A somber, important warning that’s likely to cause readers to wonder about the safety of their assets, if not fear for the...
Wall Street executive Prins (All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances that Drive American Power, 2014, etc.) delivers a sharp-edged critique of the hegemony of central banks over the world’s economies.
Central banks, supporting too-big-to-fail banking conglomerates, are skilled practitioners of what the author calls “money conjuring,” wherein “the cost of money is rendered abnormally cheap.” Through the trickle-downish machinery of quantitative easement, the very banks that brought on the financial crisis now remembered as the Great Recession reward themselves. In 2017, she notes, U.S. banks used 99 percent of their earnings to buy their own stocks and pay out dividends to their shareholders even as the easement was, at least in theory, supposed to loosen the purse strings and set more money loose in the broader economy. The closeness of central, government-allied banks with their private counterparts, including revolving-door jobs, has meant that regulators are all too willing to overlook excesses and violations; even in moments of financial turmoil brought on by the banks, the “conjurers” and the speculators are rarely blamed. The intervention of central banks in the marketplace, Prins adds, has mostly had the effect of distorting that marketplace by supporting a banking system that requires serious overhaul in the place of mere infusions of cheap money—and this money rarely finds its way into the hands of ordinary borrowers, and certainly not at the cheap rates the banks enjoy. Given that the central banks and those private counterparts have successfully resisted meaningful reform—witness the Trump administration’s efforts to scrap what little regulation there is—the likelihood of a repeat of 2008 seems high indeed. “It only takes one domino to fall to wipe them all out,” Prins warns in closing. “It will again begin with the banks, cripple the markets, and devastate the global economy.”
A somber, important warning that’s likely to cause readers to wonder about the safety of their assets, if not fear for the near-term future.Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-56858-562-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Nation Books
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's...
A fresh, provocative analysis of the debate on education and employment.
Up-and-coming economist Moretti (Economics/Univ. of California, Berkeley) takes issue with the “[w]idespread misconception…that the problem of inequality in the United States is all about the gap between the top one percent and the remaining 99 percent.” The most important aspect of inequality today, he writes, is the widening gap between the 45 million workers with college degrees and the 80 million without—a difference he claims affects every area of peoples' lives. The college-educated part of the population underpins the growth of America's economy of innovation in life sciences, information technology, media and other areas of globally leading research work. Moretti studies the relationship among geographic concentration, innovation and workplace education levels to identify the direct and indirect benefits. He shows that this clustering favors the promotion of self-feeding processes of growth, directly affecting wage levels, both in the innovative industries as well as the sectors that service them. Indirect benefits also accrue from knowledge and other spillovers, which accompany clustering in innovation hubs. Moretti presents research-based evidence supporting his view that the public and private economic benefits of education and research are such that increased federal subsidies would more than pay for themselves. The author fears the development of geographic segregation and Balkanization along education lines if these issues of long-term economic benefits are left inadequately addressed.
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's more profound problems.Pub Date: May 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-75011-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
An informative and creatively multilayered Google guidebook from the businessman’s perspective.
Two distinguished technology executives share the methodology behind what made Google a global business leader.
Former Google CEO Schmidt (co-author: The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business, 2013) and former senior vice president of products Rosenberg share accumulated wisdom and business acumen from their early careers in technology, then later as management at the Internet search giant. Though little is particularly revelatory or unexpected, the companywide processes that have made Google a household name remain timely and relevant within today’s digitized culture. After several months at Google, the authors found it necessary to retool their management strategies by emphasizing employee culture, codifying company values, and rethinking the way staff is internally positioned in order to best compliment their efforts and potential. Their text places “Googlers” front and center as they adopted the business systems first implemented by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who stressed the importance of company-wide open communication. Schmidt and Rosenberg discuss the value of technological insights, Google’s effective “growth mindset” hiring practices, staff meeting maximization, email tips, and the company’s effective solutions to branding competition and product development complications. They also offer a condensed, two-page strategy checklist that serves as an apt blueprint for managers. At times, statements leak into self-congratulatory territory, as when Schmidt and Rosenberg insinuate that a majority of business plans are flawed and that the Google model is superior. Analogies focused on corporate retention and methods of maximizing Google’s historically impressive culture of “smart creatives” reflect the firm’s legacy of spinning intellect and creativity into Internet gold. The authors also demarcate legendary application missteps like “Wave” and “Buzz” while applauding the independent thinkers responsible for catapulting the company into the upper echelons of technological innovation.
An informative and creatively multilayered Google guidebook from the businessman’s perspective.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-1455582341
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Business Plus/Grand Central
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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