Woodward leaves unanswered. Woodward of course is the digging reporter best known for uncovering government secrets. But he's no analyst, and he doesn't tie himself down to taking specific positions about what Greenspan does right so much as report (mostly anonymous) opinions from others.

By alternately holding off on interest rate cuts and hastening to increase them, Greenspan provides discipline in an era of what he memorably calls "irrational exuberance." While staffers in his office wonder what drives such growth, Greenspan seizes on employee productivity as the right metric to track.

But is Greenspan really the "Maestro" of Woodward's title? Woodward himself hedges his bets. "The economy had to grow on its own," Woodward writes. "The Fed couldn't make it happen."

Using anonymous quotes is a Woodward trademark, but it doesn't really serve the book. Firstly, Woodward gives away who talked to him by reading their thoughts in the narrative, a style that quickly grates. Also, there's not enough dish given here to merit the Deep Throating. Greenspan blandly asserts his authority over the other Fed governors while providing such non-memorable soundbites as: "If we had complete capability of seeing into the future, this would be an easy job, but obviously we don't have that."

Greenspan's life before, and outside of, the Fed is treated with suspect deference. Forget Greenspan's formative association with famed "virtue of selfishness" harpy Ayn Rand. Woodward only touches on it to point up Greenspan's intelligence, not his controversially libertarian leanings.

Woodward does a much better job explaining some critical moments in Greenspan's tenure. It's here "Maestro" is pretty effective, beginning with Greenspan's handling of Black Monday in October 1987, the day of that big 500-point Dow dip. Woodward also shows how well Greenspan worked with President Bill Clinton, who managed to turn around the deficit spending of his Republican predecessors and find the financial sturdiness under which America could enjoy its unprecedented bull market. "I couldn't have done it without what you did on deficit reduction," Greenspan tells a misty Clinton on the eve of the latter's departure.

Of course another reason for that bull market is the fact those same freespending Republican predecessors used their deficit spending to victoriously end an expensive Cold War, permitting Clinton's cutbacks. Woodward doesn't get into that, not surprisingly, especially since Greenspan had nothing to do with it.

What I liked about this book was the understanding it gave me of an aspect of governance I didn't know much about before. It's actually pretty readable for a layman like me. But ultimately "Maestro" may boil down to a case of the wrong author for the story.

The Economic and Business Consequences of the EMU: A Challenge for Governments, Financial Institutions and Firms

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The Economic and Business Consequences of the EMU: A Challenge for Governments, Financial Institutions and Firms

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792379640

Book Description

The European Monetary Union (EMU) got under way on 1 January 1999. Since then 11 European countries share a common currency, the Euro, and pursue a common monetary policy managed by the European Central Bank (ECB). After forty years of economic integration, Europe has the wherewithal with which to enter the 21st century. However monetary union has implications for nearly all areas of economic activity and decision-making. Throughout the academic world researchers are fully occupied with the theoretical analysis of the impact of the Euro and the effects of incorporating the new operational framework into their economic models. Businesses and government departments are concerned primarily with the practical implementation of the single currency. For all those who play a part in the economy, it is a question of making the most of the macro and microeconomic opportunities offered by the Euro and minimizing any threats.
The Economic and Business Consequences of the EMU describes the economic consequences of the introduction of the EMU and the Euro for governments, financial institutions and firms. The volume,s aims are threefold:

To make a first assessment after about a year=s experience with Economic and Monetary Union;
To examine the impact of EMU and the introduction of the Euro in various areas of economic policy, involving both government and the corporate sector including the banking industry;
To provide an insight into the challenges that the Euro offers for the coming years with respect both to macro-economic policy and the development of the financial markets and with respect to business management.

The Motley Fool's Money After 40: Building Wealth for a Better Life

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Decent advice, if a little vague and too-cute
Your additional feedback welcomed!
Self Promoting Charlatans in Jester Hats
A retirement book for the boomer generation
This book is great!

The Motley Fool's Money After 40: Building Wealth for a Better Life
David Gardner , and Tom Gardner
Manufacturer: Fireside
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The Motley Fool Investment Workbook (Motley Fool Books)

ASIN: 0743229991

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With their famous wit, seasoned advice, and impeccable business savvy, the bestselling financial duo shows baby boomers how to build wealth and security -- and how to afford anything they want when the work is done.

Whether retirement is on the distant horizon or right under your nose, The Motley Fool's Money After 40 is for anyone who wants a stable future free from financial anxiety. Baby boomers will learn how to fortify their portfolios to weather any economic climate and live the life they want regardless of the market's peaks and valleys.

Applying the principles of commonsense money management, David and Tom Gardner first explain how to predict what you will need and desire when you stop working. Do you want to volunteer in the community? Do you want the resources to turn a hobby into a small business? Do you want to build an addition to your house for grandchildren? In plain language, the Gardners guide you in creating realistic financial goals. From owning the right size home to affording sufficient health coverage, from sending your kids to college to taking that exotic vacation, The Motley Fool's Money After 40 explains how to:

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The good life is within your reach under the tutelage of the Fools.

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"With their famous wit, seasoned advice, and impeccable business savvy, the bestselling financial duo shows baby boomers how to build wealth and security -- and how to afford anything they want when the work is done. Whether retirement is on the distant horizon or right under your nose, The Motley Fool's Money After 40 is for anyone who wants a stable future free from financial anxiety. Baby boomers will learn how to fortify their portfolios to weather any economic climate and live the life they want regardless of the market's peaks and valleys. Applying the principles of commonsense money management, David and Tom Gardner first explain how to predict what you will need and desire when you stop working. Do you want to volunteer in the community? Do you want the resources to turn a hobby into a small business? Do you want to build an addition to your house for grandchildren? In plain language, the Gardners guide you in creating realistic financial goals. From owning the right size home to affording sufficient health coverage, from sending your kids to college to taking that exotic vacation, The Motley Fool's Money After 40 explains how to: Organize your finances to preserve the funds you already have Master estate planning Create and protect wealth for your children and grandchildren Live a healthy, productive life free from anxiety and spiced with adventure Using real-life examples and action plans that eliminate the drudgery of managing your income, David and Tom Gardner will help you understand exactly how to draw up financial plans sturdy enough to transport dreams. Designed to simultaneously educate, amuse, and enrich the reader, The Motley Fool's Money After 40 is a one-stop financial guidebook for gilding your golden years. The good life is within your reach under the tutelage of the Fools. "

Customer Reviews:

Decent advice, if a little vague and too-cute.......2005-06-13

David and Tom Gardner's writing style seems to try to imitate their speaking style on their NPR show, but it doesn't always translate well to the page. Some of their off-the-cuff humor is actually funny, but much of it just gets in the way.

Nonetheless, they've compiled a decent collection of all the things we boomers need to think about as we near the end of our regular working days. They ask us to think about why we want to "retire" (while shunning the word as sounding too much like withdrawing, which is not what a good retirement is about); they help us figure out how much we'll need; they remind us about such topics as health care, long-term care, caring for our parents, and estate planning.

Although much of the information was a bit vague (mainly because no one book can describe the best plan for everyone), I found many useful tips and resources (I've bookmarked dozens of websites) in every chapter, including the chapter on saving for your kid's college education, despite the fact that I have no children. (I do, however, have nieces and nephews, who might just benefit from one of the tips...)

If you read this book, you should make sure you read other financial-type books too (Suze Orman and Jean Chatzky are two authors whose books I've liked, and I have one from Money Magazine in my queue), as differing viewpoints will empower you to discover what's right for you in your situation.

Your additional feedback welcomed!.......2004-07-16

As with all of our books, we love to hear your comments, whether positive words or constructive criticism. We particularly benefit from the latter as we eventually take our books from hard-cover to paperback, so if you have any corrections or other suggestions, our organization would love to hear from you -- you can e-mail our Fool team at CS@Fool.com.

Tom and I put a lot of work into this book and have had many others breathe life into it, from great customer anecdotes and Motley Fool stories to numerous quotations from a variety of well-known business leaders and celebs via our NPR show. As with all Motley Fool books, it's our hope that we have educated, amused, and enriched you, and that you're inspired to make better financial decisions as a result. Foolish best! --DG

Self Promoting Charlatans in Jester Hats.......2004-07-04

Why anybody would buy an investment book from these hucksters is beyond me. Take a look at their book "Rule Makers, Rule Breakers", written during the bubble and still available via Amazon even though the Gardners no longer use those approaches to investing. The Gardners ran two real money portfolios based on those convoluted and untested theories that were quietly shut down after horrible performance in the post-bubble period from 2000-2002. Why wouldn't they ask their publisher to withdraw the book?

After their previous investing methods (Rule Maker, Rule Breaker, Foolish Four, etc.) were thoroughly discredited in the 2000-2002 bear market, the Gardners reemerged and started marketing investment newsletters based on a wide variety of new untested approaches. One of them, "Hidden Gems", specializes in recommending small, illiquid stocks which are sure to get a quick pop when the novice newsletter subscribers buy the recommendations. One of their books, "The Motley Fool Investment Guide" had bashed investment newsletters for calculating their performance by using purchase prices for stocks prior to when their recommendations were made public (i.e. the people that actually bought them would have paid more). Now that the Gardners are in the newsletter business, that's exactly what they do to inflate their own performance numbers. They're apparently incapable of shame.

How is it that these 2 guys who had the arrogance to start giving investment advice to the masses when they were barely out of college, have the time to host a weekly NPR radio show, write a never ending stream of books, write a syndicated newspaper column, run a business (The Motley Fool, with message boards, newsletters, etc.) AND research stocks?

Underneath the Gardners shtick (the "fools" versus the "wise, etc.) and the cutesy-poo writing are two guys that, like Wall Street and most of the mutual fund industry, will do anything for a buck. Don't fall for it.

If you're looking for a book on investing for retirement that is written by somebody competent and honest, I'd recommend John Bogle's book. Bogle, who ran Vanguard and brought low cost index funds to the masses, is a legend in the investment business and a true friend of small investors. You'll be better off getting investment advice from Bogle than a couple of fools.

A retirement book for the boomer generation.......2004-06-18

David and Tom Gardner walk the reader through retirement planning in their usual good-natured style. Everything is covered here for us age-phobic boomers, such as investments, insurance, housing, social security, health care, educating our kids and taking care of our aging parents. I particularly liked their suggestions about the need to downsize our oversized houses and to sell off our excess possessions on eBay (presumably to unsuspecting members of Generations X and Y). A well-written and sensible book. Now all I need is enough common sense to follow their advice.

This book is great!.......2004-06-09

I've read several of The Motley Fool books and this one is great!

Towards a New Paradigm in Monetary Economics (Raffaele Mattioli Lectures)

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Learn current Banking Reality & What the Future Holds

Towards a New Paradigm in Monetary Economics (Raffaele Mattioli Lectures)
Joseph E. Stiglitz , and Bruce Greenwald
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Fair Trade for All: How Trade Can Promote Development (Initiative for Policy Dialogue Series C)
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ASIN: 0521008050

Book Description

Expanding upon the literature of new institutional economics, the first part of this study stresses the significance of imperfections in information, bankruptcy and banks. The second part examines the policy implications of the new paradigm emphasizing loanable fund demand and supply, and demonstrates its relevance to our understanding of two recent historical episodes--the East Asian financial crisis and the 1991 U.S. recession and subsequent recovery and boom.

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Learn current Banking Reality & What the Future Holds.......2005-04-24

First off I am not a not an economist. Bought this book because I am very interested in how current monetary system works and what the future holds. This book fortunatly covers both topics; in great detail. The book goes over the advantages and disadvantages of the current way, how banks lend to grow the economy. It then goes over how that is being transformed and what we can expect in the future. The book is not as dry as most hard-core academic books, it is readible. My goal is to have a broad understanding of how the financial system of our world works, and this book did a great job of helping me understand. It does have a few advanced mathematical equations, I do not know how to solve them but they were very well explained...so at least I do understand what the equations are for. Great book it might be worth it to look for more books in the Raffaele Mattioli Lecture series.

International Finance and Open-Economy Macroeconomics

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International Finance and Open-Economy Macroeconomics
Giancarlo Gandolfo
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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International Trade Theory and Policy
Microeconometrics: Methods and Applications
Advanced International Trade: Theory and Evidence
Microeconomic Theory
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ASIN: 3540417303

Book Description

This book deals with the financial side of international economics and covers all aspects of international finance. "Prof. Gandolfo has written what will be a classic in international finance. His erudition, expository and technical skills are combined to fulfil the needs of undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and staff members in international economic organisations. The literary part is clear, and the underlying intuition of the arguments is stressed. This is followed by a mathematical analysis, which uses the state of the art techniques. In this manner the reader can go from the intuition-literary argument to the formal derivations and proofs. There are many books and articles by exponents of alternative points of view. I know of no other book that provides the scope, balance, objectivity and rigor of the book." (Professor Jerome L. Stein, Brown University)

Keynes's General Theory, the Rate of Interest and 'Keynesian' Economics

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Provides a correct overview of Keynes's preventive policies

Keynes's General Theory, the Rate of Interest and 'Keynesian' Economics
Geoff Tily
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1403996288
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Book Description

This book argues that Keynesian economists have betrayed Keynes's theory and policy conclusions. Keynesian economics has not merely led to an easily dismissed justification for 'Keynesian' policies, but the world has been grossly misled about just what those policies are. Keynesians have focused attention exclusively on policies for dealing with effects of economic failure as they arise, whereas in contrast, Keynes was concerned with the cause and then the prevention of economic failure. While these effects can be addressed with fiscal policy, the cause and prevention was a matter for monetary policy. Keynes's legacy is that of national and international policy measures that permit the necessary control over the financial system.

Customer Reviews:

Provides a correct overview of Keynes's preventive policies.......2006-06-29

Tily has written a very good book examining the policies laid down by Keynes to help prevent the occurrences of recessions and depressions in the first place.Keynes relies on his generalized quantity theory of money as laid out in chapter 21 of the General Theory,although this is overlooked by Tily.Keynes's generalized general theory is expressed by the condition w/p=mpl/e,where e=Mdp/pdM as defined by Keynes on p.305 of the GT.If e=1,then w/p=mpl and you have a full employment equilibrium in the aggregate labor market,where w is the money wage ,p is the expected price level,and mpl is the marginal product of labor derived from an aggregated neoclassical production function(see p.283 and p.285 of the GT).If e <1,then you have a set of multiple unemployment equilibriums.Keynes's monetary policy prescription is to require that the interest rate be fixed at a low rate.This prescription goes back to the policies of the Thomistic scholastic philosophers and Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations(see WN,1776,pp.338-340).In fact,Smith's and Keynes's policy prescriptions are identical(GT,p.352).They require that the unsatisfied fringe of borrowers must consist of currency speculators,leveraged buyout artists,and stock market speculators(projectors) using margin account loans to leverage their stock holdings.Credit would have to be skewed away from these individuals by policy actions of the central bank.Keynes's policy is thus one of permanent easy money where all bank loans are made to individuals who intend to use it to attain or rent productive capital goods,build houses, construct factories,etc.Tily does not emphasize sufficiently Keynes's warning that the forces of banking and finance will oppose such a policy,making it practically impossible to implement.The policy is correct in theory,but is not practical to actually implement.This is where the promulgation of Bismarck's social welfare state or a negative income tax system comes into play.The deleterious impacts of a speculator-casino " crony capitalism " can be mitigated by such policies.

The Strategy and Consistency of Federal Reserve Monetary Policy, 19241933 (Studies in Macroeconomic History)

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The Strategy and Consistency of Federal Reserve Monetary Policy, 19241933 (Studies in Macroeconomic History)
David C. Wheelock
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521391555

Book Description

Today, most scholars agree that mismanaged monetary policy contributed to the length and severity of the Great Depression. There is little agreement, however, about the causes of the Federal Reserve's mistakes. Some argue that leadership and other organizational changes prior to the depression caused a distinct change in policy strategy that lessened the Fed's responsiveness to economic conditions, while others contend that there was no change in the Fed's behavior, and that errors during the depression are traceable to previous policies. This book examines the policy strategy developed by the Federal Reserve during the 1920s and considers whether its continued use could explain the Fed's failure to respond vigorously to the depression. It also studies the effects on policy of the institutional changes occurring prior to the depression. While these changes enhanced the authority of officials who opposed open-market purchases and also caused some upward bias in discount rates, Wheelock concludes that monetary policy during the depression was in fact largely a continuation of the previous policy. The apparent contrast in Fed responsiveness to economic conditions between the 1920s and early 1930s resulted from the consistent use of a procyclical policy strategy that caused the Fed to respond more vigorously to minor recessions than to severe depressions.

Positive Political Economy: Theory and Evidence

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Positive Political Economy: Theory and Evidence

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521572150

Book Description

Positive Political Economy investigates how observed differences in institutions affect political and economic outcomes in various social, economic and political systems. It also examines how the institutions themselves change and develop in response to individual and collective beliefs, preferences and strategies. This volume tackles both monetary and real topics in an integrated way, and represents the first coherent empirical investigation of positive models of political economy.

The Theory of Monetary Aggregation (Contributions to Economic Analysis)

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The Theory of Monetary Aggregation (Contributions to Economic Analysis)

Manufacturer: North Holland
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0444501193

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In recent years, there has been renewed interest in index number and aggregation theory, since the two previously divergent fields have been successfully unified. The underlying aggregator functions which are weakly separable subfunctions of utility and production functions, are the building blocks of economic theory, and the derivation of index numbers based upon their ability to track those building blocks is now called the "economic theory of index numbers."

William Barnett, the coeditor of this volume, introduced modern economic index number theory into monetary economics. His merger of economic index number theory, with monetary theory was based upon the use of Diewert's approach to producing "superlative" nonparametric approximations to the theoretically exact aggregator functions. This book comprises a focussed and unified collection of Barnett's most important publications in this area.

The papers in the book have been organized into logical sections, with unifying introductions and overviews. The result is a systematic development of the state of the art in monetary and financial aggregation theory. The sections cover the origin of the user cost price of monetary services. Exact aggregation of monetary assets on the demand side for consumers and firms, and on the supply side for financial intermediaries, general equilibrium of all economic agents' demands and supplies, dynamic solution of the exact system, and extension to monetary aggregation under risk. The extension of index number theory to the case of risk is completely general, and can be applied to tracking any exact economic aggregator under risk. In all cases, the criterion used for evaluation is the tracking ability of the approximation to the exact aggregator function of economic theory.

Many of the empirical and policy puzzles in monetary economics disappear when simple sum monetary aggregates are replaced by index numbers that are coherent with theory. Simple sum monetary aggregates became incoherent with theory, when monetary assets began paying interest and therefore could no longer be viewed as perfect substitutes.

This is a useful tool to those associated with economics departments within universities, business schools, central banks and federal governments, financial institutions including underwriters, bankers and stockbrokers.

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