In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India

Book Description

India remains a mystery to many Americans, even as it is poised to become the world’s third largest economy within a generation, outstripping Japan. It will surpass China in population by 2032 and will have more English speakers than the United States by 2050. In In Spite of the Gods, Edward Luce, a journalist who covered India for many years, makes brilliant sense of India and its rise to global power. Already a number-one bestseller in India, his book is sure to be acknowledged for years as the definitive introduction to modern India.

In Spite of the Gods illuminates a land of many contradictions. The booming tech sector we read so much about in the West, Luce points out, employs no more than one million of India’s 1.1 billion people. Only 35 million people, in fact, have formal enough jobs to pay taxes, while three-quarters of the country lives in extreme deprivation in India’s 600,000 villages. Yet amid all these extremes exists the world’s largest experiment in representative democracy—and a largely successful one, despite bureaucracies riddled with horrifying corruption.

Luce shows that India is an economic rival to the U.S. in an entirely different sense than China is. There is nothing in India like the manufacturing capacity of China, despite the huge potential labor force. An inept system of public education leaves most Indians illiterate and unskilled. Yet at the other extreme, the middle class produces ten times as many engineering students a year as the United States. Notwithstanding its future as a major competitor in a globalized economy, American. leaders have been encouraging India’s rise, even welcoming it into the nuclear energy club, hoping to balance China’s influence in Asia.

Above all, In Spite of the Gods is an enlightening study of the forces shaping India as it tries to balance the stubborn traditions of the past with an unevenly modernizing present. Deeply informed by scholarship and history, leavened by humor and rich in anecdote, it shows that India has huge opportunities as well as tremendous challenges that make the future “hers to lose.”

Customer Reviews:

A Passage Through India .......2007-10-22

In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India
By Edward Luce

Edward Luce is a journalist who has spent time in India. His "In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India" is a good introduction to modern India. His observations help dispel some of the contradictions within modern India: extreme poverty juxtaposed with newly developed technology; traditional agricultural economy contrasted with modern conveniences and communication; and India's relative stability within the South Asian community.

The British Partition of India in 1947 with predominantly Muslim concentration in the North and in Pakistan; and majority Hindus in the South, set the stage for religious and ethnic disputes that still continue.

Curiously, relatively few Indian Muslims have joined the Jihadist movements against the west that have rocked Pakistan.... Including the recent car bomb explosions that were aimed at exiled Pakistani leader Bhutto.

"But history turned out the way it did. And so India entered into independence with a large Muslim minority, many of whom went through the conundrum of watching close family members migrate to Pakistan forever. Though their decision to remain in India should have put Indian Muslims beyond suspicion, their loyalties were constantly called into question. It is a terrible Irony of partition that the Muslims who remained behind in India and those who left for Pakistan, should have as good a claim as any others to being true Indians and true Pakistanis respectively given the sacrifices they made. The contradiction of partition has yet to die out." (In Spite of The Gods, P. 227)

Luce examines the challenges to India, which he calls "Herculean", public health, the environment, external relations, and public confidence in the government. He says "the most coherent threat to India's liberal democracy is Hindu nationalism." He points to the "emergency" declared by former President Gandhi in the 1970's as an example of the failure of autocratic rule in India.

Beating the Odds.......2007-10-13

edward luce's journalistic writing style makes this book an easy read. it does a good job of putting into context the "hindu rate of growth" that existed for so long after india regained her independence. but just as a big ship takes longer to change direction than a smaller boat, so does a large, diverse country that has been steeped in tradition and religious constraints for so many centuries.

similarly, just as greed and selfishness are unfortunate bi-products of capitalism gone wild in the new world, so is "caste-ism" and corruption of an economic system based on social classes which has been the rule for thousands of years. yet, as the author points out, it is this very tradition and sense of history that will keep the balloon of prosperity which has been unleashed, to remain tethered to the ground as it finds it's way into the modern skies.

in summary, the book is a good bridge from the old to the new and a good primer for anyone interested in understanding the paradox of modern india.

A must read for anyone trying to understand modern India.......2007-09-18

This is an important book on modern India. Edward Luce has been a foreign correspondent in India for many years and knows the country well. He provides a comprehensive survey of the politics and economics of India going into the 21st century. I was initially disappointed by the opening pages dealing with a few new-age types living in luxury and marveling at the spirituality of India while completely ignoring the poverty. Reading on I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this was only an introduction to demonstrate what is wrong with many Westerner's perception of India. The book provides an unflinching look at India, warts and all. While some sections may seem overly critical, we live in an imperfect world and the same things are wrong in many other countries, to a greater or lesser extent. The rest of the world continues to function and even prosper and India does so too. The book also discusses the huge untapped potential of the country and the things that need to happen to assure future growth and development. I found the chapters on recent changes in religious practices and the rise of fundamentalism very eye-opening. The significance of attributing the domestication of the horse to the Indus Valley civilization is fascinating (I won't give this one away). In Spite of the Gods is a must read for anyone trying to understand modern India.

To spite the Gods?.......2007-09-15

I picked up this book when I was on a trip, mainly because of the intriguing title. I thought, well, here is someone who will tell us how our Gods hold us back economically. Especially, as many of us worship Lakshmi ji, the Goddess of prosperity, every day!

As it turns out, I was quite wrong. The title has absolutely no connection with the contents of the book, except perhaps to insinuate that India has progressed economically despite being religious. Or to help along sales. [Do note the rhyming with the original expression 'in spite of the odds'. Possibly Mr. Luce thinks that Hindu Gods were holding back India's progress, or that perhaps they are the real odds?]

The book is more or less a compilation of wisdom received from the author's Indian friends, and select social circle. I was unable to find any original insight or conclusion in the book. However, Mr. Luce does present the old and tired wisdom of assorted Indian intellectuals in a refreshingly witty way. In the end, the book is just a large collection of articles, such as you would find in any weekly or fortnightly newsmagazine or in any mainstream English language newspaper published in India. This is understandable, given the fact that Mr. Luce, after all is merely a journalist, used to regurgitating what others tell him. There is some useful information though, including tidbits about the high and mighty of Indian establishment.

Expectedly, Mr. Luce is most positive about and impressed with the economic side of Indian growth. He cites any number of examples of the growing economic strength and its implications. There may not be anything new in this, but the endorsement sounds nice, coming from a Western journalist.

However, his views on the cultural and religious aspects are a different thing altogether. He mostly holds the majority community as being directly responsible for India's perceived cultural backwardness, for the condition of the women and children, and for the distressing law and order situation. He also suggests that Bajrang Dal has been responsible for two out of three major riots in the last 25 years (the third being laid at the door of Congress). However, this is mere reductionism - he conveniently ignores hundreds of small riots which break out every year across India, on the slightest pretext.

This liberal confusion continues: when it comes to dealing with Muslims, he suddenly switches the canvas to South Asia, from just India! This serves two purposes: first it helps him cover the pre-1947 developments. Second, it allows him to include Kashmir in the discussion. Dealing with Kashmir within the framework of India would have perhaps been sacrilegious?

That said, it is therefore surprising to see an endorsement of the book by Mr. Mark Tully, whose work is as close to Mr. Luce's as North Pole is to South Pole. Perhaps Mr. Tully was merely helping along a fellow Briton. Or perhaps he was made to sign the endorsement using some frightfully sinister threat...

The book is very nicely bound, and the printing and paper is quite pleasing. So is Mr. Luce's writing style, humorous and engaging. However, sometimes it is a little tiring also, as you (as an Indian) sometimes feel that you are the [...]. of his jokes and gratuitous insinuations.

Buy this book if you quickly want to update yourself on the current perceptions of the fashionable and the intellectual. Skip it if you want to learn anything worthwhile.

Bad statistic.......2007-09-10

In discussing the low ratio of girls to boys, the author states that, in the West, there are 105 girls born for every 100 boys. That is not true. Even in the West, there are more boys born than girls. The numbers should be reversed.

China Shakes the World: A Titan's Rise and Troubled Future -- and the Challenge for America

Average customer rating:

It is shaking me up now
An enormous shift in geopolitical power
MBA Mom
Well written, informative book
A Journalist's Eye

China Shakes the World: A Titan's Rise and Troubled Future -- and the Challenge for America
James Kynge
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0618705643

Book Description

"Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world." Napoleon's words seem eerily prescient today, as the shock waves from China's awakening reverberate across the globe. In China Shakes the World, the former China bureau chief of the Financial Times, James Kynge, traces these tremors from Beijing to Europe to the Midwest as China's ravenous hunger for jobs, raw materials, energy, and food -- and its export of goods, workers, and investments -- drastically reshape world trade and politics.

Delving beyond mere recitation of by-now-familiar statistics, Kynge's on-the-ground reporting provides alternative explanations for China's explosive transformation, revealing many of the usual reasons given for its growth to be myths. Most important for the future, he details China's deep, systemic weaknesses -- rampant fraud, crippling environmental crises, a corrupt banking system, faltering government institutions, a rapidly aging population -- that threaten even greater global disruptions. And he demonstrates the profound consequences of those weaknesses for American manufacturers, oil companies, banks, and ordinary consumers.

Through dramatic stories of entrepreneurs and visionaries, factory workers and store clerks at the heart of this global phenomenon, China Shakes the World explains how China's breakneck rise occurred, the extraordinary problems the country now faces, and the consequences of both for the twenty-first century.

Customer Reviews:

It is shaking me up now.......2007-10-16

I am Chinese, and of course I am attracted by the title. Finally, China get to shake the world a little too, what an accomplishment. Well, as I read the book, it is making me less and less proud of my motherland. The counterfeit product, the stealing of high-tech information, degradation of environment and the insitutionalized corruption are making my stomach turn. When 1/2 of the population is going at 80 miles an hour in the globalized world, the other half is being left behind by their own country. It makes me wonder, what will happen if the economy slow down in China? What will the people who had already tasted the fast world will do, and what will the ultra-dictatorship of the Ruling Communist party do, and what will the other half of the population that had been left behind do. This is a question worth pondering. Maybe, China is not as rosy as it projected to the rest of the world, and maybe people, or investors should listen to not just the official talking head, but what the people are doing. This is a good read, it will help with my school project too.

An enormous shift in geopolitical power.......2007-10-08

James Kynge analyzes and illustrates brilliantly the emergence of China as a major geopolitical power. He shows that the drastic shift in economic policies under Deng came from rural farmers who used creatively the concept `collective' to found private capitalist companies. The result is now a schizophrenic one party communist State with a capitalist economy. Its social stability can only be maintained with fast economic growth and job creation for its enormous population created by Mao's demographic policy.
The actual industrialization process causes massive population and gender shifts (urbanization resulting in a higher status for women), colossal energy demands (one Italy every year) and huge environmental problems (water, air). In a one party State, corruption and nepotism (with stolen identities) cannot be eradicated and provoke a declining trust in government.
Economically, corporations are mainly concerned with market share, not profits. They continue to (over) produce for the next surge in demand after every dip. They are also beginning to build consumer loyalty by branding their own products.
Internationally, the Chinese voracity created energy and commodities price surges worldwide. The end is not in sight. On the other hand, the bulk of the profits made with China's low cost factory army (no welfare) goes into the pockets of Western retail giants and their shareholders, leaving only 10 to 15 % for their Chinese counterparts. In the meantime, the deindustrialization of the Western world continues with massive job losses in the textile, car, computer and even the service industry.
Overall, however, China's economic development continues to benefit enormously world trade, notwithstanding the regularly surfacing accusations of protectionism, currency manipulation and rampant piracy. Politically, the problem of Taiwan is still not solved.
Mencius''ren' (benevolence) is not a basic ingredient of Chinese foreign policy, but the author believes that ultimately pragmatism and flexibility will have the upper hand.

This book is a must read for all those who want to understand the world we live in.

MBA Mom.......2007-07-15

I am full time Mom and just recently visited Beijing with my 2 young children and husband. As a result of our travels, all the news in the media regarding China, and my own personal experience with respect to my shopping purchase power and selection in the last many year, I was very interested in the "China story." This book is an easy read, and provides a good big picture. It reminds me of the center column in the Wall Street Journal... Too boot, well written, and excellent use of vocabulary.

Mom

Well written, informative book.......2007-06-01

This book is money and time well spent if you're interested in a contemporary survey of China.

Kynge really does an outstanding job with a complex topic. He has a journalist's nose for a story, is well connected in China, and the length of time he lived in the country allows him to really portray his observations in a sophisticated cultural and historical context. He nicely weaves in statistics and facts throughout the book without distracting from the narrative.

A Journalist's Eye.......2007-05-24

I've loved the lyrical quality of this book. It looks at the many problems facing China from the ground up and individual journalist's eyes. For a big picture view that is based more on economic analysis, see my own book: The Coming China Wars: Where They Will Be Fought and How They Can Be Won

China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World

Average customer rating:

Lacks critical analysis, nothing more than a collection of (incomplete) stories
Could have been at least 100 pages shorter
The Tom Wolfe of China
Please blame everything on China, is this a new trend to cover up American "disastrous" foreign policy?
Excellent reference background.....

China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World
Ted C. Fishman
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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China Shakes the World: A Titan's Rise and Troubled Future -- and the Challenge for America

ASIN: 0743257359

Amazon.com

China has the world's most rapidly changing large economy, and according to Ted Fishman, it is forcing the world to change along with it. "No country has ever before made a better run at climbing every step of economic development all at once," he writes, in China, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World. China is currently the largest maker of toys, clothing, and consumer electronics, and is swiftly moving up the ladder in car production, computer manufacturing, biotechnology, aerospace, telecommunications, and other sectors thanks to low-cost, high-tech factories. China is also where the world is investing. In 2004, for instance, the city of Shanghai alone attracted over $12 billion in direct foreign investment, roughly the same amount as all of Indonesia and Mexico received. In tracing China's ascendancy over the past 30 years (with annual growth of an astonishing 9.5 percent), Fishman presents a flood of facts, figures, forecasts, and anecdotes and examines the implications of this unprecedented growth for China, the U.S., and the rest of the world.

Calling China's huge population "arguably the greatest natural resource on the planet," Fishman details how hundreds of millions of peasants have migrated from rural to urban areas to find manufacturing jobs, providing an unlimited, low-wage workforce to power China's economy. In the process, this shift has changed both Chinese culture and the global business climate in significant ways. Simply put, American companies can't compete with wages as low as 25 cents an hour and lack of regulation and oversight, so are forced to move their operations to China or completely change the focus of their business. And it's not just a problem for the U.S.--even Mexico is outsourcing to China. Though it remains to be seen whether this will truly be the "Chinese Century" as Fishman asserts, China, Inc. is a brisk and informative look at why so many American corporations, and American jobs, are heading to China. --Shawn Carkonen

Book Description

China today is visible everywhere -- in the news, in the economic pressures battering the globe, in our workplaces, and in every trip to the store. Provocative, timely, and essential -- and updated with new statistics and information -- this dramatic account of China's growing dominance as an industrial superpower by journalist Ted C. Fishman explains how the profound shift in the world economic order has occurred -- and why it already affects us all.

How has an enormous country once hobbled by poverty and Communist ideology come to be the supercharged center of global capitalism? What does it mean that China now grows three times faster than the United States? Why do nearly all of the world's biggest companies have large operations in China? What does the corporate march into China mean for workers left behind in America, Europe, and the rest of the world?

Meanwhile, what makes China's emerging corporations so dangerously competitive? What will happen when China manufactures nearly everything -- computers, cars, jumbo jets, and pharmaceuticals -- that the United States and Europe can, at perhaps half the cost? How do these developments reach around the world and straight into all of our lives?

These are ground-shaking questions, and China, Inc. provides answers.

Veteran journalist Ted C. Fishman shows how China will force all of us to make big changes in how we think about ourselves as consumers, workers, citizens, and even as parents. The result is a richly engaging work of penetrating, up-to-the-minute reportage and brilliant analysis that will forever change how readers think about America's future.

Download Description

"China today is visible everywhere -- in the news, in the economic pressures battering america, in the workplace, and in every trip to the store. provocative, timely, and essential, this dramatic account of china's growing dominance as an industrial super-power by journalist Ted C. Fishman explains how the profound shift in the global economic order has occurred -- and why it already affects us all. How has an enormous country once hobbled by poverty and Communist ideology come to be the supercharged center of global capitalism? What does it mean that China now grows three times faster than the United States? That China uses 40 percent of the world's concrete and 25 percent of its steel? What is the global impact of 300 million rural Chinese walking off their farms and heading to the cities in the greatest migration in human history? Why do nearly all of the world's biggest companies now have large-scale operations in China? What does the corporate march into China mean for workers left behind in America, Europe, and the rest of the world? Meanwhile, what makes China's emerging corporations so dangerously competitive? What could happen when China will be able to manufacture nearly everything -- computers, cars, jumbo jets, and pharmaceuticals -- that the United States and Europe can, at perhaps half the cost? How do these developments reach around the world and straight into the lives of all Americans? These are ground-shaking questions, and China, Inc. provides answers.Veteran journalist and former commodities trader Ted C. Fishman paints a vivid picture of the megatrends radiating out of China. Fishman's account begins with the burgeoning output of China's vast low-cost factories and the swelling appetite of its 1.3 billion consumers, both of which are being driven by historically unprecedented infusions of foreign capital and technological know-how. Traveling through China's frenetic landscape of growth, Fishman visits the factories, markets, streets, stores, towns, and cities where the story of Chinese capitalism is being lived by one-fifth of all humanity. Fishman also draws on interviews with Chinese, American, and European workers, managers, and executives to show how China will force all of us to make big changes in how we think about ourselves as consumers, workers, citizens, and even as parents. The result is a richly engaging work of penetrating, up-to-the-minute reportage and brilliant analysis that will forever change how readers think about America's future. "

Customer Reviews:

Lacks critical analysis, nothing more than a collection of (incomplete) stories .......2007-09-04

Half of the book is like a PR campaign for Shanghai, saying how fascinating the city is without really critically examining its glories. It seems like the author has not ventured far away from Shanghai (even Zhejiang Province is bordering Shanghai) and to really delve into the rest of China. It is just like reading a book on U.S. economy while all it talks about is New York. Projecting New York for the rest of the U.S. is laughable, so is thinking Shanghai epitomizes the entire China.

Shanghai's success, at least in the past, critically relied on the extremely favorable national policies steered by Jiang Ze-ming, the former mayor of Shanghai who became the president after 1989 Tiananmen. Such biased national policies are highly questionable, and its impact on Shanghai long-term economic sustainability is also open for debate.

It's also weird for a book on China's economic transition to exclude meaningful discussion of the economic reforms in the Pearl River Delta area where all of the initial economic reforms started, and which is still one of the most important economic regions in China. Also, China's attempts to balance economic development between the coastal region and the inland region are largely ignored in the book (except some very light discussions here and there).

The second half of the book is not very organized and it is not clear what message the author was trying to get across. Overall, the book is nothing more than a collection of stories you can easily find in Economist. A better book for a quick intro and analysis of China's rise is The World is Flat, side by side is an analysis of India as a bonus...

Could have been at least 100 pages shorter.......2007-07-15

A lot of insights from the book but at the same time a lot of non-insights.

The book covers the movement of Chinese people from the farms to the cities and the attitude towards rapid modernization including piracy. However, you cannot FEEL it from first person point of view. You feel very detached reading the book.

It could have been more straight to the point and a lot of pages bored me.

The Tom Wolfe of China.......2007-05-24

This a kaleidoscopic view of the most dynamic country today on the planet. Sit down, strap up, and read the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test of the 21st Century. For a harder analytical edge, read my own volume The Coming China Wars: Where They Will Be Fought and How They Can Be Won

Please blame everything on China, is this a new trend to cover up American "disastrous" foreign policy? .......2007-05-11

So with all due respect:

1) If China is so bad, don't do business there, no one is forcing you
2) All American CEO who deals with China are unpatriotic Americans
3) All American CEO who outsource to China and India are immoral capitalist
4) All American CEO who deal with China should pay a fine or go to Jail. -But they are not! And as matter of facts, they are getting big bonuses.
5) Don't blame the Chinese, they are providing a service (cheap) but American consumers and executives are the ones knocking on their doors.
6) You can't have both ways; you can't try to use cheap labor in 3rd world countries and then turn around and point fingers at the people you are doing business with.

7) Stop bringing up the WWII theory on some of these comments, just because the USA fought and won WWI -which is GREAT! It does not mean the USA is correct FOREVER...common sense.

Excellent reference background............2007-04-11

My team at work does a lot of business with China and after one of the engineers read the book, we ordered about 15 copies for the entire department to read, we felt it was so worthwhile!

Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century

Average customer rating:

HAPHAZARD NARRATIVE; AUTHOR HAS VERY WEAK UNDERSTANDING OF SUBJECT MATTER
Almost tempted to give it a miss
Globalization 2.0
Bottom Line: Unfettered Capitalism is Destructive, Need Government
Very Pleasing to Read (Even for a Proletariat like Me)

Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century
Jeffry A. Frieden
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 039332981X

Book Description

"Magisterial history...one of the most comprehensive histories of modern capitalism yet written."—New York Times Book Review

In 1900 international trade reached unprecedented levels and the world's economies were more open to one another than ever before. Then as now, many people considered globalization to be inevitable and irreversible. Yet the entire edifice collapsed in a few months in 1914.

Globalization is a choice, not a fact. It is a result of policy decisions and the politics that shape them. Jeffry A. Frieden's insightful history explores the golden age of globalization during the early years of the century, its swift collapse in the crises of 1914-45, the divisions of the Cold War world, and the turn again toward global integration at the end of the century. His history is full of character and event, as entertaining as it is enlightening.

Customer Reviews:

HAPHAZARD NARRATIVE; AUTHOR HAS VERY WEAK UNDERSTANDING OF SUBJECT MATTER.......2007-06-21

Of all the many books that have come out in recent years about global capitalism, finance and economics, this is certainly the worst. The author, a professor of government at Harvard, professes to specialize in international monetary history, but is really what his tenure title says he is, a professor of International Peace. He appears to be trying to reinvent his career by tackling the subject of capitalism but thoroughly lacks understanding of the subject matter, as made evident by his book.

1. The author makes the same mistake that virtually all political science professors do when they write about capitalism: he glorifies the gold standard, he glorifies the Rothschilds and glorifies everything that had nothing to do with the emergence of twentieth century capitalism. The author is using his expertise in international relations to analyze a subject that is really never about governments, or grand alliances or fancy bankers. He thus fails to root the story in the advent of technology, or of business procedures or of the individual investor, but focuses instead of John Foster Dulles and Dean Acheson and Lord Halifax.

2. Wherever the subject matter is strong, the book still fails badly. It does so because political economy is better analyzed by Robert Gilpin and others, whose books are mandatory reading and well written and which do not pretend to sell that subject matter as a study of capitalism.

3. The book's sections are surprisingly badly arranged. Sometimes one feels the author may have a method to the madness but I doubt it after having read it. It is certainly not thematic, or designed to trigger thought or chronological.

4. The book refers to a poem only twice in the 500 pages and it is about the King of Ghana! I mean a professor at Harvard should surely know how to maintain balance in his subject matter. Is that the one poem he could find worth including?

5. Stunning is the lack of understanding of the issues. He describes Britain as fully supportive of free trade mid-19th century but fails to consider how colonialism could be a form of free trade. He describes China Turkey and India as the only failures of the early 20th century without making the same connection with colonialism.

6. Worse is his understanding of the gold standard. He never mentions that that relic was responsible for more misery than anything other than world wars. He fails to consider that since the gold standard was weakened in the Forties, there have been NO PANICS RAVAGING SOCIETY. He is a gold bug.

7. He repeats William Bryan's Cross of Gold speech twice in the narrative with no suggestion that he is even aware his haphazard narrative is repeating the same quote. He also fails to mention that William Bryan was not buried in the election of 1896 but actually came to dominate the 20th century, what with unionism, minimum wages, no gold standard, empowerment of the individual investor and every other idea that Bryan first espoused. TR's and FDR's reforms were nothing if not Bryanism.

8. Why would a book mention so much about Rothschild's and their family in the US without mentioning Jacob Schiff, or detailing JP Morgan, or RObert Lehman or Albert Gordon. I mean the author simply has no balance on the subject matter because he knows so little about it.

9. Finally, it is not clear what Jeffrey Frieden is doing at Harvard. Such poorly researched fare is common to COlumbia Business School and its Dean Glenn Hubbard, or to the Hoover Institution or some place like that. Harvard on the other hand puts out more balanced and far more thoughtful pieces.

BAD BOOK THAT MUST BE AVOIDED.

Almost tempted to give it a miss.......2007-04-23

I was almost tempted to give the book a miss after seeing the high ratings that were given by reviewers that seemed to be anti-globalizationists (what an awkward term!)

However, I came across the book at my library and gave it a chance, and I was not disappointed. It is a book that does a creditable job of summing up the ups and downs of the world economy over the past hundred years and more. And it also does a fairly good job of raising some issues and problems with the world economic system, and how the system had evolved to meet those issues and problems. On the whole, I think it's a balanced book, pointing out the critical need for free and integrated markets to raising millions in the world out of poverty, as well as some of the problems facing them.

The only reason why I gave the book a four rather than a five is that it is not an easy read, and it is best read with some thought and analysis on the reader's part. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not something for everyone.

By the way, do ignore those reviews that pretend to tell you what the author was saying in his book. I'm not sure that he's actually saying what they say he is saying.

Read the book for yourself. It's worth the time and effort.

Globalization 2.0.......2006-07-12

Jeffrey Frieden, a Harvard professor specializing in international trade and finance, has written a masterly and comprehensive history of capitalism from 1870 to the present. His history of globalization reminds us that it is not a recent develpment and that its current success is not guaranteed.

The first era of globalization (1870 to 1914) had many of the same characteristics as today's. There was an unprecedented cross-border movement of goods, capital, and labor. (Labor more so in the first era.) During these years huge amounts of capital moved overseas to America, Canada, and Argentina mainly due to the reduced costs of communication and transportation. The technologies driving this globalization were the telegraph and railroads. It was also facilitated by the fact that most currencies were convertible to gold. The investment in the Americas was also followed by a huge immigrant population. In these years, America, Canada, and Argentina had much larger immmigrant populations at the turn of the 20th century than today.

The main thing that distinguishes the present globalization from the first is what happened in between. After the Great Depression and World War II remedies were put into place to mitigate the damaging effects of these economic and social catastrophes. Social benefits such as unions, minimum wage, healthcare and pensions were established as safety nets. In the era between the two globalizations when economies were mostly national the safety nets were part of the social contract between capital and labor.

In 1980, when our current era of globalization begins, capital began to move overseas again in order to find countries with lower labor and social costs. This time, however, labor did not follow. The industrialized countries now have large middle classes with social benefits promised who are not certain about how they are going to be paid. This is causing many in the industrialized world to have second thoughts about our current phase of globalization.

Frieden has a guarded optimism about global capitalism and thinks it is still the best system for distributing wealth. Yet, his last chapter "Global Capitalism Troubled" points to some more clouds on the horizon. There seems to be a growing gap between those who control capital and those who work for a living. People understand that globalization is inevitable but they want a new set of rules to address the growing inequalities.

Frieden is a cheerleader for a more equitable capitalism that can deliver both social benefits and robust economic growth.

Bottom Line: Unfettered Capitalism is Destructive, Need Government.......2006-06-27

I read books in groups, and bought this one along with David Walsh's "Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations" which I recommend above this one is you are only buying one book. I also read and have reviewed "Global Class Wars" as well as all other books I recommend below.

Although I was less interested in the history, which is very well documented and clearly explained, and more in the lessons for the future, I found two clear bottom lines in this book that are supported by its extensive research:

1) Open societies and open democracies generate more money and more opportunity and more innovation than closed or failed societies; and

2) Keynes was right, there is an urgent vital role for government to play in addressing the social networks, including education, transportation, rules of commerce, and so on, that allow capitalism to work.

The author distinguishes between individual, cooperative, and competitive capitalism, and I found validation in this book for my concept of communal capitalism, a capitalism that is guided by government in avoiding the exportation of jobs, the importation of poverty, and the impoverishment of the middle class.

Unlike David Walsh's book, this book has more of a focus on what is moral and pragmatic, and so I recommend William Greider's "The Soul of Capitalism" as well as John Perkins "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man."

I have a very strong feeling from this book and others, that the era of "out of control" capitalism is drawing to an end. We may even see the end of the corporation as a separate legal personality in the next 12 years. The transparency of information that is available when people attach themselves leech-like to a corporation and hold it accountable (see my review of "No Logo") is creating a powerful antidote against the Enrons and Exxons and Wal-Marts of the world who bribe elites and screw over the publics on both ends. I also see Wall Street losing its ability to "explode the client" (see my review of "Liar's Poker"). A great deal of good will be done in the next quarter century, and it will come from a combination of good government and educated engaged citizens working together across all boundaries.

Very Pleasing to Read (Even for a Proletariat like Me).......2006-06-25

I read this book for a graduate-level economics course. It's not an "Econ for Dummys" book, but it really enightens the reader about the history of economics in the 20th Century. It's smart and straight-forward. The author does not interject his personal perspectives, which is nice. He just puts it out there. A definite must-read for those entering the field of economics/history.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

Average customer rating:

"Dishonest"
Eye Opener
The real skinny behind "Shock and Awe"
Solid investigative journalism
through the Looking Glass Darkly

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Naomi Klein
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Books
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0805079831
Release Date: 2007-09-18

Product Description

The bestselling author of No Logo shows how the global free market has exploited crises and shock for three decades, from Chile to Iraq

In her groundbreaking reporting over the past few years, Naomi Klein introduced the term disaster capitalism. Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic shock treatment, losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers.

The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman s free market economic revolution. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement s peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq.

At the core of disaster capitalism is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. Klein argues that by capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years.

Customer Reviews:

"Dishonest".......2007-10-23

The "Financial Times" reviewed this book and called it "dishonest". It basically makes connections which are not there. One example: blaming the Russian destruction of Grosny (Chechnya) on Milton Friedman, instead of on Russia. Another example, stating that the Hizbollah attempt to take over Lebanon is basically a revolt by the 'poor' against the neo-liberal world order. Constantly, Ms. Klein attempts to bang the square peg of reality (power politics, Islamic fundamentalist imperialism) into the round hole of leftwing theory. The FT basically accuses Klein of making all kinds of highly unlikely connections, which in reality, do not exist. They also state that the work is "deeply flawed".

Eye Opener.......2007-10-22

If you've been wondering why the rich are getting richer and you're going nowhere, this book will help explain why. Wonder why you are so insecure about your job; why the politicians keep pushing these free trade pacts even though everyone knows they only help corporations make more money and allow the corporations to exploit the world's populous by having them work for less and less; why New Orleans has been abandoned (at least the areas previously filled with ordinary people; why the times feel so cruel, harsh, and Dickensian? Are you still trying to figure out why after Osama Bin Laden attacked us, we invaded Iraq? You don't know why we have to cut the social spending in the Federal budget but increase the spending for the military/industrial complex and why so many ordinary americans are losing their federal jobs to private contractors? Read this book and find out why.

The real skinny behind "Shock and Awe".......2007-10-22

It always seemed strange to me that the more aid a poor country gets, the poorer they get. Read this book to understand why. Journalist Naomi Klein takes us behind the scenes to show us why the rich nations of the world, led by America, are able to use "disaster capitalism" to "shock" a poor nation into submission. And how these rich nations use "aid" (via the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) as a means of coercion to bring entire economies to their knees.

And if these countries do not welcome the "aid" that these organizations give then, or if these countries do something that the rich don't like, then those poor countries are "shocked" into submission and thus weakening them into giving up their economies.

Consider what happened when Iran tried to nationalize their oil fields in 1951. Consider what happened when the Dominican Republic tried to take back their fruit industry from American ownership in the early 60s. And what happened when Chile tried to do the same in 1972. And consider how these countries were "shocked" into submission later.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein gives a fuller understanding about what is happening in the world today.

Solid investigative journalism.......2007-10-22

Like Klein's previous tome, No Logo, this book is exhaustively researched, compellingly argued, and impressive in its breadth and depth. Right wing nutbags will call her a socialist, propagandist, and whatever other epithets they can conjure to scare their uneducated and heartless base, but this is simply a diversionary tactic. Klein's examination of economic shock tactics (and their physical cousins, ECT and torture) are so heavily documented and fact checked that anyone with human(e) emotions would find it difficult to undermine her assertions or deny their veracity.

This book is the very definition of good, solid reporting. To doubters, Klein's claims may seem far fetched, but she connects the dots in a way that the mainstream media just can't seem to do.

through the Looking Glass Darkly.......2007-10-21

It is easy to get te wrong impression of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. The premise (a cabal of politicians, academics, multi-national businessmen, and researchers seek to remake the world in their own image for the fun of power, control and wealth)is dark. The author is a gorgeous eyeful. It would be easy to imagine this as another far-fetched ghost-written consipracy theory clammoring for acceptance.

Except that this work is 444 pages long with 70 pages of footnotes to validate its claims and as such it deserves to be seriously considered by any who are concerned with the declining standard of living and order in their world.

The scope of this work is impressive as it traces the current state of things back to the 60's CIA mind control experiments through the "regime changes" in places like Chile, Argentina, Poland, and South Africa, to the more recent debacles in Katrina afflicted New Orleans and Iraq.

To read Klein's work is like putting on a pair of corrective lens that allow the reader to make sense of so much of history of the past 40 years. This book deserves to be bought, read, and discussed among thoughtful people concerned about the future.

One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization

Average customer rating:

Innovative Capitalism
Management Consultant
Readable and relevant

One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization
Dee Hock
Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1576753328

Book Description

The worldwide success of VISA International, Dee Hock asserts, is due to its chaordic structure: it is owned by 22,000 member banks, which both compete with each other for 750 million customers and must cooperate by honoring one another's $125 trillion in transactions annually across borders and currencies. "One From Many takes the never-before-told story of how that structure came into being, and updates it for today. The book also highlights Dee Hock's evolution from humble beginnings to an iconoclast who challenged the nature of traditional organizations and management. It is the story of an entrepreneur who created a new concept of organization, brought it into being, and led it to amazing success in less than a decade. Hock is a corporate statesman who continues to carry these ideas around the world. Lyrical, humorous, powerfully thoughtful, "One From Many tells how one man blended chaos and order in the unexpected realm of business.

Customer Reviews:

Innovative Capitalism.......2007-01-29

I read a lot, a solace and a life line out of the madness of today. I finished up my week-end with this most unusual gem, and it is with some emotion that I put it down and take the time to write this review.

In my lifetime, there have been fewer than four individuals able to understand me and manage me, and Dee Hock now joins that number, sight unseen. This is one of the *good guys*! If he and Bill Bradley and Jim Turner (Transpartisanship) can come together, we can remake the world.

The book benefits from a Foreword by Peter Senge, who notes that VISA as it emerged was a disruptive concept that threatened traditional powers. Senge also notes the importance of distinguishing between enabling technologies, such as the Internet, and what is enabled, such as democracy or equitable wealth creation and sharing. Finally, Senge observes that global complexity requires distributed democracy, to which I and the author would both be quick to add: "and moral capitalism."

The book is at root about the failure of all of our instititutions, and the need to find a third way between over-bearing centralization and anarchic decentralization. The author coins the word "chaordic" to deswcribe an even-handed and often-changing balance between the two.

Dee Hock is a philosopher-king, and I am reminded of "Voltaire's Bastards" and "Consilience" as I read his denouncement of the Western concept of separability and his own understanding that complexity is about never-ending and alway-changing relationships. In one example with the US Army, he explores how rules-based organizations waste 45-85% of the time and value of their employees. He specifically notes that human ingenuity is the ultimate resource and is abundant, but too often constrained if not crushed by schools, armies, corporations, and so on.

The author's morality shines forth as he describes non-monetary exchanges of value as the best possible foundation for what others call reciprocal altruism. At one point he observes that "leadership is not necessarily constructive, ethical, or open."

The entire book is about the creation of an organization in which participation is the primal element, agreement is dynamic, and trust and tolerance are the prevailing values. He states that organizational heaven is purpose, principle, and people. Purgotory is paper and procedure. Hell is rule & regulation.

He realizes early on that fraud and theft are major challenges, and that information is, as he quotes Gregory Bateson, "a difference that makes a difference."

I have a big note: this is a smart, ethical, practical, inspiring person--one of the good guys!

The author is deeply and empathetically aware of the discord between our industrial era understandings and perceptions, and the bio-cultural realities of the Earth and all its processes. He sees clearly what the "true cost" or natural capitalism literature seeks to teach.

A line jumps out, in which the author is lamenting that we have such a wealth of information, yet have drifted into "collective madness."

He clearly sees that our current form of predatory immoral "bandit" capitalism specializes at the socialization of cost and the capitalization of gain, which is fancy wording for looting the commons and stealing the profit. He also points out that we are putting the debt on to future generations.

He clearly describes the current form of corporations as inimical to the commons.

The book concludes strongly, lionizing the will to succeed when joined with the grace to compromise, placing VISA on a par with the Internet and LINUX as an organizational model for the future, and noting that growth comes from failure.

On page 284 he lists the following ten attributes from a living organization in Spain that represents the best of the chaordic model:

01 Open membership
02 Democratic organization
03 Worker sovereignty
04 Instrumental subordinate nature of capital
05 Participation in management
06 Wage solidarity
07 Cooperating between cooperatives
08 Social transformation
09 Universal nature
10 Education (he might have added, life-long, unconstrained, free of the prison-rote we now suffer, and teaching sharing as well as learning)

He ends with the story of his recall from his wanderings in the wilderness, to explore examples, models, the intellectual foundation, and organizations by which we might save the Planet and our species, to include the necessary means of mind-crafting for the future.

I actually had goose-bumps as I put this book down. I felt, very strongly, that I had been within the aura of a great leader, a gentle person, a world-class humanitarian, a capitalist Dalai Lama if you will (don't laugh--this author strikes me as quite amazingly special).

I cannot say enough about this book. It joins the very short list of books I have posted on moral leadership through open source intelligence, and it places Dee Hock up there with Buckminster Fuller, Margaret Wheatley, Robert Buckman, and a tiny handful of Senge's and Druckers.

I hope I meet him one day. Right now, he joins Bill Bradley as one of just two people I'd be willing to leave my mink-lined bunker to follow into battle. This book and this author's mind and clarity of communication have simply blown me away.

See the two images I have loaded here to illustrate concepts that I share with this author. You can see other images at Earth Intelligence Network, where you can also use the Amazon Base Page to get access to my 30 lists of books for each of the ten threats, twelve policies, and eight challengers. I am also creating Amazon discussion pages for each of these.

Management Consultant.......2006-05-03

Dee Hock, Founder and CEO Emeritus of Visa, not only recalls the intriguing events that led to the creation of Visa, but shares the roots of his personal journey that took him to that place and time. This book chronicles Hock's exploration of the nature of organizations that go well beyond anything that had been done to that point in time. As a byproduct, he helped save a credit card industry that was bleeding money across a sea of large and small financial institutions.

Readable and relevant.......2005-10-17

Dee Hock is not only a great story teller but also a "future teller". The history of his incredible involvement with the rise of VISA only sets the stage for a fascinating look at the future as it "might become and ought to be". Very much worth the read for anyone vested with leadership and/or innovation in any organization (which is everyone).

The one story not told is how the book was made to come about. After reading of Dee Hocks life experience it seems that it is simply "how it ought to be".

SHADOW SHOGUNS: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Postwar Political Machine

Average customer rating:

Excellent portrayal of the Tanaka political machine
Politics is power. Power is numbers.
The Hidden Power Behind Japan's Political System
The Land of the Rising Bribe

SHADOW SHOGUNS: The Rise and Fall of Japan's Postwar Political Machine
Jacob M. Schlesinger
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0684811588

Amazon.com

Jacob M. Schlesinger's Shadow Shoguns is an arresting profile of an element of modern Japanese life little understood in the West: the relationship between economic superpowerdom and political corruption. In an astute and provocative piece of political reporting, Schlesinger, formerly of the Wall Street Journal's Tokyo bureau, paints a vivid portrait of state as corporation. This "Japan Inc." is a nation that has subverted democratic ideals to Capitalist opportunities, a country ruled by "shadow shoguns"--corrupt officials who have created a political machine for their personal profit. Schlesinger begins his tale with Kakuei Tanaka, a poor country boy who clawed his way through the construction business into politics and up through the ranks to become prime minister. This rags-to-riches story illustrates two points: the personal tenacity and ruthlessness of Tanaka and the fierce divisions between "Front" Japan--the glittering, urban economic miracle the country presents to the world--and "Back" Japan, the underdeveloped rural world from which Tanaka rose.

In many ways, the story of Tanaka is the story of modern Japan, a nation in which government corruption was tolerated in the interests of continuing economic growth. The past few years have seen both the bursting of Japan's economic bubble and the exposure of repeated government scandals. For anyone who has watched and wondered at the state of Japanese politics, Jacob M. Schlesinger's Shadow Shoguns offers a cogent explanation of how business, bureaucracy, and politics made such unholy bedfellows.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent portrayal of the Tanaka political machine.......2006-08-17

For anyone who has lived in Japan, there are way way too many books that attempt to explain away what we witnessed as severe problems via complex cultural blah-blah about the "Japanese exception."

The great value of this book is to explain the corruption and autocratic impulses as the product of a rather straightforward politican machine - there is nothing exceptional that offers anything of intrinsic value beyond understanding it for what it was: just a moment in time that a corrupt leader, Tanaka, was able to create a seat for himself at the center of power. As Schlesinger argues, with all that power, the great failure of Tanaka was that he did so little with it in terms of serving the public interest: instead, it just served him and his cronies. As such, now that the machine has been watered down, many needed reforms are far more difficult to implement (and the need for remedies, after decades of neglect, is worse than ever).

This is the product of a truly intelligent and thoughtful journalist. I knew him briefly in Japan, and was always impressed with his clear sightedness and willingness to question anything, in addition to his humor. It is a great pleasure to read this book and recognise the original mind that I knew.

Warmly recommended.

Politics is power. Power is numbers........2003-12-26

This is a far better book than the more theoretical approach by Karel van Wolferen in 'The Enigma of Japanese Power'.
After reading this book there is no enigma anymore.

Jacob M. Schlesinger reveals extremely clearly how the Japanese system worked and who pulled the strings. He shows that Japanese politics in the last half of the 20th century was firmly controlled by four men, with Kakuei Tanaka as the most predominant tycoon.

Tanaka's tactics were very simple: use his home base as a platform for his political career by lavishy spending state money in his election district and by buying votes; use his financial clout to control the Japanese majority party; become still richer by corrupting the state bureaucracy, bid-rigging (200 % and more margin) and briberies (by private companies).

In fact, the author shows clearly that the whole system was controlled by a corrupt oligachy.
The men in power were not afraid of racket type interventions. One example: the ruling government proposed stiff taxes on automobiles. After the automobile industry paid heavy contributions to the party in charge, the bill was watered down.

This book is an exemplary analysis of a corrupt political system. Not to be missed.

The Hidden Power Behind Japan's Political System.......2003-04-22

Why has Japan changed its prime ministers with such frequency through much of the post-war period? Why did those prime ministers seem powerless to affect real change to the political system? "Shadow Shoguns" answers these questions by way of a brilliantly told story of the Liberal Democratic Party's most powerful political faction called the "gundan".

The story of the "gundan" - which means "army corps" -- is primarily the story of the man who created and ruled over it for much of the 70s and 80s, Kakuei Tanaka. Jacob Schlesinger spends more than half of "Shadow Shoguns" examining Tanaka's life, including his roots in the construction business, his entry into politics, how he made money work for him in consolidating political power, and finally, his fall from power.

Tanaka was a fascinating figure. In many ways he was a combination of LBJ and Boss Tweed. His appetite for power and money was huge, and his experience in the construction industry gave him the ability to amass both. Coming from one of the poorest prefectures in Japan, he fought hard to bring huge pork barrel construction projects back to his constituents, and they in turn gave him unflinching support even when he was charged with crimes and became a national symbol of corruption.

A scandal removed Tanaka from the prime minister's seat in 1974, but due to his constituents' support, it did not remove him from the parliament. From then until the mid-80s, Tanaka would be the power behind the throne, using money from construction projects to strengthen his faction, and his faction to strengthen his hold over national politics.

What finally removed Tanaka from his position as leader over Japan's most powerful faction was not angry voters, other factions or their political leaders, but his own underlings. Tanaka had attracted some of the most talented politicians in Japan to his faction, and handling those egos was a full-time job. After a stroke in 1985, Tanaka was unable to reassert his power, and three of his protégés (Shin Kanemaru, Noburu Takeshita, and Ichiro Ozawa) wrenched the faction away from him.

The final third of the book focuses on those protégés, their strengthening of the faction, and finally the fall of their machine as Japan's economy began to flounder. As Schlesinger tells it, the success of the faction was always predicated on continued strong economic growth. When the Japanese economy faltered throughout the early 1990s, so did the mechanism by which the "gundan" governed Japan.

This is a book that gives vivid life to a political system and to politicians many people find boring. Schlesinger shows that because Japan's most capable and interesting politicians operated out of the limelight for much of the last three decades, their story is a compelling one as well as the key to understanding the history of the modern Japanese political system.

The Land of the Rising Bribe.......1997-10-17

Concise and well written, it opens up postwar Japanese politics. Incredulous happenings! Maybe we should send some of our congressmen to Japan to check this out.-- Short shrift is given, however, to the all-pervading involvement with, and use of, the criminal organisations where the police seem powerless. Also, it should have photographs of the main actors to make it more three-dimensional.

Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights

Average customer rating:

Corporate Power, where did it come from?
This book changed my life
Gives the insde on the need to rationalize corporations
Unequal Protection:the rise of corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights
'The' book to read on the issue of the role of corporate power in the US

Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights
Thom Hartmann
Manufacturer: Rodale Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power

ASIN: 1579546277

Book Description

Corporations rule the world, claims Thom Hartmann, and they are despoiling it for profit. He traces the historical friction between individual rights and the corporation, culminating in a landmark 1886 court case that altered the course of constitutional protection forever. Since then corporations have steadily acquired power, shifted an unfair share of the tax burden, taken control of the media, and co-opted the regulatory process for their own purposes, according to Hartmann.Hartmann cites examples of the absurd and frightening power: sterile streams and undrinkable water, poisonous neighborhoods, deathtrap trucks for an extra $2 in profit.To end the abuses, Hartmann calls for a grassroots revolution. He says its time to understand the true costs of our consumerist society, take back the government, and shift to a values-based economy. Pre-drafted legal templates encourage individuals to begin work at the local level.

Customer Reviews:

Corporate Power, where did it come from? .......2007-07-13

I was actually in the process of writing a book about the same subject matter when I became aware of Mr. Hartmann's book. After reading this book I conclude that Mr. Hartmann beat me to it and has done a more thorough job than would have satisfied me. It is a very important matter and threatens to change our nation in fundamental ways. A shortcoming in Mr. Hartmann's book is the weakness of his proposed solutions. I have proposed to Mr. Hartmann actions which I think would be more effective in the long haul. I am searching for an existing organization having the sole goal of putting back in their place those corporations which are usurping the power given We the People by the Constitution. I'm too old to form a new orgnization and those I have learned of are not sufficiently focused.

This book changed my life.......2007-05-10

I read this book and have been a Thom Hartman fan ever since.
He is brilliant and packed with knowledge.
Everyone needs to read this book!

Check out his radio show.

Gives the insde on the need to rationalize corporations.......2007-04-08

Going into the Freedom Portal (Free State) I had doubts about the morality, perhaps even the constitutionality, of corporations.

What, after all, is a corporation?

American Heritage says: "a) A body of persons granted a
charter legally recognizing them as a separate entity having
its own rights, privileges, and liabilities distinct from those
of its members. b) Such a body created for purposes of
government."

Now isn't the b) part of that definition interesting? At the very least we know corporations are creatures of the government and do not exist at common law.

Thomas Hartmann, a true modern lower-case democrat, writes that Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and several other Founders warned strenuously against monopoly corporations:

"I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." --Thomas Jefferson to George Logan, 1816

And from Andrew Jackson:

"Corporations have neither bodies to kick nor souls to damn."

These conscientious men were worried about abuse of power. Early chartering of corporations in America reflects this concern, often imposing severe limitations--such as prohibiting corporations from owning other corporations and requiring annual renewal of the charters.

Many people do not realize the Boston Tea Party was a revolt against corporate privilege. Queen Elizabeth charted the East India Company (EIC) in 1600; into the 1700s it dominated trade by Britain with America. Tea became a huge import to America by the mid-1700s and EIC wanted all the business.

Several acts prohibited Americans from acquiring tea from other sources. In 1773, the Tea Act exempted EIC (of which the king was a stockholder), but not colonial merchants, from taxes to the crown. The tea partiers were telling the Crown and the EIC stick their cheap tea where the sun don't shine.

...

For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2007

Unequal Protection:the rise of corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights.......2006-11-10

A call to all fair minded Americans, as well as citizens around the globe.
One of Thom Hartmann's BEST. A history lesson and a call to reclaim our humanity.

'The' book to read on the issue of the role of corporate power in the US.......2006-04-30

Disclaimer: I'm a bit more than half through the book - and ready to comment on it.

I read quite a few books on liberal politics. This one is on a very short 'best' list of them.

It hits its mark right on - just the right amounts of history, the scope of its message, the gritty details when needed, the pacing.

I began to learn new details on well-trodden ground early in the book - for example, who knew that the pilgrims arriving on the Mayflower in 1620 were hardly England beginning its presence in North America - that it was the Mayflower's third or fourth trip carrying over staff of the East India company since 1601 - it was a company presence, the religious visitors were an afterthought.

He does an outstanding job of explaining the dominant role of colonists' opposition to the East India company in our own resolution. It's important to understand these things when we look at how to respond to powerful corporations today.

He does an excellent, balanced expose of the history of the legal doctrine that corporations are entitled to equality with humans.

The ramifications are huge, as today we face a political system in which the influence of our citizens is dwarfed by that of the inhuman organizations - where the citizens are turned into consumers to be sold to and manipulated with well-funded marketing, rather than acting as the sovereigns necessary for a democracy to work well.

If we don't begin to do something now, the chances may begin to disappear to be able to. Even now, we have democracy's power to represent its people castrated by clauses in the so-called 'free trade' agreements which allow the corporations to get all kinds of laws nullified.

I highly recommend the book.

Japan: Who Governs? : The Rise of the Developmental State

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Japan: Who Governs? : The Rise of the Developmental State
Chalmers A. Johnson
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393037398

From Underdogs to Tigers: The Rise and Growth of the Software Industry in Brazil, China, India, Ireland, and Israel

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From Underdogs to Tigers: The Rise and Growth of the Software Industry in Brazil, China, India, Ireland, and Israel

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0199205310

Book Description

In 1980 the Indian software industry was practically non-existent. By the 1990s the industry was one of the largest employers in manufacturing. Similar patterns of growth can be found in other emerging economies. So given that the software industry is commonly viewed as a high-tech industry,
how is it that such spectacular growth has occurred in countries where high-tech industries would not seem likely to develop? This book examines the reasons behind this phenomenon, and asks whether it suggests a new model of economic development. The contributors explore the implications of the rise
of these newcomers to the software market for the global industry, and whether there are things to be learned about the role of human capital in economic growth, firm formulation and capabilities, business and managerial models and industry structure. Chapters include country studies on Brazil,
China, India, Ireland and Israel and are complemented by cross-cutting chapters on some of the key issues highlighted by the groeth patterns of software in these nations, most notably the role of the multinational companies, the globalization of the skilled worker flows, and the formation of firm
capabilities. The novelty of the growth patterns in the regions that studied makes this book useful for understanding analytical and empirical issues underlying new microfoundations of economic growth in some emerging regions of the world.

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