In “Economic Contractions in the United States: A Failure of Government,” Charles K. Rowley and Nathanael Smith use their unique Public Choice lens to analyze the Great Depression and the current recession. Public Choice Economics, developed by James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, is a revolutionary way for economists to look at government and its attempts at market intervention.

This very short but dense read will take the reader through all the ins and outs of the economy. Those readers who are intensely interested in the happenings of today, will find this book to be up to date and full of facts.

Rowley and Smith believe that the reason why the United States has only had mild recessions up until this point is due to the counterbalancing monetary and fiscal policies from the 1980’s to the 1990’s. For example, Ronald Reagan and Paul Volcker are very famous for reigning in inflation, while not decreasing spending. This was due to Reagan’s defense spending expansion and Volcker’s monetary contraction.

Rowley and Smith found that the United States is faced with the after effects of a perfect storm of expansionary monetary policy after 9/11 and an expansionary fiscal policy under George W. Bush and his many Congresses.

One very small, but interesting part of the book that should be pointed out is “The Sources of Moral Failure.” This section of the book shows that politicians are more interested in furthering their moral agendas, even if they put the economy at risk. Rowley and Smith highlight two types of politicians: those who receive support from the financial institutions to encourage overspending, and those who receive populist support and banned discrimination on the “basis of economic criteria.” Both politicians are looking out for special interest, and both politicians are putting everyone’s economic well-being at risk.

At the end, the two George Mason University and Lock Institute economists, propose solutions to help the economy get back on track. Even though they offer some relatively free market solutions (i.e. free trade, immigration, right to work,…etc.), they also endorse the Federal Reserve’s policy of monetary expansion. This leaves the reader to wonder, if it was expansionary monetary and fiscal policies that created the bubble, how will this solution be different as we know Congress will not reduce fiscal spending?

Overall, this book is a great short read. For the laymen, it may be overwhelming causing one to research the economic terms used in the book. But for those who have been keeping up with today’s economic indicators this is a must-read.

Rating 4.5/5

Since the start of the current recession, there has been dozens of books published attempting to explain what happened while giving advice on what Americans can do to make it through the down turn. In “Standing in the Rain: Understanding, surviving, and thriving in the worst financial storm since the Great Depression,” Thomas J. Powell attempts to do both.

In the first part of the book, Powell takes a micro approach in explaining how individuals reacted to certain market conditions. For example, he explains why average Americans could not avoid seeing television shows along with colorful stories about people flipping houses and making boatloads of money.

And at the very end of the book, Powell even takes the time to give a state-by-state analysis of when the recovery could come and how each area was affected. This proves even further that any person who wants to see a micro/localized level of the financial crisis should buy this book.

Where Powell goes wrong is when he starts to dabble in the macro-levels of the economy. He seems to have a hard time balancing being critical of government and his view that “this boom-and-bust cycle will continue for the rest of our lives” as long as Capitalism and speculation exists.

The truth has been clearly proven over and over by many of the world’s leading economists, that this boom-and-bust cycle was created by the Federal Reserve’s policy of low-interest rates and loose money. The Federal Reserve is not a mechanism of Capitalism, it is in fact an enemy.

And while speculation is inherent in Capitalism it is also inherent in life, as we are all speculators. In fact, speculation is what tames the market by what is called “the miracle of aggregation.” In other words, various investors processing various information and making informed investment decisions.

It was, in fact, speculators through short selling that discovered Enron’s malfeasants before any federal regulators.

Now, this part of the book can be forgiven as it is a very small part and Mr. Powell, neither has a degree in nor claims to be an economist. He also takes what he does for a living, investment advice, and gets the reader to look around and see where the new opportunities lie.

Overall, this is a very good short read that is written well for the laymen. It gives good analysis on how many of the individuals who were inside the bubble acted before, after, and during the crisis. But, nonetheless, this book should be paired with “Meltdown” by Thomas Woods, giving the reading the best one, two punch on the micro- and macro- economics behind today’s recession.

Rating: 3/5

In 2008, Congressman Ron Paul stood up to the Republican establishment and ran for President. He inspired new young libertarians to join his campaign and get more involved with politics. Little did he know that a just over a year later, he would be the author of two bestselling books and the leader of a large well-funded movement called “Campaign for Liberty.”

In his latest book, titled “End the Fed,” Ron Paul zeros in on the Federal Reserve, an institution he has tried to put on the chopping block since he entered Congress. The timing of the book couldn’t be better. Ron Paul introduced H.R. 1207 (known as the “Audit the Fed” bill) earlier this year which has a record number of co-signers.

When first getting into this book, Paul takes the reader on a very different course then he or she might have expected. For example, he dedicates one chapter to his “Intellectual Influences.” As interesting as this is for anyone who is newly libertarian and/or took a similar path to it through Austrian Economics, like myself, it may distract from those who are more skeptical of his cause.

Once the second half of the book kicks off, the reader can tell that this is where Ron Paul really sinks his teeth in. He goes through the philosophical, constitutional, economic, and libertarian cases for ending the Fed. Showing that almost anyone who is not a socialist, communist, or fascist should support ending the Fed.

The economic case is strong and shows rightfully that “Where [the United States] do[es] have socialism is in money and credit and setting the interest rates.” This puts the argument in perspective for those who currently believe that Barack Obama is leading us towards socialism, as people will realize that the United States is already socialistic in one of the most vital industries.

The only part of this book that fell short was when Paul sent mixed signals on what a gold standard meant to him. At the beginning of the book, Paul states that Austrian Nobel Laureate F.A. Hayek wanted a bundle currency. Paul states that the currency could be anything, as long as it is not controlled by the government. However, Paul continues to reference gold as a currency standard throughout the book.

But the problem is that what most people consider to be the “gold standard” is simply government control over the currency with the ability to redeem for gold. This is not sufficient for a free money system and maybe Paul knows this as he defends the “wild cat banking” era. The message must be clear; any currency that is not centralized by government is a better currency.

Nonetheless, this is a great read and will certainly get the reader to think about money, which everyone deals with on a daily basis, in a different way. And will bring you to the strong clearly justified conclusion that the Federal Reserve must be abolished, as it is just an institution to serve government growth and special interest.

Rating: 4/5

In “Exposing the Real Che Guevara,” Humberto Fontova, who himself fled from Cuba with his family, sheds light on the “revolutionary” figure that the modern left idolizes. In each chapter, he takes common beliefs held by the left and debunks them not only with mainstream sources but using actual accounts from families who experienced it firsthand.

Fontova’s book may surprise the reader on the amount of obsession the left has and how much of an obsession the media had when Che was alive. Most people have seen the t-shirts that are donned by college students across the nation. But what many will be shocked to know is that the winner of the U.N. Global Humanitarian Award, Angelina Jolie, sports a tattoo of Che “though she won’t reveal where.”

And that just scratches the surface. There are plenty of books, necklaces, bikinis, and even a Steven Soderbergh movie glorifying the man whose mural is currently displayed on the building of the Cuban secret police.
So what may start as a curiosity about a popular t-shirt will lead the reader into a world filled with media obsession and innocent bloodshed. Fontova shows that not only was Che a mass executioner of Cubans, including women and children, but that he himself would oppose the intellectual following he receives.

In a shocking example of his “revolutionary” behavior, Che, a self-proclaimed “Marxist,” did not mind selling the blood of the sixty-six men who were executed at the going price of “fifty U.S. dollars per pint to the Republic of North Viet Nam.”

Overall, the book is very good and it is written in a way that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat the whole time. Fontova is both passionate and clear when discussing the horrific amount of mass murders that took place in his home country. But beware if the reader is apathetic or uneducated about Che, they will be a passionate protester against Che “and the useful idiots who idolize him” by the end of the book.

Rating: 4/5

“An Inconvenient Book” by Glenn Beck in a lot of ways sums up what is wrong with the Conservative moment. It is filled with claims that use zero economics, when in fact economics should be their friend. Glenn Beck, who has become very popular among both Conservatives and Libertarians, has done a good job on his show in supporting the free-market and bashing Obama. But after reading this book I wonder what the Glenn Beck show would look like with a Republican held White House and/or Congress.

The book is written very well in that it reaches out to all types of readers and in a lot of ways makes you laugh. It has some of the best info graphics I have ever seen in a mass market book. So as far as the words and pictures, it is a great book. But the content fall short.

A few parts of Mr. Beck book drove me crazy. His opinions on tipping are socialistic and make no sense. It is hard to believe based upon this chapter that Glenn Beck understands anything about Capitalism and how tipping rewards good behavior. He acts like business owners can arbitrarily pay their staff more and not have to raise menu prices when tipping is removed. That chapter a long with the chapter on “running out of oil” drove me insane, but more on that later.

I must admit the very first chapter on Global Warming was very good and uses good non crazy arguments against the Global Warming advocates. But soon after that, he goes into topics in which most people who buy his book. Chapters on Marriage, Porn, Body Image, Renting Movies (not kidding) and Blind Dating are pointless and useless. I know that often time we pretend that pundits are experts on politics, but that does not stretch into other areas that are more personal.

His chapters on the Minimum Wage, Opinion Polls, and Poverty are much more productive and provocative. But many of the time his solutions fell short. Take illegal immigration, which is the chapter he decides to end his book on. This probably means that he thinks very highly on the subject and that he wanted to leaving a lasting impression so it should be the best written.

First, he plays in this paranoia of a super corporate group has control over the United States government and keeps the border from being secure. And his solutions are to build two fences and hit the employers hard. Besides the fact that a Conservative is making an argument FOR government, the two ideas are just moronic.

The fence is very expensive as he wants “double layers of fencing with road in between for patrols, concrete vehicle barriers, surveillance cameras, and tunneling sensors.” He says it would be $20 billion. First, if this is a government estimate you can trust it is wrong. Also what about the maintainance of this. And really if people really want to get into America, is this going to be effective?

Sidenote: Glenn, when you want to compare figures for people do not use “how much 9/11 cost the City of New York.” First, it wasn’t intentional. Second, it was a terrorist attack.

Next, he wants to hit the employers. I guess he is already assuming that his fences will not work and he is a Conservative against small businesses. All small business are trying to do one thing: survive. Glenn Beck must not think that there is going to be any red-tape involved on already small struggling business.

And let’s think about the reason why businesses hire illegals, part could be minimum wage but mainly it is because they are hard works and can outwork some of us “non-mexicans.” And consider the costs. The business owner is choosing someone who they have a hard time communicating with over “non-mexicans.” That means we Americans are very inefficient workers. So wake up, you cannot be pro-free trade and anti-illegal labor force.

So overall this book is not worth reading or buying. It was a huge let down and it made me think a lot less of Mr. Beck.

Rating: 1/5

by Justin Williams

The book The Baseball Economist by J.C. Bradbury takes America’s pastime and mixes together with both economics and statistical analysis. Baseball, in general, is more of a statistical game than most other sports. This is not to say that the whole book is full of numbers. Bradbury asks many different questions through each chapter, as each could be completely separate from the others. He asks questions like why are there no left handed catchers to is pitching coach Leo Mazzone that good?

Each chapter makes the reader think of baseball very differently. Bradbury even tackles the tough spot of steriods and baseball and makes a very good argument on why we shouldn’t care. His strongest argument is that many times players use other techniques that are artificial to increase their strength. One example is the Tommy John Surgery that pitchers go under when they get injuried. These pitchers usually come back throwing even harder than they did before.

Another strong point in the book is Bradbury’s analysis of what is the best statistisic is telling how well a player will do. Baseball is both an individual sport and a team sport and it is very hard to isolate the two as each can influence each others stats. For example, pitchers could have low earned run averages because of good defensive players on his team. I have always wondered why people were more concerned with certain states over others.

The negatives of this book is that some of the stuff is dated. Bradbury is writting this book after it seemed 99 times out of 100 the rich team wins, while more recently it seems that this has changed some. The other negative is the book doesn’t do much for people who are not deep into baseball. Personally, I love baseball and I would study it if I could. Many people who were looking for more broad strokes may not quite enjoy the book as others. Possible topics they could have been looking for would be like why are concessions so expensive or how much does homefield advantage help?

Overall this is a great read for anyone who loves statistics or who loves baseball and economics.

5/5

by Justin Williams

Morals and Markets by Daniel Friedman is a very different book then I expected it to be. I expected morals to be more in the forefront but they were more in the background. Regardless, this book is very well written. The subtitle “An Evolutionary Account of the Modern World” is a much better description of exactly how the book is. The book is filled with many facts about the world and markets that are really interesting.

For most of the book Friedman looks at both sides of each issue. For example, he discusses short-selling and how people have viewed it to be morally bad, but it serves a good purpose of keeping businesses in check. The author tells stories like that and you see the moral struggle in the background.

Near the end of the book, he begins to show more of his pro-government side. When he discusses both sides of the debate for globalization, I think he gives too much creditbility to those who oppose it. Take this one example; the author states that “joining the global economy brings new vunerability” and his example is that if his county specializes in brussel sprouts and all of a sudden a fungus kills their crop. I do not understand why if this was a chance then people would use insurance or future markets to protect against risk. We know that these types of markets exist so why would be it ignored. Sure, it could happen once if we assume that the crops have a 99.9% chance of not having any problems where they need these sorts of things. This, of course, is still economic calculation and a risk that the farmer is taking. He knows that if the 0.1% comes true then he will go out of business.

What is wrong with him going out of business? Sure, we wouldn’t have brussel sprouts for a while but I am sure people will find something to substitute for it. At the same time, we would then bring new farmers who could manage the risk much better.

So overall the book is a very good read. It is well written and it presents a lot of issues and ideas that most people do not think about while adding a mountain of facts. The author seems to err more on the side of market failure than government failure, even though he gives a flavor of both.

4/5

by Justin Williams

Meltdown: A Free Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and the Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. may have one of the longest subtitles of any book around but it is a very important book. I encourage all of my readers to stop what they are doing and order this book. It is a relatively quick read that will bring you up-to-date not only on the current financial crisis but also the Austrian Economic theories behind it.

This book is the sole voice that is not following the masses in blaming the recession upon Capitalism. Instead, Thomas Woods uses many economic theories and evidence to show that the government has had more to do with this problem then we think. He starts the book with a view of how the government created the current bubble. It becomes clear that this is very much in line with the Austrian Business Cycle. He then shows the more broad picture of how this also has happened in both the Great Depression and the dotcom bubble.

The major part of the book is its eloquent attack upon the Federal Reserve system. Woods shows that the Federal Reserve has done more to hurt the economy than any other intervention. He also warns us of the impending problems that we have no had yet but could have with possible runaway inflation also know as hyperinflation. At the end of the book, Woods challenges those who believe that they are a free market conservative or libertarian that they should realize that the Federal Reserve cannot have your support. The Federal Reserve, he says, is one of the biggest interventions in the economy we have seen. They have a monopoly on money.

Everybody should pick up this book, if they want to learn about the real reason why the economy is in a downspin. People often try to blame crisises upon things they do not understand, like Capitalism. Instead, what they do not realize is that people try to control the economy and that person would have to be god in order to get it all right.

Rating  5/5

Since Congressman Ron Paul’s Presidential Campaign, he has recieved a large amount of support from the public. Not enough support to boost him as a party nominee but enough to get on to major news channels. Ron Paul is a good political entrepreneur. He has seized upon this and written a book that every American should read, whether you agree with him or not. It is called The Revolution: A Manifesto.

Much like Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater it is a small book that spans many issues. This gives a person enough information to allow them to run with it and do their own research. Unlike Goldwater’s book Paul cites many great figures throughout the book and at the end he includes a recommended reading list with these people in it. Some of them include Ludwig von Mises, Thomas Jefferson, Fredreic Bastiat, F.A. Hayek, and Murray Rothbard.

In the media Ron Paul often comes off as rash or harsh. Arguing for Capitalism can be harsh. Some people are turned off from him because he does not have the speaking skills or the good looks that most Americans care about in politicians. Politicians should be picked upon policy and not personality, but that is neither here nor there. This book is a very rational well thought out logical book. This digs deeper into some of the rhetoric that he speaks and would help with those who find him to be harsh.

One particular argument I found interesting was his one of healthcare and linking it to inflation. Paul argues that “The health costs tend to rise faster than other costs because of the distribution effects of inflation: wherever government spends its new money, that is where higher prices will be most immediate and evident.” The second part of this argument is correct, but if we use debt and such that would not be inflation. It would still bid up the cost all the same but it may be interesting to look into whether or not programs are funded by debt or inflation. Of course, if the result is the same this may not matter.

Overall rating 4/5