Book Description
Don't be scared by the media and the financial industry, which have a vested interest in convincing all those who don't have a seven-figure income or a family trust fund that they're woefully underprepared for retirement. In You Can Do It!, Jonathan D. Pond, the man who's been called "America's financial planner," shows how anyone can have a financially safe, happy, and comfortable retirement in this comprehensive and easy-to-use guide.
Packed with practical wisdom on how to save, understanding the key elements of investing, managing your expenses, and much more, You Can Do It! features Jonathan's famous and distinctively ebullient voice. So whether you're worried about getting a late start, skyrocketing health-care expenses, or the difficulty of paying for a college education, You Can Do It! will show you—in straightforward, easy-to-implement ways—how you too can make sure your retirement is fun and financially secure.
Customer Reviews:
BEST BOOK EVER!!!!!.......2007-09-30
This really was one of my own personal best investments, which is funny, because he teaches you how to invest for your retirement. The book is filled with witty comments and sage advice. Pond is excellent in all that he does, and I can't wait for his next book! I hear its one for our kids, you know, those college-bound ones. You did it Johnathon Pond!
Excellent "How To" Retirement Planning Guide.......2007-03-15
This book was even better than I thought it was going to be. It had great ideas on planning for retirement and living in retirement. It showed how you can hedge against inflation even if your pension or annuity don't have COLA increases. It also had additional information avialable through the authors website, that is referenced throughout the book. Overall a great book for retirement planning.
You Can Do It.......2007-03-09
Jonathan Pond doesn't provide a financial game plan. He rehashs the obvious information readily available. The disappointment, in the end, is that his advertised website becomes another pay for service.
EASY READING RETIREMENT GUIDE .......2007-02-27
It is a 5 star if you just want all the basics you need to consider while preparing for retirement. It covers them is an easy to read style.
You Can Do It!: The Boomer's Guide to a Great Retirement.......2007-01-18
An easy read with practical advice.
Customer Reviews:
The best book I have ever read for predicting stock trends.......2005-11-04
Harry Dent really made a spectacular call back in 1993 in this book about the tremendous rise in the Dow during the 90's. He even predicted the slump in 2002-2003. His ideas of why this happened are presented in a simple theme that I found very intuitive. This book is a gem.
As for other books by Mr. Dent, he decided to contradict himself and go for very unrealistic goals for the Dow. Read this book and ONLY this book. Too late to make a killing on the stock market but still time to get out of stocks before the coming slump.
An Update.......2003-10-21
An update on this 1992 book "The Great Boom Ahead" from the perspective of 2003. First, Harry Dent is the eternal optimist and this earlier book correctly predicted the bull market of the 90s, while Robert Prechter, Martin Weiss, Nick Guarino, etc. were all wrong (in their timing at least) in predicting a downturn and depression to occur. But wait....the 2000-2002 downturn that cost so many investors money has at least opened a few eyes. And on pages 16, 18 and 34-36 of this book Harry Dent himself predicts the "Mother of all Depressions" to arrive around 2010, when the baby boomers' spending spree is over and they begin to retire. So the eternal optimist Harry Dent AGREES with the eternal pessimists and "doom-n-gloomers" about the inevitable outcome. They just disagree on the timing. So somewhere between 2004 - 2010 we can expect the largest downturn in U.S. history since 1929-1932. Enjoy the rest of the boom !!
A Real Eye Opener.......2002-01-05
Well supported by fact and Examples. Just wish I had read it years earler as I could have saved many $. I just couldn't put it down. Now I wouldn't be without it.
Highly Recommended!.......2001-10-03
Harry S. Dent, Jr.'s book is remarkable both for the overall accuracy of its predictions and for the simplistic model upon which those predictions depend. Written in 1993, it claims a niche within the general family of "trend" books written by the likes of Alvin Toffler and John Naisbitt. The work anticipated our current era of super bullish markets, which it predicts will continue through 2007. The crystal ball drops a few items, given that a few years have passed since publication. Nonetheless, it offers a clear macroeconomic forecast and investment tool. If you sense the Fed just doesn't get the New Economy, this is the book for you. We [...] recommend this book to those seeking to understand the United States' era of record-breaking economic gains (and Japan's current hard times).
Where's Gen X or Silent Generation???.......2001-04-22
It was interesting book and having read it in 2001, I can see that many of his simple forecasts in the 90's are often on the mark. However there are many flaws that reflects his boomer navel-gazing. Why, I wonder, did Dent never chart the population surges of Silent Generation or Generation X? Moreover, where did all the immigrants disappeared to? Did they fell into the black hole after entering America? What about the inner-city blacks with unusally high crime-imprisoned rate? What about the endless resources from nanotech, biotech, and outer space? What about the cracking of welfare states now that communism is no longer a threat? I am sure that if Dent have charted all these information, the picture will look striking different.For example, many boomers prided themselves on being "largest generation". Based on simple birth rate, this is correct, but the picture is incomplete. The busters or Gen X may have smaller birth rate, but far higher immigrantion since the 60's, particulary after Vietnam War when many young people and children escaped dictatorships from Asia and Eastern Europe. Taken together, the Gen X is actually a far larger generation in simple numbers than so-called Boomers. At same time, it also have smaller capital to start business with and must struggle with crack-up of welfare state at same time. Yet, the Xers are more likely and more willing to start businesses and freelance than Boomers who must deal with downsizing from comfortable white and blue collar jobs that they were trained for all their lives.
So as far as I am concerned, there may be a big recession as the boomers retired (certainly, there will certainly be a death of welfare state by that time, and with it, the politics as the driving force of economy) but there will not be a great depression like or greater than that of the 1930's.
Book Description
This definitive look at the British blues explosion centers around three guitarists: Peter Green, Mick Taylor, and especially Eric Clapton. Describing the groups they played in from 1965 to 1970 - including John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Blind Faith and the Rolling Stones - the book is presented in an engaging day-by-day format. With a wealth of illustrations and never-before-published details, the book reveals the way the musicians behind the blues boom worked together, influenced each other, and pushed one another to ever greater achievements.
Customer Reviews:
An important volume for guitar geeks.......2007-09-17
Full disclosure: I am a guitar geek. I was the guy at sock hops who'd sit by the record player, not dancing, reading the liner notes (remember those?), and dreaming of stardom.
What Christopher Hjort has accomplished with this volume is nothing less than amazing - a day-by-day accounting of concerts, club gigs, recording sessions, photo sessions, BBC broadcasts and even informal rehearsals by the movers and shakers of the blossoming British Blues scene. For the five years covered in this book, the careers of John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor (and pretty much anyone who came within five feet of an amplifier or microphone stand) are tracked in exquisite detail. The painstaking research is rewarding to anyone interested in the early days of groups like Fleetwood Mac, Cream and The Rolling Stones, and the cameos by Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix are the icing on the cake.
Great rare photos, detailed equipment lists, and Mr. Hjort's own recommendations for those wishing to hear the music described therein, this book is a keeper. I may have to get another one for lending out.
A wealth of details .......2007-05-17
"Strange Brew: Eric Clapton & The British Blues Bloom" by rock historian Christopher Hjort is a history of the 1960s British blues music boom in general, and Eric Clapton's stellar music career from 1965 to 1970 in particular. "Strange Brew covers hundreds of gigs, radio and television appearances, recording sessions, discographical information, trivia, contemporary reviews, and first-hand accounts and recollections from ex-band members and fans. Some of the stories will be new information for even the most dedicated Clapton fan, such as the comprehensive account of Clapton's Greek odyssey in 1965 (including the true story of The Glands and Greek band The Juniors, as well as fresh information about John Mayall's recording with Bob Dylan). Here presented in a day-by-day format laced with photographs and memorabilia, the way the musicians behind the British Blues worked together, influenced each other, and helped each other to ever greater musical accomplishments. "Strange Brew" is essential reading for Clapton fans, British Blues music enthusiasts, and academic library 20th Century Music History reference collections.
The evolution of British Blues in London.......2007-05-08
This is a great collection of tour dates and band interviews of all the bands that were emerging in London during the early sixties. The author does a great job of weaving it all together and this is a great edition to anyone's library of this period. Some great photos of the Bluesbreakers and all London players and club scene.
The BIBLE: God, Father of God, Green God and Younger Brother of God.......2007-03-23
I'm not kidding with this title (well, maybe half-kidding). Like the Bible is, in some ways, the history of the Hebrew people, this book is a veritible day-by day document of the activities of Slowhand (God), John Mayall (Father), Peter Green (Green God) and Mick Taylor (Younger brother of God). I'll admit to being at first a bit put off about the calendar style of writing, but you easily sink into the format. Its all here. The story of British Blues as seen through the eyes of the greatest British guitarists of their generation. You will learn obscure details, such as set lists, equipment played and what went on in the recording studios. The formidible impact of Clapton on British music and blues in general is clearly illustrated here. Also, I was not aware that Paul Butterfield played gigs with Mayall during their tour there, or the fact that Bloomfield and Clapton connected in Britain prior to Clapton's visits to the U.S. The detailed info on the Beano, Hard Road and Crusade Mayall albums is worth the cost of the book alone (If this sounds like so-much guitar mumbo jumbo, celebrate, because it is!!!!! Those of you who are into this stuff will have a huge ball!!). The performance reviews are both insightful and at times extremely humorous. For instance, one review reports that all members of Cream, during an early gig, were so high that they got stuck in the "Cat's Squirrel" riff loop and it took them 15 minutes to find their way out of it. (:-). Beyond the detail, this book provides a clear picture of the British blues scene, specifically that scene revolving around John Mayall and his allumni. Mayall, in fact, provides the intro. The period covered runs from Clapton's membership in the Yardbirds through Derek and the Dominoes in the early '70s. Of course, other bands, including Hendrix (the best of them all), Free and Jeff Beck are also included. However, this book definitely has a Mayall focus. My only regret is that there wasn't any info on the Graham Bond Organization. However, for that info we also have the bio of the late great Dick Heckstall Smith which came out a couple of years ago. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who really wants to learn about one of the most formative periods in popular music, the rise of British Blues. It will inspire all you guitar players to dust off that Les Paul, plug in that Bluesbreaker Marshall and try your hand at "Steppin' Out"!
Book Description
For over fifteen years, New York Times bestselling author Harry S. Dent, Jr., has been uncannily accurate in predicting the financial future. In his three previous works, Dent predicted the financial recession of the early nineties, the economic expansion of the mid-nineties, and the financial free-for-all of 1998-2000.
The Next Great Bubble Boom -- part crystal ball, part financial planner -- offers a comprehensive forecast for the next two decades, showing new models for predicting the future behavior of the economy, inflation, large- and small-cap stocks, bonds, key sectors, and so on. In taking a look at past booms and busts, Dent compares our current state to that of the crash of 1920-21, and the years ahead of us to the Roaring Twenties. Dent gives advice on everything from investment strategies to real estate cycles, and shows not only how bright our future will be but how best to profit from it.
Dent gives us all something to look forward to, including:
- The Dow hitting 40,000 by the end of the decade
- The Nasdaq advancing at least ten times from its October 2001 lows to around 13,500, and potentially as high as 20,000 by 2009
- Another strong advance in stocks in 2005, with a significant correction into around September/October 2006
- The Great Boom resurging into its final and strongest stage in 2007, and even more fully in 2008, lasting until late 2009 to early 2010
Dent's amazing ability to track and forecast our financial future is renowned, and here he takes that ability to the next level, showing not only what our economy will look like but also how it will affect us as individuals, as organizations, and as a culture. From the upcoming wealth revolution to the essential principles of entrepreneurial success, the book describes a new society where economic and philanthropic development go hand in hand.
In The Next Great Bubble Boom, Dent shows not only how the economic growth of the late 1990s was a prelude to the true great boom right around the corner but how all of us can reap its benefits.
Customer Reviews:
Next Great Bubble Boom, Revised Again.......2007-09-03
Hindsight tells us a lot of things. For the Next Great Bubble Boom, hindsight shows that Harry Dent's analysis of a 40,000 Dow and 20,000 Nasdaq are just as fanciful now as they were when he made the predictions in 2004. His latest revisions, which came out last year, show he has cut his original estimate in half, and that the predicted outcomes are much more within reason. The difficulty with accepting his predictions now is that the past ones ended so dismally. The seductive part of Dent's analysis is that it squares with historical and demographical cycles. The ridiculous part is the extrapolation into predictive behavior. It you want some really wild stuff, just look at what he says will happen from 2023 on. If anybody made any investment decisions based on this book, they're about due for a thorough reality check. His most powerful cycle, the 10-year cycle, seems the most likely one to come true. But the difficulty with predicting what will happen in each 10 year cycle is that Dent bases it strictly on stock market past behavior. And whenever that prediction fails, Dent finds some new cycle to explain his error. His latest cycle, the geopolitical cycle, supposedly explains the failure of the markets to rise in 2004-2005. What he failed to recognize early on was the impact of commodities, hedge funds, and Fed interest rate policy. Whenever the Fed raises rates, the stock market goes numb, because large institutional investors stay away. This time around, those investors put their billions into hedge funds, to get the promise of 40%+ returns. That alone explains the 2004-2005 doldrums. Add the spectacular housing boom/bust and you see why Dent's predictions went south. Now that the Fed has stopped raising rates and is apparently going to drop them, some of what Dent predicted still could come time. But notice that the title for the short book now says 2006-2010 rather than 2005-2010. The revisions just keep coming. I can't wait for the next one.
Is Dent Such A Big Liar or Just that Stupid?.......2007-06-26
I really do not know what to think. So many people write books based on a positive premise rather than reality because they know positivity sells. There's nothing wrong with positivity, but it should be reserved for motivational speakers not investments and economics. We are talking about people's retirement funds here!
Dent does not say much of anything new that he hasn't already said in his previous books. He is just trying to cash in on a rebound from the Internet bubble collapse. What kind of value is there in predicting a stretch of 4 years of great market returns? Regardless, we have yet to see this spectacular market performance. I'll tell you why he did this. Anyone with common sense knows that extremes in the market are followed by compensatory reversals which may or may not last. What this means is that Dent (like many others) expected a rebound from the lows in the market merely due to normal stock market behavior. The fact that he has restricted it to 2010 tells you where he thinks the market is really headed--down.
NEVER BUY A BOOK BY ANYONE WHO HAS A VESTED INTEREST IN a BULLISH STOCK MARKET (THOSE WHO WORK FOR MUTUAL FUNDS AND WALL STREET). ALSO NEVER BUY A BOOK BY ANYONE WORKING FOR A HEDGE FUND UNLESS YOU WANT TO HEAR THAT THE MARKET WILL GO DOWN. THESE GUYS ARE ALREADY TAKINGYOUR MONEY IN TEH MARKET AND NOW THEY WANNA TAKE YOUR MONEY BY SELLING YOU BOOKS FILLED WITH DREAMS THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.
Don't waste your money on this book. Instead get some books that talk about how bad the economy really is and how it is going to get worse for many years.
interesting read.......2007-04-11
interesting read. I am still waiting for his predictions to come true...
Dent in my wallet.......2007-04-07
If only I could express how much time and optimism I wasted after reading this book...
The fact is that the forecasts are wildly out of sync with reality, Dent's methods are proving to be nearly useless and market risks are actually on the INCREASE as I write this review.
Dent did not predict the real estate boom, he did not predict the commodity boom, he did not predict the 2000 bear market, he did not predict the dollar loss against the Euro... the list goes on. When he gets a prediction wrong, he just adds another "cycle" to his forecasts... the stock market turned to goo after 2000? "oh, well we discovered the 10 year stock cycle, and this PROVES that stocks should have gone down"... the Dow didn't go to 14,000 (as predicted in this book)? "Oh, we forgot about the commodity super-cycle". How many other 'cycles' does Dent not know about?
After reading this book a couple years ago, I'm sad to say I subscribed to his newsletter at around $400-500 /year, and while their knowledge of economic fundamentals was clearly solid, I can't say I made any money from his insights, or that his insights were any better than what I'd read on the Internet for free.
I'd recommend you take this book (along with everything else) with a grain of salt, and learn from a lesson that sinks in only after you've blown money... no one knows the future, especially Dent.
Wealth takes research.......2007-03-09
Harry Dent has another winner. Being the third in a series of books by Harry Dent, "The Greatest Boom in History: 2006-2010," tells us again how to save what wealth we have and increase it during the current economic and investment boom. Anyone with money to invest must read this book.
Average customer rating:
- As Peter Cook used to say...
- for Monty Python fans
- Grin or Grimace?
- The evolution of British satire
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A Great, Silly Grin: The British Satire Boom of the 1960s
Humphrey Carpenter
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Comedy
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Satire, General
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Performing Arts
| Entertainment
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| Dance
| Magic & Illusion
| Theater
General
| Criticism & Theory
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
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| Books
General
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Humor
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
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General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
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Media Studies
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
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ASIN: 1586480812
Release Date: 2002-04-16 |
Book Description
A vibrant history of the British satire explosion of the early 1960s-from Private Eye and Beyond the Fringe to That Was the Week That Was-and its lasting influence on comedy. Humphrey Carpenter's A Great, Silly Grin is both a thoughtful history and a great deal of fun. The British satire boom of the early 1960s created a motherlode of styles and material for generations of bright comedians and social critics on both sides of the Atlantic and set a standard for clever humor that still shapes comedy and commentary in America today. Carpenter's history of that formative era revisits the 1960 Edinburgh Festival, when a staggeringly inspired satirical review startled a public steeped in the polite, bland banality of the 1950s; recalls the appearance in London coffee bars of a scruffy yellow pamphlet calling itself Private Eye, and looks back at the groundbreaking BBC television program That Was the Week That Was. Exclusive interviews with the people involved are woven together with a wealth of comic material, photographs-most from private collections and never before published-and other contemporary material to bring the era vividly to life. Carpenter also assess the satirical movement's impact in America. A Great, Silly Grin is a feast of nostalgia for those who remember its signature comedians fondly, and an insightful look back at a high-water mark for satire in the English speaking world.
Customer Reviews:
As Peter Cook used to say..........2003-08-30
Just read A Great Silly Grin: The British Satire Boom of the 1960s, by Humprey Carpenter. This period has long been a subject of interest to me despite the fact that I'm too young (and geographically challenged) to have seen most of the programs in the first place.
Besides being a linked series of show business biographies of key figures of the time (The Beyond the Fringe foursome, etc), the book raises some good discussion.
Just how much does satire really matter, if it does at that? As Peter Cook used to say, the peak of satire was 1930's Berlin--and look how much that did to prevent the rise of Hitler.
But the best part of the text may be the final chapter, which paints an unflattering picture of the state of the art in 2000-era Great Britain--and it's sobering how much of it applies to the US as well.
for Monty Python fans.......2002-08-26
Although it has aspirations to social history this is largely celebrity bio. Those who have an interest in Dudley Mooore, John Cleese, David Frost, Alan Benett, Jonathan Miller and so forth, and who remembember Beyond the Fringe and That Was The Week That Was will find it interesting. The number of characters becomes bewildering and boredom sets in as accounts of the obscure and forgotten multiply. It livens up when it recounts some of the skits we thought funny at the time.
It is perhaps deflating to realize that these satirical iconoclasts owed their initial careers to the British governmemt. They got their starts on the payrolls of the government-sponsored Edinburgh Festival and as employes of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Would they have fared as well in an open marketplace? Were they causes or beneficiaries of the breakdown in censorship in the 1960's? Carpenter touches on some of these questions but is, I think, too much in awe of the genius of those he writes about. While undoubtedly entertaining their talents for writing funny things and doing funny imitations were of a kind that is widespread.
Grin or Grimace?.......2002-07-30
Carpenter examines English cultural values during the years immediately following World War Two and focuses specifically on the 1960's when students from Oxford and Cambridge universities (with others) challenged those values with immensely entertaining satire. Theirs were significant contributions to a tradition of creative ridicule which extends back more than 2,500 years. Of course, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Dickens are among those English authors properly renowned for their comic genius but are not usually thought of primarily as social satirists. Throughout the Age of Victoria and well into the 20th century, the British Empire flourished within a somewhat rigid social order, one which (generally) seemed to lack a sense of humor. By 1960, England had become "a bankrupt, defenseless little country run by a ridiculously elderly prime minister" (Harold Macmillan) when Jonathan Miller, Peter Cooke, Dudley Moore, and Alan Bennett introduced "Beyond the Fringe" at the Edinburgh Festival. Out of that developed Private Eye magazine, The Establishment (a men's cabaret featuring satire), and the BBC's That Was the Week That Was. Carpenter devotes substantial attention to Miller, Cooke, Moore, and Bennett as they and others detonated a "boom" of social satire whose reverberations continued through Second City, Monty Python, and Saturday Night Live. Carpenter duly notes the influence of the Goon Show (Millgan, Sellers, et al) as well as American humorists such as Mort Sahl, Mel Brooks, Lenny Bruce, and Tom Lehrer on their English counterparts. Of special interest to me is Carpenter's suggestion that, as England continued its decline among world powers in the 1960s, social satire served as a medication to deaden the pain. At one point, he reminds his reader of Cook's warning that England was then in danger of "sinking giggling into the sea." That has not as yet happened and never will but the image remains vivid nonetheless.
The evolution of British satire.......2002-06-03
Humphrey Carpenter's Great, Silly Grin follows contemporary British humor, beginning with the 1960 Edinburgh Festival when a satirical review Beyond the Fringe fostered a new breed of British humor. The evolution of British satire that followed through the 1960s receives close examination in this involving survey.
Customer Reviews:
A book of amazing forethought and style. A must-read!.......1999-09-09
Jones succeeds gracefully in his historical and analytical look at America and our Baby Boom Generation. With uncanny insight and ability he leads us on a journey into our past and our future. I recommend it highly.
Product Description
Financial markets have an impressive history of gains and progress for prudent and judicious investors. But these advances are often interrupted by powerful and sudden setbacks or forward lurches. What is it about investment psychology, and the structure of financial markets, that causes this? How should we react to short term gyrations that can excite or frighten? And what is the role of government regulation in stabilizing financial markets?
Secrets of the Great Investors series is a collection of audio presentations that explain, in understandable language, the strategies and principles that have produced great wealth. History's greatest investors used powerful investing philosophies to produce superior results, and we can learn from their successes and mistakes.
Average customer rating:
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Buying land: How to profit from the last great land boom
A. M Watkins
Manufacturer: Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Public Finance
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Investments
| Real Estate
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0812905318 |
Book Description
In The Great Boom, historian Robert Sobel tells the fascinating story of the last 50 years when American entrepreneurs, visionaries, and ordinary citizens transformed our depression and war-exhausted society into today's economic powerhouse.As America's G.I.s returned home from World War II, many of the nation's best minds predicted a new depression-yet exactly the opposite occurred. Jobs were plentiful in retooled factories swamped with orders from pent-up demand. Tens of thousands of families moved out of cities into affordable suburban homes built by William Levitt and his imitators. They bought cars, televisions, and air conditioners by the millions. And they took to the nation's roads and new interstate highways-the largest public works project in world history-where Kemmons Wilson of Holiday Inns, Ray Kroc of McDonalds, and other start-up entrepreneurs soon catered to a mobile populace with food and lodgings for leisure time vacationers.Americans and their families began to channel savings into new opportunities. Credit cards democratized purchasing power, while early mutual funds found growing numbers of investors to fuel the first postwar bull market in the go-go '60s. At the same time the continuing boom enriched the fabric of social and cultural life. A college education became a must on the highway to upward mobility; high-tech industries arose with astonishing new ways of conducting business electronically; and an unprecedented 49 million families had become investors when the 1981-2000 stock market boom reached 10,000 on the Dow. The Great Boom is the first major book to portray the great wave of homegrown entrepreneurs as post-war heroes in the complete remaking and revitalizing of America. All that, plus the creation of unprecedented wealth-or themselves, for the nation, for tens of millions of citizens-all in five short drama-filled decades.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Read!.......2001-02-16
How did the modern United States get so rich? Robert Sobel presents an overview of American history from the end of World War II to the present, focusing on the economic, social, and technological developments that built wealth in America. The book is an engaging read, especially for anyone who grew up in the early '40s or '50s. Sobel, a professor of business history, wrestles a mass of historical data to the ground, though he sometimes daunts the reader with long, complex sentences or over-ambitious clumps of information. The book unfolds thematically, sometimes skipping about chronologically, so you might wish for charts or graphics that clarify time frames and supplementary material. You'll get over that, as you become absorbed in this otherwise excellent, thoughtful book, which getAbstract.com recommends for its skillful weaving of familiar historical facts and insightful analysis.
Educated Investors Prosper for 50 Years.......2000-09-16
After World War II, the average economic pundit expected that after a brief period of restocking depleted shelves with consumer products the U.S. economy would lapse in recession or even depression again. Yet just the opposite happened. In this broadscale overview of the American economy from 1950-2000, you will see the milestones of how that pessimistic view was reversed. The book ends on a note of mixed optimism for the 21st century, that should refocus our attention on improving education.
For anyone who lived through these years as an adult, I suspect that there will be nothing new. For those who are younger, these milestones and perspectives will make for fascinating reading. For example, my own teenage daughter probably has little understanding of how the economy has developed in the last 50 years. When she is old enough to be curious, this book will make a good nontechnical resource for her.
In 1950, suburban housing tracts were just being started, few people owned stocks, a small percentage had been to college, unemployment was starting to rise again, it was hard to travel from one city to another by car, few had televisions, and many people looked to a factory job in Detroit as the ultimate security.
Professor Sobel credits a number of continuing themes as being very important for the ensuing economic transformation: The GI Bill and a desire to get ahead sent determined veterans to college in large numbers (who later sent their kids to college also); entrepreneurs developed technology and business processes to create massive new industries based on electronics and mobile Americans (McDonald's and Holiday Inns); the Cold War stimulated demand for directed government support of technology and infrastructure (leading to the Interstate Highway system and the Internet); and innovation transformed almost every area of American life to make rare goods and services attractive, inexpensive, and available to the masses (credit cards, no-load mutual funds,and access to buying art). Basically, these are all the hallmarks of a free society.
Where did the new wealth come from? Primarily from home ownership and stock investing. Both were much rarer in 1950, and the prices paid have grown much faster than inflation in both areas. If you bought and held, or bought and traded up, you probably did quite well. If you also started a successful business, you probably did even better. Those who did not do these three things find themselves not very well off from a financial security point of view, but with a higher standard of living than would have occurred in 1950.
What about the downside? Professor Sobel doesn't have as much to say in this area, but he is also optimistic there. His statistics point out the the lowest income people had greater economic percentage gains in buying power over these 50 years than the wealthiest did. He also asks that we do more to understand why some are born in and remain in poverty. His studies did not appear to turn up good evidence on these points. The reason seems to be that few economic statistics by income level were kept in 1950, and even less research was done on the causes. Clearly, racism has to have been a factor, and here he points to the progress in growth of high income families among minority groups. So, you won't find the answer here.
I found the most interesting and important part of the book to be in his thoughtful critique of modern education in 2000. Basically, the focus on better quality that was placed on goods and services in the economy since 1950 missed education almost totally. He describes the growth of illiteracy among those who attend public schools, the dumbing down of high school and college curricula to handle more poorly-prepared students, and the growing numbers of students who opt to drop out and succeed. Math and science students have dropped in such numbers that our modern society cannot succeed without massive infusions of immigrants. In fact, it is the influx of these well educated immigrants who are providing the push to success that will be to 2000 what the GI Bill was in 1950. More troubling are the facts that college curricula are becoming less economically relevant to the New Economy, the name professors are paid to do everything but teach, and being a professor with high standards for your students can keep you from getting tenure.
In many ways, this book is The Greatest Generation Makes Money from 1950-2000. Although it also looks at the two generations that follow, the focus is clearly on the oldest cohort. Why isn't this book at the top of the best seller list like The Greatest Generation is? My answer is that the author chose to quote pundits throughout rather than ordinary people. Occasionally, he puts in a personal story and the book becomes very lively and compelling. Then he moves back into telling the overall story, and it is a lot like reading a news magazine version of the events. It is easy to read, and interesting, but it isn't compelling. If there is ever another edition of this book, I suggest that the second edition be interspaced with lots of personal stories to make it all come to life.
After you have read this rewarding book, ask yourself what you can do to improve education for yourself, your children, and future generations. Then also ask yourself how well you have communicated the lessons of how to be economically successful to these succeeding generations. After you have your answers, be sure to start acting on them. Otherwise, we could lose our way. That would be a pretty monumental example of the communications stall.
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The Money Wars: The Rise & Fall of the Great Buyout Boom of the 1980s
Roy C. Smith
Manufacturer: Beard Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Economic History
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Consolidation & Merger
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1893122697 |
Book Description
This fascinating chronicle analyzes the frenetic merger and takeover activity of the 1980s, indicating why it happened and what the effect has been on American industry and finance.
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