WHAT'S BEHIND INFLATION AND HOW TO BEAT IT

by George Jackson Eder ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 29, 1979

No manual for stretching the shrinking dollar but a blast at Keynesian economics as the cause of inflation and virtually all attendant woes. Eder inveighs against America's departure from the gold standard, budget deficits, expansion of the money supply, and related affronts to classic economic theory. Something of a quipster, he decries ""bikini accounting, which reveals much but conceals the essentials."" But, on the serious side, he does not offer particularly easy access to either his thesis or his reasoning. More than a quarter of the text is devoted to a murky reprise of money and balance-of-payment theory, plus a one-sided exegesis of so-called new economics--anything after Alfred Marshall (1842-1924). As antidotes for the upward price spiral, the author prescribes a buzzword-studded collection of remedies: a return to the fiscal discipline of the gold standard; re-establishment of a free-market economy that does not ""stifle"" private initiative; and complete elimination of all federal budget deficits. He deploys his numbers for shock value (e.g., 80% of government outlays and 90% of the national debt are attributable to welfare and warfare programs--not surprising when you think about it); challenges the accuracy of government statistics, though much of his case is based on official figures; and rests on some shaky research (e.g., the Federal National Mortgage Association, cited as a horrible example of an agency that borrows billions off the books, has been an investor-owned corporation since 1968). Such lapses, combined with Eisenberg's relentlessly reactionary bias, limit the book's appeal to jeremiad buffs.

Pub Date: Oct. 29, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION