by Michael MacDonald Christopher Whitestone ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2012
An engaging, provocative view of our economic climate.
Awards & Accolades
Our Verdict
GET IT
An incisive look at what the authors see as the impending failure of established monetary systems.
In The Wizard of Oz, the imposing curtain was eventually pulled back to reveal a charade. According to authors MacDonald and Whitestone, a similar sham is at the heart of the world’s doomed economies. Western nations’ crumbling financial systems are part of an insidious trend that will, in the authors’ opinions, eventually lead to an explosion of the silver market. This trend is part of a paradigm shift away from paper currency, especially the ailing U.S. dollar. As evidence, the authors cite several nations that now favor physical gold as the preferred medium of exchange. A dubious central banking system, accompanied by bailouts for too-big-to-fail institutions, has produced a trust bubble for these traditional frameworks. The authors’ intend to “help wake people up” and navigate the tough times, particularly through investment in precious metals. First, the authors offer a textbook-like primer on the definition and role of money in history, which gives way to political—sometimes emotional—criticisms of the Federal Reserve Bank, mainstream media and their supportive “elites.” The conclusion is a call to action, ideally backed by a commodity more valuable than cash. MacDonald, the owner of a gold-focused website, sometimes parses his warnings like TV marketing. His fear is in earnest, though, as evidenced by deep historical, political and cultural knowledge. Some readers might be surprised to discover a longer history of globalism, as well as the fact that the Federal Bank is not really “federal.” MacDonald and Whitestone’s “no-excuses glimpse at the current state of things” is an insightful diversion from the usual left-versus-right political fare, another phenomenon they criticize. Discussion of the “enslavement of the masses by the few” will assuredly place the book in the sociologist’s conflict-theory category. However, the uneven citing of sources is problematic, especially for economic numbers and characterizations. A more robust bibliography would have bolstered credibility.
An engaging, provocative view of our economic climate.Pub Date: April 27, 2012
ISBN: 978-1620957417
Page Count: 186
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Share your opinion of this book
More by Michael MacDonald
BOOK REVIEW
by Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 2019
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
Share your opinion of this book
More About This Book
SEEN & HEARD
by Jeff Benedict ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020
Smart, engaging sportswriting—good reading for organization builders as well as Pats fans.
Prolific writer Benedict has long blended two interests—sports and business—and the Patriots are emblematic of both. Founded in 1959 as the Boston Patriots, the team built a strategic home field between that city and Providence. When original owner Billy Sullivan sold the flailing team in 1988, it was $126 million in the hole, a condition so dire that “Sullivan had to beg the NFL to release emergency funds so he could pay his players.” Victor Kiam, the razor magnate, bought the long since renamed New England Patriots, but rival Robert Kraft bought first the parking lots and then the stadium—and “it rankled Kiam that he bore all the risk as the owner of the team but virtually all of the revenue that the team generated went to Kraft.” Check and mate. Kraft finally took over the team in 1994. Kraft inherited coach Bill Parcells, who in turn brought in star quarterback Drew Bledsoe, “the Patriots’ most prized player.” However, as the book’s nimbly constructed opening recounts, in 2001, Bledsoe got smeared in a hit “so violent that players along the Patriots sideline compared the sound of the collision to a car crash.” After that, it was backup Tom Brady’s team. Gridiron nerds will debate whether Brady is the greatest QB and Bill Belichick the greatest coach the game has ever known, but certainly they’ve had their share of controversy. The infamous “Deflategate” incident of 2015 takes up plenty of space in the late pages of the narrative, and depending on how you read between the lines, Brady was either an accomplice or an unwitting beneficiary. Still, as the author writes, by that point Brady “had started in 223 straight regular-season games,” an enviable record on a team that itself has racked up impressive stats.
Smart, engaging sportswriting—good reading for organization builders as well as Pats fans.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982134-10-5
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Avid Reader Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.