Yesterday, Glenn Beck had Thomas Woods and Yuri Maltsev on his show to discuss F.A. Hayek's book, The Road to Serfdom. The book is a must read.
It is one of the greatest books ever written.
It was initially written for a British audience and published in the U.S. in 1944. It originally had a press run in the U.S. of only 2,000 copies. According to Amazon, it has now sold over 400,000 copies.
Woods during the Beck piece even brings up what I think is one of the most important chapters in the book, Why the Worst Get On Top--where Hayek discusses why the worst become leaders in government.
Also fascinating about the show was Maltsev's discussion of what it was like living in the old Soviet Union. It was bad. And, unfortunately, that is he direction we are heading in.
Judging from some emails I receive and some comments in the posts, I don't think many people realize how seriously dangerous the direction is that we are headed. We are far beyond the days of discussing why minimum wage laws increase unemployment among the least skilled.We are very near the point where the standard of living drops for almost everyone (except the ruthless and the very clever). It will get very ugly, with big brother watching around every corner. That's why it is important for people like Maltsev to tell us how bad it really was---and how bad it could get here.
The video and transcript of the show are here.
Showing posts with label ThomasWoods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ThomasWoods. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Book Review: Meltdown by Thomas E. Woods Jr.
It is a sad fact that most who graduate from college understand little if anything about the business cycle. It is even a sadder fact that most economists do not understand Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT), even though the great economist Friedrich Hayek was specifically awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for the work he completed with regard to the theory.
Perhaps to some degree this poor understanding explains the confused reporting about the causes of the current economic crisis that regularly appear in mainstream media. If you are only getting your information about the current crisis through mainstream media reports, trust me, you aren't even getting half the story.
Meltdown
by Thomas E. Woods Jr. is an antidote to this lack of understanding. Woods takes on the many fallacies that are now a part of the popular perception held about the current crisis. He does this by walking through, in timeline fashion, the start of the current crisis with the housing bubble, through the Wall Street bailouts and current government attempts to "battle" the downturn. At each step, he explodes the myths that currently exist and explains what the real causal factors are.
Woods then explains the business cycle itself, and the role of central bank manipulation of the money supply as the main culprit in creating the business cycle. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.
From there, Woods reviews other booms and busts, including the Great Depression, and explains how they came about.
Woods concludes with an explanation of the role of money in an economy and then offers sound solutions to today's crisis that will bring the economy out of the current crisis and put it on sound footing.
There's a lot to learn from this book and there are a lot of people who should read it.
If you are simply curious about the world around you, or just a concerned citizen, this book will fill you in on how the world works from an economic perspective. If you are a businessman, an investor, or thinking about buying a house, this book will enlighten you as to the business cycle and help you make the important financial decisions in your life with much greater understanding of how the economy will impact you.
If you are a reporter, this book will put you miles ahead of your colleagues in understanding, and in your ability to provide important insights to your readers.
And, if you are President Barack Obama, you need to read this book and get a clue, because your current advisers are providing you with advise that will only result in you driving the economy off a cliff.
In short, anyone who reads this book and truly MASTERS it, will be in the top 1% of people who really understand what happened to cause the current crisis, and in the top fraction of 1% of the population who understand how the business cycle really works.
Perhaps to some degree this poor understanding explains the confused reporting about the causes of the current economic crisis that regularly appear in mainstream media. If you are only getting your information about the current crisis through mainstream media reports, trust me, you aren't even getting half the story.
Meltdown
by Thomas E. Woods Jr. is an antidote to this lack of understanding. Woods takes on the many fallacies that are now a part of the popular perception held about the current crisis. He does this by walking through, in timeline fashion, the start of the current crisis with the housing bubble, through the Wall Street bailouts and current government attempts to "battle" the downturn. At each step, he explodes the myths that currently exist and explains what the real causal factors are.Woods then explains the business cycle itself, and the role of central bank manipulation of the money supply as the main culprit in creating the business cycle. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.
From there, Woods reviews other booms and busts, including the Great Depression, and explains how they came about.
Woods concludes with an explanation of the role of money in an economy and then offers sound solutions to today's crisis that will bring the economy out of the current crisis and put it on sound footing.
There's a lot to learn from this book and there are a lot of people who should read it.
If you are simply curious about the world around you, or just a concerned citizen, this book will fill you in on how the world works from an economic perspective. If you are a businessman, an investor, or thinking about buying a house, this book will enlighten you as to the business cycle and help you make the important financial decisions in your life with much greater understanding of how the economy will impact you.
If you are a reporter, this book will put you miles ahead of your colleagues in understanding, and in your ability to provide important insights to your readers.
And, if you are President Barack Obama, you need to read this book and get a clue, because your current advisers are providing you with advise that will only result in you driving the economy off a cliff.
In short, anyone who reads this book and truly MASTERS it, will be in the top 1% of people who really understand what happened to cause the current crisis, and in the top fraction of 1% of the population who understand how the business cycle really works.
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