Amazon.com
We live in an era where image is nearly everything, where the proliferation of brand-name culture has created, to take one hyperbolic example from Naomi Klein's No Logo, "walking, talking, life-sized Tommy [Hilfiger] dolls, mummified in fully branded Tommy worlds." Brand identities are even flourishing online, she notes--and for some retailers, perhaps best of all online: "Liberated from the real-world burdens of stores and product manufacturing, these brands are free to soar, less as the disseminators of goods or services than as collective hallucinations."
In No Logo, Klein patiently demonstrates, step by step, how brands have become ubiquitous, not just in media and on the street but increasingly in the schools as well. (The controversy over advertiser-sponsored Channel One may be old hat, but many readers will be surprised to learn about ads in school lavatories and exclusive concessions in school cafeterias.) The global companies claim to support diversity, but their version of "corporate multiculturalism" is merely intended to create more buying options for consumers. When Klein talks about how easy it is for retailers like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster to "censor" the contents of videotapes and albums, she also considers the role corporate conglomeration plays in the process. How much would one expect Paramount Pictures, for example, to protest against Blockbuster's policies, given that they're both divisions of Viacom?
Klein also looks at the workers who keep these companies running, most of whom never share in any of the great rewards. The president of Borders, when asked whether the bookstore chain could pay its clerks a "living wage," wrote that "while the concept is romantically appealing, it ignores the practicalities and realities of our business environment." Those clerks should probably just be grateful they're not stuck in an Asian sweatshop, making pennies an hour to produce Nike sneakers or other must-have fashion items. Klein also discusses at some length the tactic of hiring "permatemps" who can do most of the work and receive few, if any, benefits like health care, paid vacations, or stock options. While many workers are glad to be part of the "Free Agent Nation," observers note that, particularly in the high-tech industry, such policies make it increasingly difficult to organize workers and advocate for change.
But resistance is growing, and the backlash against the brands has set in. Street-level education programs have taught kids in the inner cities, for example, not only about Nike's abusive labor practices but about the astronomical markup in their prices. Boycotts have commenced: as one urban teen put it, "Nike, we made you. We can break you." But there's more to the revolution, as Klein optimistically recounts: "Ethical shareholders, culture jammers, street reclaimers, McUnion organizers, human-rights hacktivists, school-logo fighters and Internet corporate watchdogs are at the early stages of demanding a citizen-centered alternative to the international rule of the brands ... as global, and as capable of coordinated action, as the multinational corporations it seeks to subvert." No Logo is a comprehensive account of what the global economy has wrought and the actions taking place to thwart it. --Ron Hogan
Book Description
With a new Afterword to the 2002 edition. No Logo employs journalistic savvy and personal testament to detail the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketing—and the powerful potential of a growing activist sect that will surely alter the course of the 21st century. First published before the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, this is an infuriating, inspiring, and altogether pioneering work of cultural criticism that investigates money, marketing, and the anti-corporate movement.
As global corporations compete for the hearts and wallets of consumers who not only buy their products but willingly advertise them from head to toe—witness today’s schoolbooks, superstores, sporting arenas, and brand-name synergy—a new generation has begun to battle consumerism with its own best weapons. In this provocative, well-written study, a front-line report on that battle, we learn how the Nike swoosh has changed from an athletic status-symbol to a metaphor for sweatshop labor, how teenaged McDonald’s workers are risking their jobs to join the Teamsters, and how “culture jammers” utilize spray paint, computer-hacking acumen, and anti-propagandist wordplay to undercut the slogans and meanings of billboard ads (as in “Joe Chemo” for “Joe Camel”).
No Logo will challenge and enlighten students of sociology, economics, popular culture, international affairs, and marketing.
“This book is not another account of the power of the select group of corporate Goliaths that have gathered to form our de facto global government. Rather, it is an attempt to analyze and document the forces opposing corporate rule, and to lay out the particular set of cultural and economic conditions that made the emergence of that opposition inevitable.”—Naomi Klein, from her Introduction
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Once a poster boy for the new economy, Bill Gates has become a global whipping boy. The Nike swoosh is quickly losing its cachet, equated now with sweatshop labor. Teenage McDonald's workers are joining the Teamsters. What's going on? NO LOGO explains why some of the most revered brands in the world are finding themselves on the wrong end of a spray-can, a computer hack, or an international anti-corporate campaign. NO LOGO uncovers a betrayal of the central promises of the information age: choice, interactivity, and increased freedom. Instead, job security and consumer choice have been swallowed whole by companies who enlist us as their human billboards and spokesmen. Equal parts cultural analysis, political manifesto, mall-rat memoir, and journalistic expose, NO LOGO is the first book that both uncovers the sins of corporations run amok and explores and explains the new resistance that will change consumer culture in the 21st century.
Customer Reviews:
Informatively frustrating.......2007-08-17
It was well written exploring many aspects of branding, culture jamming, and production.
This book will leave you with frustration and questioning how you change change something, and what CAN you buy that isn't made from Export Processing Zones.
It does give great information but yet leaves you frustrated and feeling helpless that you can't change the current conditions or avoid buying products made in places like china, el salvador, indonesia where they treat their workers worse than dirt.
Insight into an Ad-driven culture.......2007-07-14
This book offers a deep insight on how advertising are creeping into our lives, even conveyed to us in a subliminal way. If left unchecked, the corporations would be the authors our culture. It also showcases the exploits of major corporations in employment.
However, one must be critical when reading the book, as some of the things Naomi bashes on, such as the Starbucks expansion strategy, are genuine business strategies. In some cases, we have to be realistic and not blindly adopt and anti-corporation stance.
The first 3 chapters, No Space, No Choice, and No Jobs are exceptionally informative, but the last chapter, No Logo, falls short and descends into a boring rant on countermeasures that in my opinion, are far from effective and often, impractical.
Buy the book, read the first 2, skip the last.
Anti-Corporate Handbook.......2007-05-20
What are the effects of multinational corporations in the Branding Age? Naomi Klein tackles that in this seminal work on the subject. While somewhat dated (published in 2000), it gives the most comprehensive picture of the transition corporations have undergone from providing competent products and services to providing ubiquitous branding and advertising to produce loyalty and sell peripherals. This book gives the total picture of the devastation left in the wake of total corporate dominance in the U.S., Canada, and worldwide.
As she details, what has emerged in the last half of the 20th century is a new kind of totality - an economic imperialism spearheaded by Nike, The Gap, McDonalds, Shell, and Microsoft and their lawyers, contractors, and advertising agencies. As they break open markets, crush competition, and lower wages across the globe they've gotten so powerful as to dictate to scores of countries what their trade and economic policies are going to be. These policies are always anti-Union and terrible for workers, leaving nations worse off than before they were Industrialized and Advertised - creating massive wealth gaps and uneven distributions across the board.
The four major sections of the book: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs, and No Logo, each show in example after example, case study upon study that advertising is the product now and the more money spent in that avenue, the more profitable the corporation can be while taking every opportunity away from the poor and disenfranchised, forcing horrible conditions and worse jobs on them, and decreasing their access to health care and nutrition. This is not an accident. This is a concerted policy foisted upon the world through the corporate enforcement arm of the WTO, World Bank, and U.S. Military.
Is it hopeless? Well, civil disobedience is one way to combat the trends and takeover and Klein offers many suggestions and examples in this book. However even she admits that the situation is bleak.
Good luck . . . and good read.
- CV Rick
NO LOGO will fundementally alter the way you think about the world........2006-11-04
Naomi Klien's treatise on the anti-corporate movement of the last decade provides tremendous insight into the philosophies behind today's anti-corporate culture, and more importantly, the "branded" society that has spawned it. Well written and intelligent on every level, NO LOGO carefully tracks such disturbing phenomenons as the disappearance of public space, the rise of corporate censorship, and the transformation of living wage jobs for Americans into sweatshop labor in the third world. If you are completely unfamiliar with today's cultural rebellion against corporate control, NO LOGO serves as an excellent introduction, clearly outlining the dubious marketing trend of promoting "brands not products" such that you will never be able to watch commercials the same way again. If you are a seasoned WTO protester or billboard adbuster, NO LOGO will provide you with all the philosophical and factual ammo necessary to start converting your friends away from their unthinking materialistic lifestyle. This book is a must read for anyone who considers themselves and independently thinking consumer, as well as anyone who is interested in the latest cultural rebellion taking place among today's young and disenfranchised.
The Third World has always existed for the comfort of the First.......2006-11-03
Naomi Klein sketches perfectly the major shift in corporate strategy today: transnational companies are not interested in production anymore, only in branding: products are made in factories, brands in the mind. Branding creates big margins, production in home countries meager earnings.
This strategy causes monstrous layoffs in the First World and creates EPZ (Export Processing Zones) in the Third World.
In the First world, corporations transformed themselves in `engines of wealth growth' for their shareholders, instead of `engines of job growth'. `CEO's of the 30 companies with the largest announced layoffs saw their total compensation increase by 67%.'
The jobs they need are predominantly outsourced, or are McJobs (no `adult wages') and temporary stop-jobs.
The First World stirs fierce competition between Third World countries in order to get rock-bottom prices for their `branded' products, creating colossal margins in the home countries.
Wages in EPZs are so low that most of the money is spent on shared dorm rooms and basic food. Workers cannot afford the consumer goods they produce.
Another aspect of our branded world is the sheer size of the (trans)national corporations created by relentless mergers and acquisitions. Their size permits them to decide what items (also magazines, DVDs) should be stocked in a store, in other words, they create a new kind of censorship.
Big mergers in the media landscape allow conglomerates to produce their own news and in this sense jeopardize basic civil liberties.
While Naomi Klein's analysis of our consumer planet is very revealing, the remedies she proposes are rather innocent, epidermic, symptom healing or too general: ad and brand busting, radical ecology (Reclaim the Streets), anti-globalization and anti-corporate mass protests, boycott, building greater critical social consciousness. Individual actions like attacking in court (Shell in Nigeria), revealing Nike's sweatshops or denouncing McDonald's food are ultimately not more than temporary needle pricks in elephant skins.
What the world needs is a global vision, which we can find in the works of Joseph Stiglitz or (for a view from the South) Walden Bello.
Highly recommended.
Book Description
Each week the oil and gas fields of sub-Saharan Africa produce well over a billion dollars' worth of oil, an amount that far exceeds development aid to the entire African continent. Yet the rising tide of oil money is not promoting stability and development, but is instead causing violence, poverty, and stagnation. It is also generating vast corruption that reaches deep into American and European economies. In Poisoned Wells, Nicholas Shaxson exposes the root causes of this paradox of poverty from plenty, and explores the mechanisms by which oil causes grave instabilities and corruption around the globe. Shaxson is the only journalist who has had access to the key players in African oil, and is willing to make the connections between the problems of the developing world and the involvement of leading global corporations and governments.
Customer Reviews:
Poisoned Wells.......2007-06-11
Of the current crop of "what is wrong with Africa" books including "The Shackled Continent", "The White Man's Burden" and "The Trouble with Africa", Nicholas Shaxson's analysis and prescriptions for change are the most radical and on-the-money. Shaxson's book should be widely read and discussed. Unfortunately, too much invested in the status quo by all concerned to see much likelihood of change within the next few decades.
Book Description
Since it was first published in 1991, The Ethics Challenge in Public Service has become a classic text used by public managers and in public management programs across the country. This second edition is filled with practical tools and techniques for making ethical choices in the ambiguous, pressured world of public service. It explores the day-to-day ethical dilemmas managers face in their work, including what to do when rules recommend one action and compassion another, and whether it is ethical to dissent from agency policy. This essential text explores managers' accountability to different stakeholders and how to balance the often competing responsibilities.
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"Since it was first published in 1991, The Ethics Challenge in Public Service has become a classic text used by public managers and in public management programs across the country. This second edition is filled with practical tools and techniques for making ethical choices in the ambiguous, pressured world of public service. It explores the day-to-day ethical dilemmas managers face in their work, including what to do when rules recommend one action and compassion another, and whether it is ethical to dissent from agency policy. This essential text explores managers' accountability to different stakeholders and how to balance the often competing responsibilities. "
Customer Reviews:
Required Readng for Public Servants.......2004-06-11
It's tough to be a manager in a public agency. In addition to obeying the law, public servants have an additional ethical obligation to "serve the public interest" and "uphold the public trust". Even the appearance of not serving the public interest is unethical for public servants. Thus, while it could be okay for a manager in a private company to hire relatives and to let employees sleep on the job, it would be unethical for a manager in a public agency to do so.
This book was required reading for my graduate course in Ethics for Public Administrators. It should be required reading for every politician, public servant, and citizen, too.
keep looking.......1999-03-15
Just keep looking for something else
Amazon.com
Fearless investigative journalists Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber (Toxic Sludge Is Good for You! and Mad Cow U.S.A.) are back with a gripping exposé of the public relations industry and the scientists who back their business-funded, anti-consumer-safety agendas. There are two kinds of "experts" in question--the PR spin doctors behind the scenes and the "independent" experts paraded before the public, scientists who have been hand-selected, cultivated, and paid handsomely to promote the views of corporations involved in controversial actions. Lively writing on controversial topics such as dioxin, bovine growth hormone, and genetically modified food makes this a real page-turner, shocking in its portrayal of the real and potential dangers in each of these technological innovations and of the "media pseudo-environment" created to obfuscate the risks. By financing and publicizing views that support the goals of corporate sponsors, PR campaigns have, over the course of the century, managed to suppress the dangers of lead poisoning for decades, silence the scientist who discovered that rats fed on genetically modified corn had significant organ abnormalities, squelch television and newspaper stories about the risks of bovine growth hormone, and place enough confusion and doubt in the public's mind about global warming to suppress any mobilization for action.
Rampton and Stauber introduce the movers and shakers of the PR industry, from the "risk communicators" (whose job is to downplay all risks) and "outrage managers" (with their four strategies--deflect, defer, dismiss, or defeat) to those who specialize in "public policy intelligence" (spying on opponents). Evidently, these elaborate PR campaigns are created for our own good. According to public relations philosophers, the public reacts emotionally to topics related to health and safety and is incapable of holding rational discourse. Needless to say, Rampton and Stauber find these views rather antidemocratic and intend to pull back the curtain to reveal the real wizard in Oz. This is one wake-up call that's hard to resist. --Lesley Reed
Book Description
The book that unmasks the sneaky and widespread methods industry uses to influence opinion through bogus experts, doctored data, and manufactured facts.
"Finally a long-overdue exposé of the shenanigans and subterfuge that lie behind the making of experts in America." (Jeremy Rifkin)
"If you want to know how the world wags, and who's wagging it, here's your answer." (Bill Moyers)
"Meticulously researched . . . Rampton and Stauber's documentation of PR campaigns proves that they are the real 'experts.' " (Brill's Content) AUTHOBIO: John Stauber is the founder and director of the Center for Media & Democracy. He and Sheldon Rampton write and edit the quarterly PR Watch: Public Interest Reporting on the PR/Public Affairs Industry.
Customer Reviews:
The Death of Capitalism.......2007-09-04
Capitalism - market economy - free enterprise - these are the jewels in the crown of civilization which, since the renaissance, have brought unprecedented wealth, prosperity and freedom to large parts of the world. Capitalism has struggled and eventually triumphed over its historical adversaries; in earlier times, popes and kings and in our time socialism and communism. In the 21st century, since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, international corporate capitalism is bursting, like fireworks, in triumph; merging, globalizing and buying governments. What puny opposition remains is easily dispatched with a broad range of powerful weapons which have been developed over the years. Today the only real threat to capitalism is capitalism!
Socialists may practice socialism and Christians may practice Christianity but if by capitalism we mean a competitive market driven economic system, then capitalists do not practice capitalism. Theorists notwithstanding, capitalism is not an ideology, it is merely a description. Capitalists are not trying to implement some philosophy, they are only trying to make a buck any way they can. To a capitalist the biggest enemy is not socialism or labor unions or liberals or environmentalists, or even big government, the biggest enemy is risk. Risk of not making money. Risk of losing money.
Making money and avoiding risk in doing so is what capitalism is all about. But it is precisely in the risk taking that society draws its benefits from capitalism. That is the dilemma. Risk promotes wise investment resulting in efficiency, innovation and the creation of wealth, not just for the capitalist but for society as a whole. But a lot of capitalists fall by the wayside in the process. It is in the capitalist's interest to eliminate risk and society's interest to prevent them from doing so. The way to avoid risk is to control the market and to do that they must also control the government. This struggle has been going on for hundreds of years: capitalists forming monopolies, oligarchies and trusts and society breaking them up.
So long as society can keep pace with all the tricks and turns that capitalists take to avoid risk, the world would continue to reap the blessings of capitalism. But for the capitalists to succeed in eliminating risk, they would have to eliminate competition resulting in a monopoly of corporations with as much efficiency and innovation as any government bureaucracy. The ultimate risk-free climax would be monopoly and oligarchy and the corporate-run government necessary to keep it that way -- functionally indistinguishable from a Mafia run state or a Stalinist one. Capitalism, instead of an engine which pumps wealth to society and makes some capitalist wealthy in the process, would become an engine which sucks the wealth out of society, making a handful wealthy by impoverishing the rest.
We see this process going on in third world countries today and we are seeing the beginnings of it at home, in America. All three branches of government are increasingly under the control of corporations. Both political parties are addicted to corporate financing. Mergers, acquisitions and globalization, all techniques for eliminating risk, are rampant. The media is being merged and taken over by corporations and increasingly being used as public relations outlets for the corporations.
Right now society is not keeping pace. The tricks and turns that corporate capitalists use to avoid risk have gotten trickier and twistier. Just as a mosquito injects an anesthetic so that you will not feel it is sucking your blood, corporations are coopting the very processes by which people recognize what is going on so that more and more we are living in a virtual reality without realizing it. Sort of like a Potemkin village or like the movie The Truman Story where a boy is born and raised on a television set without knowing it. And as corporations merge and grow larger, they have even bigger budgets to build even more elaborate and convincing "sets". But this is not science fiction. The "sets" are being built around us as you read this.
Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber of the Center for Media & Democracy have been documenting this process for years. Their publications include a quarterly newsletter, PR Watch, and several books including: Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry, Mad Cow USA: Could the Nightmare Happen Here?, and now Trust Us, We're Experts. While flippant and amusing, these books and articles tell a very chilling story of corporate public relations manipulation and spin control growing exponentially in size, audacity and sophistication.
The "father of public relations", Rampton and Stauber point out in Trust Us, is Edward L. Bernays, son in law and disciple of Sigmund Freud. By following Bernays' philosophy one can see the road map to the future. Here are some of his ideas [pp 42 - 44]:
** scientific manipulation of public opinion is necessary to overcome chaos and conflict in society
** In almost every act of our lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons ... who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.
** while most people respond to their world instinctively, without thought, there exist an intelligent few who have been charged with the responsibility of contemplating and influencing the tide of history
** public relations is an applied science, like engineering, through which society's leaders could bring order out of chaos
** being herd like also made people remarkably susceptible to leadership.
Of course that "leadership" can only be exercised by those who can afford the price of the Hill & Knowltons and APCOs of this world.
Here are some cases of virtual reality cited in their latest book. Big contributions, free junkets and the promise of future jobs are the more obvious ways of corrupting legislators but less obvious and more subtle is the use of public relations to actually manipulate the "facts". A typical example of how this works is illustrated on page 14.
"In the Fall of 1997, Georgetown University's Credit Research Center issued a study which concluded that many debtors are using bankruptcy as an excuse to wriggle out of their obligations to creditors. Lobbyists for bank and credit card companies seized on the study as they lobbied Congress for changes in federal law that would make it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy relief. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen cited the study in a Washington Times opinion column, offering Georgetown's academic imprimatur as evidence of the need for `bankruptcy reform'. What Bentsen failed to mention was that the Credit Research Center is funded in its entirety by credit card companies, banks, retailers, and others in the credit industry. The study itself was produced with a $100,000 grant from Visa USA and MasterCard International Inc. Bentsen also failed to mention that he himself had been hired to work as a credit-industry lobbyist."
Coopting and distorting the very sources of knowledge and information which informed people, legislators, scientists, government officials, the press, etc. rely on as being objective and scientific is one of the most clever and the most egregious techniques for creating virtual reality. As an EPA employee I have seen many examples of self-serving corporate sponsored "scientific" studies being foisted off on EPA and used to justify weak ineffective regulations or no regulations at all. The fraud, if discovered at all, is rarely discovered by EPA. In the absence of high level support there is very little incentive for science bureaucrats to look closely at studies with powerful backers.
From p. 199: If you want to know just how craven some scientists can be, the archives of the tobacco industry offer a treasure trove of examples. Thanks to whistle-blowers and lawsuits, millions of pages of once-secret industry documents have become public and are freely available over the Internet. In 1998, for example, documents came to light regarding an industry- sponsored campaign in the early 1990s to plant sympathetic letters and articles in influential medical journals. Tobacco companies had secretly paid 13 scientists a total of $156,000 simply to write a few letters to influential medical journals. One biostatistician, Nathan Mantel of American University in Washington, received $10,000 for writing a single, eight-paragraph letter that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Cancer researcher Gio Batta Cori received $20,137 for writing four letters and an opinion piece to the Lancet, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and the Wall Street Journal - nice work if you can get it, especially since the scientists didn't even have to write the letters themselves. Two tobacco-industry law firms were available to do the actual drafting and editing. All the scientists really had to do was sign their names at the bottom."
If the virtual reality created by public relation firms were only limited to selling toothpaste and deodorant we might not get too concerned about it. Falsifying medical research to defend harmful and dangerous products is a troublesome escalation. But there appears to be no limits to the uses of PR and no concern by the users of its ultimate impact. The issue of global warming, which could possibly plunge humanity into a new dark age, is being surrounded by the fog of virtual reality by the practitioners of PR as if the stakes were no more important than the selling of mouthwash.
Rampton and Stauber point out in pp 267-288 of Trust Us that PR firms hired by the major industrial emitters of greenhouse gasses have created dozens of influential sounding front organization such as "The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition", "The Global Climate Information Project", "The Information Council for the Environment" and "The Greening Earth Society" which have saturated the media, Congress and the public with industry spin so as to make their case by sheer volume and noise. Since the facts and the scientific community are so overwhelming against them, the object of the public relations onslaught has been to slow down, confuse and defuse public clamor for resolute action. Friends of the Earth International calls this "lobbying for lethargy".
There is legitimate scientific debate about the source and rate of global warming and a lot of the spin addresses that, but a lot doesn't. Some of the dirtier tricks played are:
** An attempt to stimulate anti Kyoto Treaty email to President Clinton by promising to enter writers' names in a $1000 sweepstakes drawing.
** Appealing to anti-abortion activists with the claim that "Al Gore has said abortion should be used to reduce global warming."
** Touting phoney petitions of scientists discrediting the theory of global warming.
** Circulating phoney "scientific" papers made up to look like they had appeared in reputable peer reviewed scientific journals.
** Some industry flacks claim the Earth is actually cooling while other claim that global warming is a good thing.
The scary thing is that lobbying for lethargy is working.
The book is very idealistic/ unrealistic.......2007-04-13
One thing that the authors don't think about is that: Most people are not only not educated enough to understand the specialist jargon that goes with many industrial products, but that if they did try to interpret it *based on their limited information/ understanding* disaster would result.
The authors also don't get into what happens when a well meaning government agency overregulates an industry SO MUCH that it ends up being of benefit to no one. Examples abound-- that were not dealt with in the book.
1. The FDA has such tight regulations on drugs that they end up costing 2-3 times more to produce/ sell to the American public than what they should. And much of this cost is legal fees, excessive testing, and clinical trials.
2. The trucking industry is also something that is heavily regulated. There is a chronic shortage of truck drivers in the industry because there are so many regulations that many people who would be perfectly competent truck drivers can't get a chance at working. (For reference, automobiles kill 40,000+ Americans per year, and trucks kill about 900. An average truck driver might drive 55 hours per week compared to the single digit hours that are driven by a passenger car.)
3. Everyone is whining about the price of gas, but no one knows whether the high cost is because of refineries operating at peak capacity or because of insufficient existing oil supplies. No one will ever be able to test this, since a single refinery has not been built in the last 30 years in the United States.
If people were able to regulate industries by the political process (say, by referenda or voting for candidates that would pass strict legislation), whatever came along after what currently exists would be FAR WORSE.
These authors need to pick up some books on Economics-- specifically ones that deal with information asymmetry (as in, how corporations have a better idea of what they are doing than third party observers).
Other than that, the book is very well written with lots of good examples. It's worth picking up-- in spite of my low rating thereof.
If Everybody Believes Something, It's Probably Wrong.......2006-12-29
If everybody believes something, it's probably wrong! We call that Conventional Wisdom. "Trust Us We're Experts" is one of the few books that I recommend to all of my patients that enter my office. The information in this book has the power to potentially save your life, since it provides the reader with the tools to spot propaganda that's regularly disseminated to the masses.
Americans are the most conditioned, programmed beings on the planet. Not only are our thoughts and attitudes continually being shaped and molded; our very awareness of the whole design seems like it is being subtly and inexorably erased! It is an exhausting and endless task to keep explaining to people how most issues of conventional wisdom are scientifically implanted in the public consciousness by a thousand media clips per day. I feel that Stauber and Rampton do an excellent job at guiding the reader through the PR industry and expert deception that is propagated daily. My recommendation is to buy this book today then kill your TV!
Dr. Matthew J. Loop
- Author of "Cracking the Cancer Code"
Take critical thinking one step further..........2005-11-19
...and use the techniques in this book on the book itself. Sadly, a book with so much promise falls victim to its own PR machine all too often. Face it, if you're going to use critical thinking, use it consistently. If you use it against what you don't like, but cast a blind eye on things you are passionate about, how critical is that, really?
Beware of "Experts" -- Follow the Money! .......2005-07-02
John Stauber tells it like it is, and I wish this book were a bestseller. Readers who can accept these truths may also want to read a highly detailed yet fascinating expose of a huge and profitable industry that has been manipulating science and gambling with your health -- "The Whole Soy Story:The Dark Side of America's Favorite Health Food" by Kaayla Daniel, The fact that you are probably thinking, "No, we all know that soy is healthy for us" is proof of how thoroughly you've been conned. I was too, but no longer. "Fluoride Deception" by Christopher Bryson is another good one. Thanks to John Stauber, I'm wary of experts and now know enough to follow the money.
Book Description
Humanitarian consumers have been outraged to learn of the Gap's sweatshops, the young children who assemble Nike running shoes, and the deplorable demands put on agricultural workers by Starbucks Coffee. This book is a call to action to change business practices that hurt workers, children, animals, and the environment. Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, a phenomenally successful alternative corporation, believes that businesses can be both profitable and ethical. Her 1,700 stores in 47 countries sell environmentally friendly beauty products within a model of personal accountability and social responsibility. Inspiring consumers to think about what they buy and from whom they buy it, this book examines the issues driving globalization and the steps consumers can take to keep destructive elements in check. Contributors include the Dalai Lama, Peter Gabriel, Julia Butterfly Hill, Vandana Shiva, Paul Hawken, and Ralph Nader.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book to buy as a gift.......2005-07-22
There were so many great reviews for this book that echoed exactly how I felt about it, but I would like to add that I think that this book would make a great gift. It is a very simple to understand, straight forward book to buy for a friend or family member to heighten their awareness of all of these very important issues. I was so impressed that I watch it in my wish list and buy used copies for friends several times a year.
Wow.......2004-04-21
The title pretty much sums it up. This book was...superb and it doesn't sugarcoat, either. What shocked me most was the chart on page 70 of this book showing minimum wages in other countries (4 cents an hour in Burma!!!!) versus some figures of the head honchos of the corporate world (Walmart's Walton family, according to this, is worth 67.5 billion). It will definitely make you look at the brand names in a different way. I know for sure I will not buy anything from Victoria's secret anymore, nor will I set foot in Walmart anymore unless I'm absolutely desperate for something I don't think I can get anywhere else. So be smart, pick up this book, learn a thing or two, and fight this corporate crap. You'll be much happier you did.
Excellent info, but it doesn't deliver the "how-to.".......2003-02-01
A fascinating, well-made, beautifully-printed gem of a book! Stuffed with color photos, eye-catching graphics, and the kind of quotes and data that makes you think, "Ooh, I gotta paperclip this page!" I'd like to buy a copy for many other people, if I knew they'd read it.
Unfortunately, the only criticism I have is also fairly severe: the sub-title is "How to make conscious choices to change the world." Sorry to say, but the book never really goes very far into that aspect. There's meticulous detail on the nature and origins of globalization, social injustice, environmental crises, and human rights, but actual guidance to make a difference is fairly slim.
That's too bad, too, because the book excels in its ability to outrage the reader and convert you to the agreement that "this stuff really matters! It's more important than I thought!", and yet I find myself dissatisfied with the few suggested answers against the many overpowering wrongs. It's not "an action guide," but rather a fascinating and invaluable textbook.
We know what we have to do...but help !.......2002-05-30
Wonderful book.I strongly agree with the comments from one of the reader regarding information/media activism. We have to move from thinking and talking to real action. As a young activist, I would love to be coached ( like so many others ). We need a system where we could share, get support and empowerment. We learn by action not by information. Sometimes I feel kind of upset, because I feel that people that have the power, network and interest in global issue are doing this for their own ego. Bono from U2 is doing a good effort but why is he not spending his money to help young leaders ? We should invest in those people that will have a tremendous impact localy and abroad. Why not using technology to create a powerful leverage. A place where people like me could get support, coaching in my project ?
It was a great book to read, but I felt more discouraged than emporwered...
Empowerment Plus.......2002-05-23
Congratulations on your fabulous new book. It is a masterpiece!
I applaud this work, its connectedness and passion.
Most of all I admire its courage to say, so clearly, what needs to be said.
It's truth resonates with me.
I noticed with great interest that mentioned (page 140) was the gap between the military budget and the trickle that goes towards preventing wars.
As you probably know, globally, we spend $780 billion every year on the military.
`Transform the Military' suggest that we convert just 1/3 of that amount each year to fix the following problems.
*Eliminate Starvation and Malnutrition *Provide Shelter
*Provide Health Care and AIDS Control *Stabilise Population
*Prevent Soil Erosion *Eliminate Illiteracy
*Provide CleanWater *Clear Land mines
*Disarm Nuclear Weapons
*Address the Refugee Problem
*Support Democracy *Halt Deforestation
*Address Global Warming
*Prevent Acid Rain
*Ozone *Retire Developing Nations debt.
While ever we direct money towards the military we are saying that conflict resolution can only be achieved by military means and we all know that is not the case.
We wish to write war out of future history and we believe that `Transform the Military' is the way to make it reality. We are asking that capital, personnel and expertise as well as 1/3 of the budget be redirected towards human and environmental needs. Anita I am grateful for what you contribute to the world.
Well Done!!!
Yours in Peace
Faith Charity
Book Description
"Just Generosity" calls Christians to examine their priorities and their pocketbooks in the face of a scandalous tendency to overlook those among us who suffer while we live in practical opulence. This holistic approach to helping the poor goes far beyond donating clothes or money, envisioning a world in which faith-based groups work with businesses, the media, and the government to help end poverty in the world's richest nation. This updated edition includes current statistics, policy recommendations, and discussions covering everything from welfare reform, changes to Medicade, and the Social Security debate.''Sider's most important book since Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger.''--Jim Wallis, author, God's Politics. ''Sider knows how to lift up people in need.. [An] important and challenging book.''--John Ashcroft, former Attorney General of the United States
Customer Reviews:
Fair and Balanced.......2007-06-23
The debate over how best to help the poor seems to be polarized around the logical conclusions of two seemingly opposed assumptions. The conservative assumption is that most people are poor because of the personal choices they make. The liberal assumption is that people are poor because of bad environments and injustice.
The conservative point of view leads to public policies that reward personal initiative while allowing families to suffer the consequences of their bad decisions as a means of discipline.
The liberal point of view initiates policies that redistribute the wealth through entitlements and public projects while attempting to change the environment through the force of law.
The weakness of the liberal position is that it tends to enable poverty rather than eradicate it. The weakness of the conservative position is that it tends to ignore injustices and do nothing to remove the very real barriers to the upward mobility of the poor.
Ronald Sider in his book Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America argues that these are not competing assumptions but complimentary ones. "I have lived and worshiped with he poor far too long to side either with the liberal who quickly dismisses the way personal choices contribute to poverty or with the conservative who ignores the way complicated structural barriers make it difficult for many hardworking people to escape poverty" (p. 35).
Sider's "Twelve Principles of a Just Society" is the foundation for his policy suggestions that make up over half of the book. While one may quibble with the details of the suggestions, on the whole they are a way out of the political rancor that characterizes the current debate.
I highly recommend this book to all. It educates. It makes reasonable suggestions to open the discussion on how best to address these problems. Most of all it is irenic and offered in the spirit of brotherly love as opposed to the power politics that have come to characterize our political discourse.
Do we care?.......2007-04-16
In 1995 the poverty level for a family of four in the United States was $19,806. 37 million people in the US live at or below this level. Ron Sider correctly asserts that it is morally unacceptable for 37 million people to live in poverty in this country while the wealthiest people are gaining a larger percentage of all wealth. In Just Generosity, Sider presents his vision for overcoming poverty in America. And it is a compelling vision.
Sider's vision is distinctive because he acknowledges that poverty is caused by both systemic injustice in society's structures and by poor moral decisions by impoverished individuals. Both must be addressed in order to stop cycles of poverty.
Drawing upon biblical study, Sider presents the goal of an economy of justice: "Every person or family has access to productive resources (land, money, knowledge) so they have the opportunity to earn a generous sufficiency of material necessities and be dignified participating members of their community" (81). Sider deals with a vast array of programs and issues like welfare, minimum wage, tax credits, health care, and education reform, showing how each could be employed in ways that encourage work, empower the poor, and strengthen families.
Sider ends with this troubling question: Do enough Christians really care? This book should be required reading for any that do.
A Wealth of Ideas.......2007-04-16
Ronald J. Sider's, Just Generosity: A New Vision for Overcoming Poverty in America, is a book about solutions. The solutions to overcoming poverty that Sider offers are both broad-ranging as well as full of depth. They are not band-aid solutions that only deal with surface-level symptoms. Instead, Sider targets understanding and overcoming the causes of poverty in America.
The breadth of his approach to overcoming poverty is seen in the number and variety of organizations he suggests mobilizing together for the sake of the poor. Sider envisions faith-based organizations doing all that they do best in the battle against poverty. Likewise, businesses will bring what they have to offer; the media will do its part; while the government (though not expected to carry the full weight of the problems or the solutions) will also be expected to work towards empowering the poor of the society. Together, these forces comprise a "holistic, comprehensive approach" (137) to overcoming poverty.
The depth of his approach can be seen in the various levels of positive-change that he suggests these organizations work together to offer. Sider enlists the creative energies and resources of these varied organizations for the purposes of not only removing barriers that keep members of society from making a reasonable living, but also for such purposes as "character formation, spiritual renewal, and caring communities" (185). It is at this point that I find Sider's work most compelling. He, in other words, cares equally about providing for the very real and pressing needs of individuals and communities (hunger, safe housing and streets, etc.) as well as longer-range needs (such as quality education for all: education that includes the character as well as the mind - that is, spiritual development as well as mental development) that, as they are met with equal excellence, will work steadily to eradicate poverty in the coming days and generations.
Sider's books are thorough. Just Generosity is no exception. At times, in fact, it is easy to get lost in the details. Yet the details concerning poverty are what many of us are lacking. We know there is a problem. We even recognize that the problem is multi-faceted. Yet without the aid of someone like Sider who brings together "sophisticated socioeconomic analysis with normative biblical principles of justice" (14), we are left with our limited awareness of the issues (mixed, possibly, with a measure of guilt and a heap of good intentions) that often lead to us do very little to actually work towards effecting solutions to the problem of poverty in our own neighborhoods - much less all over America.
A Covenant of Compassion.......2007-04-15
Just Generosity
Ron Sider
Ron Sider is a writer committed to several agendas. He is a strong advocate for the word of God, an unconditional submission to Jesus Christ, and a deep desire to see poverty in America eliminated. Sider begins chapter four with a question that seems to drive his passion for the subject this book addresses. "If a person works fulltime all year, can that person earn enough so that his or her family can escape poverty? For millions of Americans today, the answer is no."
The closing chapter offers the hope for America's poor. Sider says we can end the scandal. He offers what he call a Generous Christian Pledge. He proposes that all believers adhere to the pledge. He says, Generous Christians and other people of good will can transform our country. We can end the scandal of widespread poverty in the richest nation in history.
Christians should read this.......2001-04-03
I agree with the review by Jean-Luc for the most part, but I also wanted to add a few of my own thoughts.
As Sider says early in the book, he's not a policy wonk, so that is his weakest point. Trust him on that one. As a more policy oriented person, I agree that some of those things would be great, if implemented, but that's the hard part of all policy - getting it passed and implemented. Some of his suggestions are not politically feasible (yet).
Some of his other policy ideas are, IMHO, just questionable. Not just politically difficult, but I'm not convinced that all the ideas are that great.
His Biblical framework is wonderful. I enjoyed reading his perspective on that, as he exegetes quite well. I also was biased to begin with, in that I had already done some thinking on my own about this issue, and was finding myself just saying "Wow, that's kinda what I was thinking."
yeah. so good book. read it. don't take the policy stuff to seriously. but take the Biblical stuff seriously. He does a good job there. and the principles of the more holistic view of things, too. Those are good.
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Divided Loyalties: Whistle-Blowing at BART (Science and Society; V. 4)
Robert Anderson , and
Robert Perrucci
Manufacturer: Purdue University Press
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ASIN: 0931682096 |
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This study provides a detailed, in-depth analysis of a single incident rooted in the effort of a group of professional employees to serve the public welfare It reveals in microcosm the interplay of political forces, economic interests, personal ambition, organizational structure, and professional ethics that culminated in an act of whistle-blowing. The incident took place during the final construction phase of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART), designed to be America's first attempt at space-age mass transportation. Three BART engineers, convinced of the lack of responsiveness of management to their concerns about the system's safety, were fired for insubordination and other organizational sins. Based upon repeated interviews with the engineers, with BART managers and directors, and with the professional societies involved, as well as upon an extensive body of documents and court depositions, legislative reports, media reports, and institutional memoranda. Divided Loyalties sets a theoretical context for the issues, traces the incident from its beginning, examines the aftermath of the engineers' dismissal, and concludes with a set of recommendations that should be considered by public and private organizations, professional associations, agencies of government, and individual professional employees.
Book Description
A volume on nature, ingredients, causes and consequences of human happiness by father and son team of Antony and Charles Kenny.
Customer Reviews:
Two scholars tackle "Happiness".......2007-03-17
"Happiness studies" is a new and growing field, but is also currently dominated by pop-psychology and some rather confusing studies based on surveys which try to compare across countries. This book by Anthony and Charles Kenny brings a serious scholarly perspective--actually, two perspectives that work surprisingly well together--to the subject matter. The book is a set of essays, each chapter alternately on the philosophy (written by Anthony, a former master of Balliol College, Oxford) and the economics (written by Charles, a noted economist) of happiness. Their approach implicitly reminds the reader that philosophy and economics used to be one and the same (a commentary in itself on the sometimes sorry effects of growing academic specialization). The book asks essentially two questions: What is happiness all about? And how is it related other things we are supposed to care about, like quality of life or wealth? The two authors weave together history with current debates and new evidence to give a rich account of the state of our understanding. And it's actually very readable, so don't let the imposing academic cover scare you off.
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Public Safety and Security Administration
P.J. Ortmeier
Manufacturer: Butterworth-Heinemann
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This book addresses public safety and security from a holistic and visionary perspective. For the first time, safety and security organizations, as well as their administration, are brought together into an integrated work.
The protection of persons and property involves many public agencies and priivate organizations. Entities from the criminal jutics system (law enforcement, courts, corrections) as well as the fire service, private security and hazardous materials all contribute to public safety and security. This book addresses these entities, as well as safety and security issues, from a holistic and visionary perspective. It addresses criminal and non-criminal safety and security concerns, provides an overview of each entity (component) of the system of public safety and security, presents an overview of the administration process involved in planning, organizing, managing and evaluating public safety and security organizations and describes collateral functions of investigations, documentation and report writing.
Public safety and security organizations should not work in isolation. Rather, they should collaborate to protect persons and property. This book represents the first time all the public safety and security entities have been addressed in one text.
Focuses on the theories, concepts, practices and problems related to the present and future of public safety and security
Examines different strategies for problem solving which personnel working in the field may utilize
Synthesizes college-level lectures prepared, presented, and updated by the author over the past twenty years
Amazon.com
If 2000 Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush has a catchphrase, it's "compassionate conservatism." But like so many political slogans, this term can mean very different things. Marvin Olasky--author of The Tragedy of American Compassion and an advisor to Bush--seeks to describe what he believes it is. And he must be onto something, for, as Bush writes in a brief introduction, "This book clearly summarizes the principles of compassionate conservatism." Here's the nub: "Poverty around the world is a spiritual as well as a material problem: most poor people don't have the faith that they and their situations can change.... Economic redistribution by itself cannot fight poverty effectively because it does not affect the attitudes that frequently undergird poverty." To put it more bluntly, religious faith should play a greater role in public life, especially when it comes to delivering social services to the deprived:
The major flaw of the modern welfare state is not that it is extravagant, but that it is too stingy. It gives the needy bread and tells them to be content with that alone. It gives the rest of us the opportunity to be stingy also, and to salve our consciences even as we scrimp on what many of the destitute need most--love, time, and a challenge to be "little lower than the angels" rather than one thumb up from monkeys.
The bulk of the book is given to descriptions of Olasky's travels around the country with his 10-year-old son, visiting faith-based organizations in some of America's toughest neighborhoods. These vignettes, told in the first person, recall feel-good Reader's Digest stories about ordinary men and women accomplishing extraordinary things in some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable. Parts of the book read like a Bush campaign speech--indeed, one of the appendices is a Bush campaign speech--and Olasky goes out of his way to take a few swipes at Vice President Al Gore. If readers want to get a sense of what a Bush administration might try to accomplish, at least on the domestic front, Compassionate Conservatism is a great place to start--and miles ahead of Bush's own dull campaign biography A Charge to Keep. --John J. Miller
Book Description
Compassionate conservatism is a new political force in the land, sweeping the grassroots of people of all faiths, races, and ethnicities. In its parts it offers solutions to many of our most intractable problems; in its whole it is nothing less than an innovative philosophy of government. No author is more qualified to explain its power and promise than Marvin Olasky, described by The New York Times as "the godfather of compassionate conservatism."
Compassionate conservatism offers a new paradigm for how the government can and should intervene in the economy. It begins with a long-lost premise about human behavior: economics, by itself, is not what changes lives. Only faith, and deeply held beliefs, can do that. For decades government has focused only on material well-being, ignoring the passions and convictions that make life worth living. What is conservative about the new movement is that its leaders also know that government cannot instill these beliefs. What it can do is help them flourish. It can give aid, inspiration, and direction to America's natural "armies of compassion" that have been a hallmark of our history since the founding.
Compassionate conservatism offers a way to transcend the root problems that currently oppress too many deserving Americans. It offers a unique vision of the triangular relationship between the state, our many churches, and our tens of thousands of charities. It is a true reinvention of welfare, a wholesale revolution in the welfare state, and a redefinition of the social safety net.
In Compassionate Conservatism Marvin Olasky takes us on a road trip with his son, Daniel, across the country, showing exactly how the new movement is unfolding. Along the way, he offers a set of principles, and a brief tour through history to show that these are not so much radically new ideas as rediscoveries of long-lost wisdom. Read this book for a blueprint of the future of politics and welfare in America.
Download Description
Governor George W. Bush proclaims himself a "compassionate conservative". But what does that mean? And what will it signify for his administration should he become president? Is it just a catch phrase or a genuine blueprint for domestic policy?
No one is better situated to answer these questions than Marvin Olasky, identified by The New York Times as "the godfather of compassionate conservatism", whose answers are both provocative and informative. In Compassionate Conservatism, Olasky lays out the principles of this philosophy and takes us on a tour of successful charities and policy programs across the country. He shows us which programs work and why, and reports on government and private charities that are reinventing social welfare as we know it.
In a thesis that is bound to spark controversy, Olasky argues that religious faith is not just helpful but essential for welfare programs; if the government wants to have a social safety net, Americans must accept public funding of groups that proselytize. According to Olasky, religious faith is not just a useful feature of welfare, it is essential to our public purpose.
Customer Reviews:
Mostly bluster.......2005-06-16
"Compassionate Conservatism" by Olasky is a manifesto for a "bread-and-circus" ideology that grows more transparent by the day. Not surprisingly, it is heavy on rhetoric and light on substance.
The alliterative title is catchy, but "Bible-and-Business Conservatism" is more descriptive.
Religious zealots showing their true faces.......2003-08-21
Terrible and a nauseating cover up for what is going on, an organized attempt to break the wall separating the state and religion. I lasted 10 pages. May be 9 pages too many
Maybe these zealots deserve a chance.......2003-03-15
Compassionate conservatism is not a platitude but a distinct social program. It aims to help the poor without compromising conservative principles ý very conservative principles, very religious conservative principles. Marvin Olasky, one of its spokesman and advisor to George Bush when he was governor of Texas, has written an overview for the general reader. Actually, itýs for the general conservative reader, but liberals should take note.
Much of the book is a collection of essays recounting the authorýs visits to various antipoverty programs across the country, mostly privately run. The traditional programs (run by churches and charities) provide counseling, education, job training, and placement ý the usual mix. The dropout rate is substantial, and most of those who graduate and get a job fail and return to poverty. I canýt quarrel with this result. But only a minority of alcoholics, drug addicts, and the obese succeed in solving their problems, too. These are tough problems.. Itýs with greater pleasure that he relates encounters with compassionate conservatism antipoverty programs ýall privately run, generally by born-again Christians and their churches. These offer the same benefits plus a heavy dose of moral uplift, discipline, and abstinence. Anyone can enter, but once in the program they must toe the line. Use of alcohol and drugs means instant expulsion; so does irresponsibility, poor attendance, and laziness. There are no second chances.
So far none of this is objectionable or even particularly conservative. However, the author adds one feature he considers essential: religion. The programs he admires stress an aggressive, proselytizing, strictly moralistic fundamentalism. Many otherwise commendable leaders become unpleasantly self-righteous on the subject of God.
Because the government refuses to fund sectarian charities, they look upon bureaucrats with the contempt they reserve for the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. Olasky approves and quotes them at length. He also maintains that graduates of these programs do better. I havenýt the expertise to dispute this, and it seems reasonable that a despairing member of the underclass who accepts Jesus will become a more solid citizen. It works with alcoholics.
Nonfundamentalists will find this book irritating because the author makes no attempt to win them over. Yet wouldnýt it be wonderful if Republicans took a genuine interest in fighting poverty? Democrats arenýt giving it more than lip service. Americans today donýt place a high priority on correcting social injustice. They would oppose any Federal effort that involves spending tax money. As a result, the only political movement making a big noise about helping the poor are the compassionate conservatives. Why not give them a chance?
Thoughtful readers should hold their noses and persist to the end.
Taking back oneself.......2003-03-11
The Sixties gave us many things. One thing it took away was the willingness and ability of Americans as individuals to take responsibility for themselves and to be accountabe for their actions. Compassionate conservatism is a way to return responsibility and accountability to individuals and, in so doing, freeing them from poverty, addictions, and other negative behaviors. Many people attack compassionate conservatism as some religious trend but if all religious elements are stripped from it, what remains is the same idea of taking responsibility for one's own actions that mental health professionals try to get their clients to develop. If you have never worked with any of the populations Olasky describes, then you are not qualified to judge what he has written about them and whether compassionate conservatism offers a way out of their depressing lifestyles. I have been a member of some of those populations and I have worked with them since "recovering". There may be other ways to achieve success but compassionate conservatism offers something sure-fire. It works when other methods don't. Marvin Olasky does write with the pedantism of the academic. If you get past that, however, the message is compelling. The book is a quick read.
Brought to you by organized religion.......2001-07-21
This book shows just how insane and completely wrong any right-wing attempt at "compassion" is. Books like this make it tough even for a progressive like me to keep an open-minded view on conservative ideals.
While the religious obsession in this book is nauseating enough, "Compassionate Conservatism" is also one of the most blatantly racist books I have seen in this decade. Peppered throughout the book are statements along the lines of "for a black person, he really cares about his neighborhood" and numerous similar condescending statements.
Olasky seems to convey surprise that anyone other than fundamentalist, evangelical Christian white Republicans have been able to do anything positive, and reports this in "Compassionate Conservatism" as if none of the rest of the world was aware of it either. How disgusting.
Overall, reading this poorly-written, meandering propaganda for his weak argument gave me almost the same feeling I got when I first read Rush Limbaugh. I truly though nothing was going to shock me that way again, but this sure did. Nevertheless, I encourage all citizens to read this book. Seeing compassionate conservatism in its truest form will absolutely wipe out any sugar-coated conception the network news ever gave it.
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- Principles of Corporate Finance + Student CD + Ethics in Finance PowerWeb + Standard and Poor's (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Finance, Insurance, and Real Est)
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