A journalist's painstakingly thorough audit of Walter B. Wriston's stewardship at Citicorp, which he helped make into what is arguably the Global Village's most formidable and influential financial institution. Business Week correspondent Zweig (Belly-Up, 1985) offers a tellingly detailed account of how the son of a prominent educator made an enduring name for himself as a world-class banker. Following WW II service Wriston (who turned 76 last year) joined New York's First National City (the predecessor of today's Citibank). At the time, American bankers were still a clubby, risk- averse, and parochial lot who set greater store by relationships than results. The strong-willed, entrepreneurial Wriston and like- minded contemporaries soon put paid to the status quo. Among other accomplishments, Wriston played a leading role in the creation of negotiable CDs at a time when high interest rates had curtailed the bank's access to the funds needed for loans; he also oversaw installation of the information-system infrastructure that has turned ATMs and other high-tech wonders into workaday tools of the banking trade. When he took over as CEO in mid-1967, Wriston publicly committed Citibank to achieve annual earnings growth of at least 15%. How he managed to do so in the face of oil shocks, Washington's erratic economic policy, close encounters with Ralph Nader, and other obstacles makes for a fascinating chronicle. If there were as many blunders as triumphs on Wriston's 17-year watch, he left an enduring legacy. Zweig provides no systematic commentary on the consolidation trend that has impelled commercial giants like Chase and Chemical to merge. He also offers more particulars on long-done deals and internal conflicts than most readers might want. These cavils apart, an absorbing and judicious reckoning on an innovative banker who viewed the world as his capitalistic institution's oyster.
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-517-58423-9
Page Count: 960
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1996
A declaration worth hearing out in a time of growing inequality—and indignity.
Noted number cruncher Sperling delivers an economist’s rejoinder to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Former director of the National Economic Council in the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the author has long taken a view of the dismal science that takes economic justice fully into account. Alongside all the metrics and estimates and reckonings of GDP, inflation, and the supply curve, he holds the great goal of economic policy to be the advancement of human dignity, a concept intangible enough to chase the econometricians away. Growth, the sacred mantra of most economic policy, “should never be considered an appropriate ultimate end goal” for it, he counsels. Though 4% is the magic number for annual growth to be considered healthy, it is healthy only if everyone is getting the benefits and not just the ultrawealthy who are making away with the spoils today. Defining dignity, admits Sperling, can be a kind of “I know it when I see it” problem, but it does not exist where people are a paycheck away from homelessness; the fact, however, that people widely share a view of indignity suggests the “intuitive universality” of its opposite. That said, the author identifies three qualifications, one of them the “ability to meaningfully participate in the economy with respect, not domination and humiliation.” Though these latter terms are also essentially unquantifiable, Sperling holds that this respect—lack of abuse, in another phrasing—can be obtained through a tight labor market and monetary and fiscal policy that pushes for full employment. In other words, where management needs to come looking for workers, workers are likely to be better treated than when the opposite holds. In still other words, writes the author, dignity is in part a function of “ ‘take this job and shove it’ power,” which is a power worth fighting for.
A declaration worth hearing out in a time of growing inequality—and indignity.Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-7987-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Penguin Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
More uncommonly sensible investment guidance from a master of the game. Drawing on his experience at Fidelity's Magellan Fund, a high- profile vehicle he quit at age 46 in 1990 after a spectacularly successful 13-year tenure as managing director, Lynch (One Up on Wall Street, 1988) makes a strong case for common stocks over bonds, CDs, or other forms of debt. In breezy, anecdotal fashion, the author also encourages individuals to go it alone in the market rather than to bank on money managers whose performance seldom justifies their generous compensation. With the caveat that there's as much art as science to picking issues with upside potential, Lynch commends legwork and observation. ``Spending more time at the mall,'' he argues, invariably is a better way to unearth appreciation candidates than relying on technical, timing, or other costly divining services prized by professionals. The author provides detailed briefings on how he researches industries, special situations, and mutual funds. Particularly instructive are his candid discussions of where he went wrong as well as right in his search for undervalued securities. Throughout the genial text, Lynch offers wry, on-target advisories under the rubric of ``Peter's Principles.'' Commenting on the profits that have accrued to those acquiring shares in enterprises privatized by the British government, he notes: ``Whatever the Queen is selling, buy it.'' In praise of corporate parsimony, the author suggests that, ``all else being equal, invest in the company with the fewest photos in the annual report.'' Another bull's-eye for a consummate pro, with appeal for market veterans and rookies alike. (Charts and tabular material— not seen.)
Pub Date: March 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-671-75915-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1993
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