An everyman’s chronicle of the Great Recession, one that laments what was lost but leaves room for hope in American...
A blow-by-blow account of the 2008–2009 financial meltdown from the Main Street perspective.
Clark, the host of the “Kevin Clark Business Minute” radio show, explores how the 2008 crash underscores the divide between Washington and the average American. The Michigan-based financial advisor compiled his weekly radio commentaries during the financial collapse into a diary of sorts that captured the anxiety felt in America’s heartland while leaders struggled to get the economy back on track. After Lehman Brothers folded, several other financial institutions entered dire straits, shattering the dreams of regular people; Clark was “overwhelmed, frustrated and angry.” He exhorted his listeners to believe in American perseverance, although his writings reflect the gloom brought on by a plunging stock market and double-digit unemployment. A journal entry reveals how the financial-services veteran of 27 years found himself bewildered by the fallout: “I find the amount of wealth destroyed in the past six months as truly staggering.” Along with a timeline that follows every turn of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the book delves into possible long-term implications. Clark frets about inflation and the expansion of government amid news of corporate bailouts, Federal Reserve bond-buying and ballooning national debt. But the author is at his best when he puts a human face on the calamity. The story of a retired couple who lost their savings reminds us that recessions are more than declines in GDP. Clark sometimes criticizes the Obama administration, and he discloses that he served on Republican Pete Hoekstra’s unsuccessful campaign for governor. While the book doesn’t shy away from the intersection of politics and finance, it’s more about protecting average investors than pushing policy. Clark seeks to educate, and his homespun parables mitigate the jaded tone that sometimes creeps in. The result is a blend of pragmatism and optimism that speaks to a truth of investing: Opportunity is often found somewhere between fear and fact.
An everyman’s chronicle of the Great Recession, one that laments what was lost but leaves room for hope in American resiliency.Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2011
ISBN: 978-1599322810
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Advantage Media Group
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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