The Man Who Sold the World: Ronald Reagan and the Betrayal of Main Street America
By William Kleinknecht
The world that Thomas L Friedman flattened four years ago is in the process of being round with governments all over the world adopting protective measures to help their respective economies. Conferences in business centres and cover stories in glossy magazines teach us the virtue of being economical and the drawbacks of expansionism.
Yes, like all misfortunes, the economic recession is a good teacher in many respects.
Debates and discussions on the slump generate ideas that are bifurcated to a great extent. On the one hand, there are those who staunchly oppose the liberalisation of economy, while on the other, the apologists of the paradigm who point their fingers at the mismanagement of a widely implemented policy.
American crime correspondent William Kleinknecht 'The Man Who Sold the World, Ronald Reagan and The Betrayal of Main street America' falls into the first category. The book takes the reader to 1980's when Ronal Reagan, America's 40th president, introduced policies that kicked off the deregulation of financial institutions. He freed banks from the state control and provided much leeway for private players the crucial financial affairs of the state. Reduction of government regulation in the economy terminated monetary discipline which resulted in large-scale exploitation and corruption (Satyam fraud is the latest Indian version of this situation). Followers of Reagonomics (Its Indian format is famously called Manmohonomics) all over the world took the policy to its extreme in 90's. The meltdown is one of its inevitable consequences.
The book raises some important questions regarding who is affected most by these policies at the backdrop of the meltdown: People who have no power to make their voice heard. It's in America's Main Street that its ordinary citizens live. Liberalisation gave policymakers and CEOs on Wall Street power and money and residents of Main Street were consequently left in the lurch. The argument is are important in the context of the World Bank's 'World Development Report 2009', which argues, as if no lesson was learnt, foe orienting wealth in urban areas.
How many Slumdogs in India can become millionaires in this economic paradigm?
It’s time our policy makers answered this question
-------------------------
Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life
By John C Bogle
We tend to disapprove critiques on liberalisation as unrealistic 'Leftist propagandas. But Recession has seen the vanguards of liberalisation take a dig at the very system of which they have been a part. Their criticism is packed with information about the capitalist system in detail, although the manner they view it is rather apologetic.
Enough True Measures of Money, Business, and Life, authored by John Bogle, former CEO of Vanguard Group ( US-based Mutual fund enterprise), is one of such works.
The title of the book comes from an address that Bogle gave to the business students of the Georgetown University. Bogle talks about a chat between Joseph Heller, famous author of Catch 22, and his contemporary Kurt Vonnegut, famous for his novel, Breakfast of Champions at a party. Vonnegut said that their guest made money in a day that Heller's popular novel gave him in its whole market history. Heller retorted to this statement, "Yes, but I have something he will never have-Enough."
Bogle has sufficient arguments in the book against the controllers of the financial market. He focuses on the greed on the Wall Street and on how CEOs and financial managers created an economic system, which is neither transparent nor simple. "The system is marked by too much speculation not enough investment, too much complexity not enough simplicity. The bankers and financial institutions siphoned off the money entrusted to them by the investors," he writes.
If the 'vanguards' of market economy don't learn from the crisis the wisdom of Joseph Heller, the meltdown will definitely become a bad teacher.
Reviewed by Shameer KS
By William Kleinknecht
The world that Thomas L Friedman flattened four years ago is in the process of being round with governments all over the world adopting protective measures to help their respective economies. Conferences in business centres and cover stories in glossy magazines teach us the virtue of being economical and the drawbacks of expansionism.
Yes, like all misfortunes, the economic recession is a good teacher in many respects.
Debates and discussions on the slump generate ideas that are bifurcated to a great extent. On the one hand, there are those who staunchly oppose the liberalisation of economy, while on the other, the apologists of the paradigm who point their fingers at the mismanagement of a widely implemented policy.
American crime correspondent William Kleinknecht 'The Man Who Sold the World, Ronald Reagan and The Betrayal of Main street America' falls into the first category. The book takes the reader to 1980's when Ronal Reagan, America's 40th president, introduced policies that kicked off the deregulation of financial institutions. He freed banks from the state control and provided much leeway for private players the crucial financial affairs of the state. Reduction of government regulation in the economy terminated monetary discipline which resulted in large-scale exploitation and corruption (Satyam fraud is the latest Indian version of this situation). Followers of Reagonomics (Its Indian format is famously called Manmohonomics) all over the world took the policy to its extreme in 90's. The meltdown is one of its inevitable consequences.
The book raises some important questions regarding who is affected most by these policies at the backdrop of the meltdown: People who have no power to make their voice heard. It's in America's Main Street that its ordinary citizens live. Liberalisation gave policymakers and CEOs on Wall Street power and money and residents of Main Street were consequently left in the lurch. The argument is are important in the context of the World Bank's 'World Development Report 2009', which argues, as if no lesson was learnt, foe orienting wealth in urban areas.
How many Slumdogs in India can become millionaires in this economic paradigm?
It’s time our policy makers answered this question
-------------------------
Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life
By John C Bogle
We tend to disapprove critiques on liberalisation as unrealistic 'Leftist propagandas. But Recession has seen the vanguards of liberalisation take a dig at the very system of which they have been a part. Their criticism is packed with information about the capitalist system in detail, although the manner they view it is rather apologetic.
Enough True Measures of Money, Business, and Life, authored by John Bogle, former CEO of Vanguard Group ( US-based Mutual fund enterprise), is one of such works.
The title of the book comes from an address that Bogle gave to the business students of the Georgetown University. Bogle talks about a chat between Joseph Heller, famous author of Catch 22, and his contemporary Kurt Vonnegut, famous for his novel, Breakfast of Champions at a party. Vonnegut said that their guest made money in a day that Heller's popular novel gave him in its whole market history. Heller retorted to this statement, "Yes, but I have something he will never have-Enough."
Bogle has sufficient arguments in the book against the controllers of the financial market. He focuses on the greed on the Wall Street and on how CEOs and financial managers created an economic system, which is neither transparent nor simple. "The system is marked by too much speculation not enough investment, too much complexity not enough simplicity. The bankers and financial institutions siphoned off the money entrusted to them by the investors," he writes.
If the 'vanguards' of market economy don't learn from the crisis the wisdom of Joseph Heller, the meltdown will definitely become a bad teacher.
Reviewed by Shameer KS
