This Time Is Different - Eight Centuries of Financial Folly

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Book Review: This Time Is Different - Eight centuries of financial folly by Carmen M. Reinhart

The authors of the book Rogoff and Reinhart were perplexed by what they were perceiving years before this book was written so therefore they were the ones who saw the crisis coming. This book is about the financial crisis that has plagued the centuries of human history.

Unlike other books which gives the readers only instances about how bad the situation was, this book gives a more detailed look into the causes that brought along the crisis and what the future implications of it are. In some sense the book is soothing in that we have been here before. On the other hand, this particular crisis is one of only two that were truly global. He calls this one "The Second Great Contraction" (the first, of course, referring to the great depression.)

The authors of the book draw their data from rather unconventional and abstract sources. They are able to reveal to us that whatever the world is facing at the moment, it has actually already occurred in the past including all the bailouts, currency pressures, sovereign stresses, and contagion. They state that the usual causes of such crisis are common but the domestic ones where the people are conned by their own country men are rare and are also known as domestic defaults. They hint that the cost of such defaults will be revealed in small parts as the bailouts and in large part in the lost revenues.

This book will serve as a great guide and a very useful source of data and information to the society. The readers may be disappointed by the lack of exaggeration and the large amount of data given in the text. The authors have found it of no use to spend words on who was the bigger "idiot" for the crisis but they rather stress their criticism on the conclusion.

The book will serve as a fine reference for those students who are interested in the current global monetary crisis.

This Time Is Different - Eight centuries of financial folly exposes centuries of financial mistakes and our lack of power to stop them from recurring.

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Review of Too Big to Fail by Andrew Sorkin

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You have heard this mandate countless times, but this time it is for real: If you read one book this year, read Too Big to Fail by Andrew R. Sorkin. A New York Times journalist, Mr. Sorkin documents most of 2008. He begins with the collapse of Bear-Stearns and he ends with the U. S. Congress passing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the financial apparatus accepting the program.

Mr. Sorkin makes little attempt to analyze the events; instead he documents them, and herein resides the strength of his effort. The book indicates just how close to a complete global economic collapse we came. Even careful observers during the crisis might not know the reasons Lehman failed or why AIG was rescued. Mr. Sorkin delivers a valuable record of behavior surrounding these actions.

Additionally, Mr. Sorkin provides detailed biographical information about the primary protagonists that humanizes them and delineates their intertwined careers. Actually, because he relies heavily on quoted conversations between the protagonists, listening to the audio book is recommended. The admirable narrator, William Hughes, delivers a compelling performance. The particulars of the pacing and inflections might not be completely accurate, but Mr. Hughes likely comes pretty close. Listening to the panic in the Wall Street Wizards' voices is priceless and knowing that Secretary Paulson was prone to vomiting during the height of stress thrills the soul.

The author's massive tome is less than comprehensive because the commodity bubble, Presidential campaign, and the international CDO trade are barely mentioned. Indeed, no single book could document and analyze the American descent, let alone the global implications. Other accounts of the same period will be illuminating, such as Secretary Paulson's On the Brink or Joseph Tibman's The Murder of Lehman Brothers, in order to see confirmation, denial, or reassessment of Mr. Sorkin's data.

A. Wilson is a budding entrepreneur who enjoys fishing and football.

Review - You Are Still Being Lied To

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You Are Still Being Lied To, Russ Kick (ed.), 2009, ISBN 9781934708071

This is a remixed version of a previously published book, containing articles on a wide variety of topics that will not be covered in the mainstream media. There is something here to upset or offend nearly everyone.

Howard Zinn talks about the real Christopher Columbus. Alex Jones talks about the coming North American Union. There is a piece on John McCain and his attempts to cover up the POW issue from the Vietnam War. R. Crumb contributes a graphic novel piece on the religious experience of science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. Jim Marrs explores the reasons behind the attempts by the Iraqi Government to ban Blackwater. There is a piece on getting high by licking toads, along with a piece on the unconscious roots of the Drug War. Other contributions in this book reassess the "official" version of the Oklahoma City bombing, along with the cover-up of the murder of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The titles of some of these articles are pretty self-explanatory. For instance, there is AA Lies (all about Alcoholics Anonymous); Amnesia in America; The Information Arms Race; The Truth About Corporations; Cheap, Crappy Food = A Fat Population; Chemicals Are Killing You; Drug War Mythology; We Were Silenced by the Drums of War; NutraFear and NutraLoathing in Augusta, Georgia; Pharmaceutical Crimes and Misdemeanors; The Martin Luther King You Don't See on TV and Fear and Lying in 2012-Land.

Like I said, there is something here for everyone. It does a really good job at exposing the reader to a number of different subjects. For anyone who wants to get past the mass media version of how the world works, and get the "real" story, start right here. It is highly recommended.

Paul Lappen is a freelance book reviewer whose blog, http://www.deadtreesreview.blogspot.com/, emphasizes small press and self-published books.