Book Description

Government is broke.The 2004 federal deficit will be the highest in U.S. history. The states have suffered three years of record shortfalls. Cities, counties and school districts are laying off policemen and teachers, closing schools, and cutting services.Government leaders have patched together combinations of accounting gimmicks, on- time fixes, real cuts, and tax and fee increases to relieve the fiscal pain.But it won't go away.

Overall, American governments from the White House to City Hall are enduring theirworst fiscal crisis since World War II.But this time, the crisis will be permanent.On one side are skyrocketing costs for health care, Social Security and pensions.On the other is opposition to tax increases.In the face of this crisis the bankrupt ideologies of left and right offer little guidance. The Price of Government does.

Whereas Reinventing Government, David Osborne's 1992 New York Times bestseller, was a manifesto for change, The Price of Government is a clear, step-by-step roadmap for change, offering concrete solutions drawn from the authors' combined thirty years of experience leading and advising public institutions.The authors begin by describing a radically different approach to budgeting-one that focuses on buying results for citizens rather than cutting or adding to last year's spending programs.They go on to show how leaders can use consolidation, competition, customer choice, and a relentless focus on results to save millions while improving public services, at all levels of government.

These ideas have been put into practice successfully from schoolhouses to statehouses and from City Hall to the Pentagon. They are built on common sense, not ideology. The Price of Government will interest everyone who is concerned with how tax dollars are spent-and how to get the results we need at a price we're willing to pay. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Highly Valuable, Depth, Practical
There is no question today that governments-at all levels-are in dire fiscal straits. Years of political maneuvering, wasteful spending, mismanagement, and an economic roller-coaster have taken their toll. While wonderful innovation has been seen in a number of government agencies at the federal, state, and local level, most have a very long way to go. The resistance to change must be overcome if we are to avoid widespread bankruptcy of the very organizations that we, as taxpayers and citizens, rely on for shared services and support. Change is a community effort, not just something to be delegated to a few elected or appointed officials. But the work to be done is akin to hugging a hippopotamus...especially if the animal doesn't want to be hugged!

The authors are consultants-which could be considered good news or bad news. In this case, it's good news. They are founder and senior partner of Public Strategies Group, a firm specializing in the field of improving government. Osborne is author of the best-seller, "Reinventing Government." These authors have the credentials that cry out how valuable their book might be.

The five sections of the book organize their huge volume of information, commentary, and advice: Smarter Budgeting, Smarter Sizing, Smarter Spending, Smarter Management, and Smarter Leadership. Through fifteen chapters the authors describe what's been happening, the impact, what changes could-or should-be made, and what benefits will result. There are no illustrations in this book-a few charts; it's straight text in page after intriguing page. Tremendous content that can be absorbed in a straight-through read or studied in a reference book fashion.

Community leaders will find an incredible amount of material to work with in these pages. The question is how many communities will have sufficiently strong and committed leadership-political and apolitical-to overcome the resistance of tradition and self-serving turf protection in order to bring about critically needed change. If you can build the community resources to make the needed improvements, this book will be a real treasure for exploring opportunities and finding wise solutions.

Best management book this century
Takes Reinventing Government to the next level. Very readable yet provides specific directions on how to apply total quality management and performance management to create public organizations that function efficiently and develop public budgets that lead to results valued by citizens.

The best management book I have read this century. Recipes for successful public management.

A blueprint for better government
This book is about our future--the one we can have if we choose the difficult path of dramatic change. The authors present a convincing argument that we don't have to choose between higher taxes or service cuts. There are great opportunities for getting more from government services with the taxes we are willing to pay. The authors lay out a blueprint for pursuing those opportunities starting by radically changing the way governments do budgeting. The success stories are compelling. This is stimulating reading to anyone interested in getting better results for the dollar. I loved the chapter on politics and the argument for leading from the radical center. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good and not a "heavy" book
I'm a undergraduate economic student and have tried a good sort of books in this matter, and I finally get one that fits very nice to my needs. This book touches all the aspects of the subject without being very hard to understand or too boring to read, and that is hard to find in book about industrial organization! Another good point is that the book is very new and have useful and contemporary examples. A liked very much! ... Read more

Book Description

Since the end of World War II, economists have tried to figure out how poor countries in the tropics could attain standards of living approaching those of countries in Europe and North America. Attempted remedies have included providing foreign aid, investing in machines, fostering education, controlling population growth, and making aid loans as well as forgiving those loans on condition of reforms. None of these solutions has delivered as promised. The problem is not the failure of economics, William Easterly argues, but the failure to apply economic principles to practical policy work.

In this book Easterly shows how these solutions all violate the basic principle of economics, that people--private individuals and businesses, government officials, even aid donors--respond to incentives. Easterly first discusses the importance of growth. He then analyzes the development solutions that have failed. Finally, he suggests alternative approaches to the problem. Written in an accessible, at times irreverent, style, Easterlys book combines modern growth theory with anecdotes from his fieldwork for the World Bank. ... Read more

Reviews (38)

No Easy Answers
An economist at the World Bank, Easterly looks back at the dismal economic record of the Third World over the last 40 years and distills lesssons to guide donors and policymakers in the future. He is at his best when dissecting failed policies such as population control or structural adjustment loans, which were embraced by development experts of the day but rested on faulty logic and flopped in practice. The rest of his book contains fascinating, nuanced discussions of how bad governance, "poverty traps," and plain bad luck (such as terms of trade shocks) can keep poor countries trapped in vicious cycles of poverty. Many myths are exploded, such as the belief that poor nations are destined to "catch up" with rich ones, or that international investment flows to capital-poor states in an effort to find higher returns. The text is clearly written and filled with wry humor. However, the failure to discuss how "Asian Tigers" such as Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan broke out of poverty and achieved industrial take off -- at one point, Easterly half-seriously cites "good luck" as a key explanation for their 30-year record of sustained economic growth! -- is a glaring hole and results in my rating of only four stars.

There are no easy answers to third world growth
For 5/6ths of the people of Earth, life is a daily struggle for basic needs: food, shelter, medicine. Infant mortality rates are high, women are oppressed, and individuals have limited opportunities to improve their lot.

William Easterly is a Senior Advisor in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. In his first book, he asks why trillion dollars of foreign aid to the countries of the "third world" since WWII have caused essentially no improvement in the quality of life for the people in these countries. I found the writing lucid and the many real stories of poverty and corruption both emotionally powerful and insightful.

Emphasizing a key mantra of economics -- people respond to incentives -- he details the long list of foreign aid tactics that have failed: capital investment (machines, factories, roads), education, birth control, loans, and loan forgiveness. Not that any of the tactics are bad, but rather they are ineffectual in a country lacking key social, political, and economic infrastructure.

Easterly then describes in detail the factors at play in driving growth: increasing returns (Leaks, Matches, Traps), creative destruction through technology, luck, governments kill growth, government corruption, and class and race conflicts.

Easterly shows that achieving economic growth is very difficult, but he does a great job of identifying the key systemic issues that poor countries must address.

Perhaps surprisingly, Easterly's model applies equally well to the economic disparities that exist within countries, even "rich" countries like the United States. The increasing returns model says that highly-skilled people will prefer to live and work with one another ("Matches"), as each of them will be more productive for being around other highly-skilled individuals. So this explains, for example, why areas like Silicon Valley, having once achieved critical mass, continue to grow. And why low-income inner-city and rural areas remain depressed ("Traps").

debunking myths and the east asian tigers
While Easterly's book may seem targeted for economists, it's actually a book for everybody - it's needed to debunk myths that continue to prevail in policymaking. It's important that we understand what doesn't work and through a process of elimination of cure alls, we might eventually come to a solution.

As for one of the reviewer's question about why Easterly attributes a lot of the East Asian Miracle to "luck"... well, being an East Asian, we don't want to admit it. It's a lot about factor accumulation or basically saving really hard for a rainy day. But there's been low productivity from technology change and all this rampant growth has tapered off. So in a sense we are "lucky" that we could save like crazy under favorable world economic conditions then... But we came undone through too much suspicious government meddling, corruption, cronyism and thinking that we were invincible.

A nice review of economic history
Easterly does indeed cover the history of economic development, and he magically creates the image of poor people who just never had the right incentives. I will not argue with his historical accuracy, this part of his book is straightforward enough. Indeed, any competent historian could have related an equivalent story. However, where Easterly falls short of his title of being an economist is in that of what to do next. People need the right incentives... ok what now. Martin Feldstien gave us his theory, Robert Solow threw his hat in the ring, and as such they are economists, however all Easterly is is an economic historian offering very little advice as to what is next.

Educational, readable and thought provoking
I found this book enjoyable reading. It uses many standard economic ideas, but does not assume the reader knows them and it explains them clearly and simply. For instance, his description of the "Luddite Fallacy" is one of the best I have seen.

The subject that economists study, human interaction, is too complex to be a solved problem. Over the years there have been guesses that have not worked out. The theme of this book is based on the idea that people are entrepreneurial. If the developed world gives the less developed world a whole pile of money, then the entrepreneurial thing to do is to try and get some of it. Unfortunately, that will not necessarily be the use of the money that is best for the long term growth of the country.

There are a number of well meaning actions that the developing world has taken that have had unintended consequences and Easterly gives great examples of them. The question he asks and what he proposes is: what actions will incentivise people to do the things that will result in the best long term results?

Sometimes that might require toughlove, and as such may not be politically appealing, but it makes sense, as William Easterly so clearly shows in this readable and significant book. ... Read more

Book Description

The United States patent system has become sand rather than lubricant in the wheels of American progress. Such is the premise behind this provocative and timely book by two of the nation's leading experts on patents and economic innovation.

Innovation and Its Discontents tells the story of how recent changes in patenting--an institutional process that was created to nurture innovation--have wreaked havoc on innovators, businesses, and economic productivity. Jaffe and Lerner, who have spent the past two decades studying the patent system, show how legal changes initiated in the 1980s converted the system from a stimulator of innovation to a creator of litigation and uncertainty that threatens the innovation process itself.

In one telling vignette, Jaffe and Lerner cite a patent litigation campaign brought by a a semi-conductor chip designer that claims control of an entire category of computer memory chips. The firm's claims are based on a modest 15-year old invention, whose scope and influenced were broadenedby secretly manipulating an industry-wide cooperative standard-setting body.

Such cases are largely the result of two changes in the patent climate, Jaffe and Lerner contend. First, new laws have made it easier for businesses and inventors to secure patents on products of all kinds, and second, the laws have tilted the table to favor patent holders, no matter how tenuous their claims.

After analyzing the economic incentives created by the current policies, Jaffe and Lerner suggest a three-pronged solution for restoring the patent system: create incentives to motivate parties who have information about the novelty of a patent; provide multiple levels of patent review; and replace juries with judges and special masters to preside over certain aspects of infringement cases.

Well-argued and engagingly written, Innovation and Its Discontents offers a fresh approach for enhancing both the nation's creativity and its economic growth.

... Read more

Book Description

Traditionally the international economics course has primarily been aimed at students working on an economics major.Today, a broad range of courses in global economic issues and policies are drawing students from a number of disciplines, such as accounting, marketing, political science, and business.This well-known author team created Global Economic Issues and Policies to address the growing needs of students that might experience this subject for the first time.The goal of the text is to emphasize current public-policy issues, which will be used to illustrate essential concepts of international trade and finance.The authors focused their theoretical discussions by staying within the guidelines of the basic economic principles. ... Read more

Book Description

This autobiography of the world-renowned, visionary economist who came up with a simple but revolutionary solution to end world poverty--micro-credit--has become the classic text for a growing movement.

In 1983 Muhammad Yunus established Grameen, a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with miniscule loans. He aimed to help the poor by supporting the spark of personal initiative and enterprise by which they could lift themselves out of poverty forever. It was an idea born on a day in 1976 when he loaned $27 from his own pocket to forty-two people living in a tiny village. They were stool makers who only needed enough credit to purchase the raw materials for their trade. Yunus's loan helped them break the cycle of poverty and changed their lives forever. His solution to world poverty, founded on the belief that credit is a fundamental human right, is brilliantly simple: loan poor people money on terms that are suitable to them, teach them a few sound financial principles, and they will help themselves.

Yunus's theories work. Grameen Bank has provided 3.8 billion dollars to 2.4 million families in rural Bangladesh. Today, more than 250 institutions in nearly 100 countries operate micro-credit programs based on the Grameen methodology, placing Grameen at the forefront of a burgeoning world movement toward eradicating poverty through micro-lending. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Deeply Moving & Motivating!
If you know the story of Grameen Bank, and wanted to know more about the founder - I don't need to say anymore.

If you haven't heard of Grameen, prepare yourself to learn about a bank which has overturned the conventional wisdom about helping people who live in poverty.

Yunus' big idea can be put very simply: people who live on less than $1 per day (3 billion people) don't need to be tought how to feed themselves and survive - the very fact that they are alive is testament to their abilities.

His approach rests upon that faith in people's ability to help themselves, if given access to the very small amounts of loan capital they need to start a profitable venture - whether that is weaving cloth or repairing bicycles.

The road to reaching more than 2 million people in Bangladesh, and many other millions worldwide, wasn't smooth. What you get from reading this book is a sense that sometimes the 'homegrown' solution beats the 'imposed' ideas from the developed world.

A challenging book for liberals and conservatives alike!

One of the best books I read
Mohammad Yunus story is truly inspiring.
Makes you question the rules of capitalism.

Writing style makes it very interesting to read.
I am glad I read ths book.

The pioneer of microlending...
The story of the Grameen bank is an excellent example of how social change initiatives can be combined with government and private industry support to acheive a greater outcome than the organization could acheive by itself. Yunus provides an excellent chronicle of his bank's formation as well as explaining its principles. Highly recommended for anyone interested in social entrepreneurship or social change. The only shortcomings are: 1) as a finance person, I would like to have read more about the operational side of the banks relative to their commercial competitors - what specific factors enabled them to be so successful (other than the broad social factors he identifies)? 2) Need more information about how these types of programs can be applied to industrialized nations such as the US.

Small loan impacts on the lives of third world peoples
In 1983 Yunus established a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with small loans, aiming to help the poor by supporting them with his own enterprise. Yunus' small loans paid off big time, and this provides a review of his theories of small loan impacts on the lives of third world peoples. An intriguing, important guide packed with ramifications for all.

Practical help
I can only agree with the other reviews of this book, but I would like to add that anyone who appreciates what Yunus has done might also read 'The Mystery of Capitalism' by Hernando de Soto. Both de Soto and Yunus underline the importance of using market-based mechanisms to alleviate poverty at the grass-roots level (de Soto suggests giving squatters and illegal workers legal title to the land they occupy and the goods they have so they can use them as collateral to raise capital and receive infrastructure). P.J. O'Rourke makes the same point in several places, but he is writing from a quasi-comedic point of view.

If the past 25 years of history has been about anything, it is about the bankruptcy of the command economy. Warts and all, market-based solutions are the only way forward. The ideas of Yunus and de Soto are, above all, practical - which is probably why policymakers will overlook them in favour of big-money projects, grand pronouncements, and other things that don't work. ... Read more

Book Description

PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America is a five-year plan to make Black America a prosperous and empowered race that is self-sufficient and competitive as a group by the year 2005.In this book, Dr. Anderson obliterates the myths and illusions of black progress and brings together data and information from many different sources to construct a framework for solutions to the dilemma of Black America. In PowerNomics: The National Plan, Dr. Anderson proposes new principles, strategies and concepts that show blacks a new way to see, think, and behave in race matters. The new mind set prepares blacks to take strategic steps to create a new reality for their race. It offers guidance to others who support blacks self-sufficiency.In this book, Dr. Anderson offers insightful analysis and action steps blacks can take to redesign core areas of life - Education, Economics, Politics and Religion - to better benefit their race. The action steps in each area require new empowerment tools that Dr. Anderson presents - a new group vision and a new culture of empowerment - tools designed to counter, if not break many of the racial monopolies in society. Vertical integration and Industrializing black communities are other major concepts and strategies that he presents in the book. He places a great deal of importance on building industries in black communities that are constructed upon group competitive advantages. A the same time he announced the release of PowerNomics: The National Plan, he also announced that he has established several models of the strategies he proposes in the book.PowerNomics: The Plan, is infused with Dr. Anderson's trademark creative thinking and answers questions such as:- Why are blacks the only group that equates success with working in a White corporation, government or the entertainment industry?- How did power and wealth - businesses, resources, privileges, income and control of all levels of government get so disproportionately distributed into the hands of White society?

- Industrialization brings many economic benefits to the geographic locations where it occurs. Why has Black America never been industrialized and how can it be done?- Why do visible blacks and black leaders avoid blackness, identifying the focus of their work instead for people of color, minorities, women, gays , the poor, Hispanics, and other immigrant groups?- What enables a constant stream of immigrant groups to politically, economically and socially dominate blacks?- In politics, how is it that blacks can be monolithic and loyal political supporters yet their group receives no quid pro quo benefits?- In his first book, Black Labor, White Wealth, Dr. Anderson examined history and showed how racism has locked and boxed blacks into a near permanent underclass. Picking up where Black Labor, White Wealth left off, PowerNomics: The National Plan is the missing link between the historical analysis of problems facing blacks and the strategies needed to correct those problems.Dr. Anderson's books are a phenomenon in the publishing industry. His work is distinguished because he has turned books that are serious, non-fiction, and heavy on black history, into best-sellers. PowerNomics: The National Plan continues that pattern. It is an astounding work. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Good read
I thought this book was very informative. Although it does bring to light the work needed to be done on the Black pysche to turn around our economic situation.

Bravo! The Time Has Come
This is an extremely powerful idea. Nevertheless, what the author has in mind, to say the least, is a most daunting task. Which, of course, begs the question: has the author successfully employed the aims of his book?

Inasmuch as Dr. Anderson's concepts require extraordinary organizational skills, superb fund-raising ability, a working economic model that one can study and follow, and a profound understanding of the behavioral sciences, Powernomics comes up measurably short regarding the aforementioned disciplines.

Finally, a book you have to read "Diary Of An Investment Banker", is far better, ..., Powernomics is worthy of some consideration.

James Rothschild,
Economist

Very Realistic Plan
This book offers a VERY realistic plan for Black America. The reviewer that said it was unrealistic, truly must have little to no confidence in the Black Man and Woman. I differ strongly, if we built this country we can rebuild our own communities. And I truly believe we not only have the man power, but the creative capabilities.

This book should be studied and implemented into practice AT EVERY level within EVERY ORGANIZATION that is for the empowerment of our people.

Once again Dr. Claud Anderson has taken a revolutionary step in resolving issues. Blacks are victims of a traumatic experience Slavery, and continue to be victims of an overwhelming disease- White supremacy. We need all the solutions that we can get, and these solutions have proven to me, to be a necessary guide that I will implement within my own community.

Outstanding!
Very seldom do I come across a book that serves as a real solution to one of societies real problems. Black America, take notice to Dr. Anderson's work! He clearly dissects many of the social and economic issues that have held Black America back. By the same token, he has brilliantly demonstrated how Black America can realistically overcome these problems. This book is a masterpiece and I highly recommend to all!

I wanted to like this book
I wanted to like this book but the suggestions are so unrealistic and in some cases so wrong that I can't reccomend it. ... Read more

Book Description

Despite significant gains in promoting economic growth and living conditions (or "human progress") globally over the last twenty-five years, much of the developing world remains plagued by poverty and its attendant problems, including high rates of child mortality, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and war. In Growth and Empowerment, Nicholas Stern, Jean-Jacques Dethier, and F. Halsey Rogers propose a new strategy for development. Drawing on many years of work in development economics -- in academia, in the field, and at international institutions such as the World Bank -- the authors base their strategy on two interrelated approaches: building a climate that encourages investment and growth and at the same time empowering poor people to participate in that growth. This plan differs from other models for development, including the dogmatic approach of market fundamentalism popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Stern, Dethier, and Rogers see economic development as a dynamic process of continuous change in which entrepreneurship, innovation, flexibility, and mobility are crucial components and the idea of empowerment, as both a goal and a driver of development, is central. The book points to the unique opportunity today -- after 50 years of successes and failures, and with a growing body of analytical work to draw on -- to pursue new development strategies in both research and action. ... Read more

Book Description

As violence spreads in Iraq, many have been stunned by the extensive roles that private firms now are playing in the fighting. In seeking to understand exactly what was going on, ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN, The Economist, Fox News, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, PBS, USA Today, and the Washington Post all turn to one source: Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry.

Named among the year’s top five books in international affairs by the Gelber Prize, P.W. Singer’s groundbreaking book from Cornell University Press explores one of the most interesting, but little understood developments in modern warfare. Over the last decade, a global trade in hired military services has emerged. Known as "privatized military firms" (PMFs), these businesses range from small consulting firms, who sell the advice of retired generals, to transnational corporations that lease out wings of fighter jets or battalions of commandos. Such firms number in the hundreds. They have an estimated annual revenue of over $100 billion. And, they presently fill military roles in over fifty countries, including in Afghanistan and Iraq. From recent events in Iraq, where some 15,000 private military contractors work on behalf of the coalition, including the four men brutally killed in an ambush in Fallujah earlier this year, to Latin America, where three American private military contractors have been held captive by Colombian rebels for the last 16 months, to Sub-Saharan Africa, where private military personnel earlier this year were arrested as part of an alleged coup plot in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea, these firms appear in the world's hotspots and headlines again and again. Yet, until Corporate Warriors, no book has opened up this powerful new industry to the public eye.

Now released in paperback, Corporate Warriors provides the first comprehensive analysis of the private military industry. The book traces the firms’ historic roots in the mercenary outfits of the past and the more recent underlying causes that led to their emergence at the end of the Cold War. In a series of detailed company portraits, Singer then describes how the industry operated and the three sectors within the industry: how military provider firms, like Executive Outcomes, a South African company made up of ex-Apartheid fighters, offer front-line combat services; how military consulting firms, like MPRI, a Virginia-based firm staffed by U.S. Army veterans, provide strategic and military training expertise for clients around the world; and, finally, how military support firms, like Vice President Cheney’s former Halliburton-Brown & Root, carry out multi-billion dollar military logistics and maintenance services, including running the U.S. military’s supply train in Iraq.!In fact, the book’s portrait of how exactly Halliburton got into the lucrative, but now controversial, military support business has served as a resource for investors, reporters, congressional investigators, and soldiers alike.

Singer then explores the many implications of this industry, ranging from their impact on military operations to their possible roles in international peacekeeping. He analyzes how the hopes for economy and efficiency duel with the risks that come from outsourcing the most essential of government functions, that of national security and soldiers’ welfare. The privatization of military services allows startling new capabilities and efficiencies in the way that war is carried out. However, as demonstrated in Iraq, the mix of the profit motive with the fog of war raises a series of troubling questions –for international affairs, for ethics, for management, for civil-military relations, for international law, for human rights, and, ultimately, for democracy.In other words, when it comes to military responsibilities, private companies’ good may not always be to the public good.

Corporate Warriors is a hard-hitting analysis that provides a fascinating first look inside this exciting, but potentially dangerous new industry. Its research has been featured by every single major news outlet in the United States and covered by media over 20 different countries.

Easily accessible to general readers, the book provides a critical but balanced look at the businesses behind the headlines. With the continued expansion and growth of this industry in the coming years, Corporate Warriors will be the essential sourcebook for understanding how the private military industry works and how governments must respond. As one reviewer describes, "Many fine volumes about U.S. foreign policy and world events have been published in recent months. This one is something special. Corporate Warriors might just be a paradigm shift. It may change the way people look at history and analyze current events…a must-read…" ... Read more

Reviews (8)

probably great
I have not read the book but the author was on a t.v. special called soldiers for hire. while mercenaries have some good purposes that the show adressed, the author gave some startleing facts about private soldiers (or civilian contractors) in our military. about one in 10 americans serving in iraq are private and they are able to just leave when they decide they don't feel like fighting anymore. there is a 30% dropout rate amoung contractors in iraq. some of them even control the newest technology, like unmanned aircraft. private soldiers are less effective than normal soldiers because they have less effective leadership, less backup, and less resourses. i definatly need to check out this book.

Every American Should Read This!
This book should be on the essential reading list for any class on American politics, ethics, or foreign policy.

When I took military ethics at Texas A&M University, Manuel Davenport walked into class the first day and asked, "What is a military officer?"

In unison, the class responded, "Managers of violence."

As one of two 'nonregs' in the class, that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. In a piece Professor Davenport wrote in Army (May 1980), "Professionals or Hired Guns? Loyalties are the Difference," he noted the peculiar demands of the military profession and what sets it apart. To be a mercenary, a hired killer, is tantamount to being a paid murderer. That is not what the profession is about. For mercenaries, the client is a private entity, and loyalties are to the employer, not the nation, and certainly not humanity. To outsource our defense is to put it in the hands of people whose motive is profit, not the honor of public service, respect for the republic, or the protection of their the country and people they love. Dwight Eisenhower is surely spinning in his grave!

Tragically, this is where we are going: we have outsourced our republic. The government no longer has a monopoly on the use of force, even in our own military operations. Now, private companies are calling the shots. We have even outsourced the ROTC on 200 campuses! Bremer's personal guards, and much of our intelligence is in private hands. Who is really in charge?

As the abuses in Iraq demonstrate, there is a reason to have military officers. If not, we would simply empty our prisons on the enemy and go home. Hiring mercenaries is the downfall of any republic. What will happen when the mercenaries out-gun the United States Army? Who will we turn to then? Brown & Root? Blackwater? What if our enemies outbid us? What if terrorists pay more?

We're being sold out!

Joe Adams, Ph.D.
Mississippi State University

First Steps in Studies of Privatization
Why does it take PW Singer to give us an accurate history of the Sierra Leone war and the role of private warriors? Why is he the first to inform us that ROTC has been privatized since 1996? Perhaps because the media does not grasp the full consequences of Al Gore's "reinventing government" movement of the late 1990s. Singer unveils so much that is unseen in a mere few hundred pages, the head spins.
Granted, this only is a first-pass analysis of Pentagon privatization. We need to understand what happened when NRO and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency turned over space imaging to the private sector. We need to know what Northrop-Grumman gained when it took over overseas-base construction and management for Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 2003-04. We need to grasp the changes in NSA and NRO that took place when most intelligence processing was outsourced to Raytheon, LockMart, etc. Singer does not get into these latter fields.
However, he is the first to recognize that the consolidation of the "big iron" defense contractors, like LockMart, Boeing, Northrop, is only half the story. It is far more important to understand what SAIC, L3/MPRI, Halliburton/KBRS, and the new consulting firms are doing, as they represent the military contractors of the future. Here's hoping this book moves into paperback, as it surely deserves a wider audience.

Messiah, Mercenary, or Menace?
This book is an intelligent, extremely well researched look at the expanding global use of Private Military Firms (PMF's) in warfare. Singer gives a complete account of their evolution and re-introduction, illustrating how the end of the Cold War has given rise to thousands of PMF's with seemingly no end in sight. The belief that nation states hold absolute military control is quickly diminished as the author demonstrates how even the strongest of nations have out-sourced many key and in some cases, highly sensitive military industries once thought exclusively the charge of the government.

The author contends that although useful and perhaps necessary in certain conflicts, PMF usage on the battlefield is on the sharp rise worldwide. As their availability increases, the number of internal conflicts in weaker nation states have also risen sharply. He sees a new pattern emerging as their easy accessibility means conflicts "are now more easily waged for economic control and resource exploitation." But it is profit not patriotism driving these firms who in many cases are linked to multinational corporate structures complete with CEO's, shareholders, and market share. The notion of engaging in warfare for ideological or patriotic allegiance is doubtful and unlikely, as the very nature of these firms require conflicts persist for their own survival to flourish.

"Corporate Warriors" examines the good, the bad, to the ugly, and case studies past interventions some of which held remarkable positive outcomes, others which hold stark warnings for future implications, and still those where disgraceful accounts of lawlessness and moral ethics were completely abandoned. He discusses the almost non-existent public monitoring mechanisms to oversee possible conflicts in foreign policy and raises the issue of circumventing congressional oversight due to either current laws or offshore corporate links. The book discusses the paradox of mixing business with war and raises valid questions on legal, moral, and international accountability as even now firms with blemished histories in the Balkans have landed lucrative contracts in Afghanistan. Other firms who in the past often operated in the shadows, are seizing the window of opportunity opened as the "war on terror" gives off a sounding bell which is heard loud and clear throughout the industry .....their new meal ticket arriving on a platter.

An intelligent, groundbreaking, & highly controversial book
Most folks will automatically assume this is a book about the latest generation of mercenaries. While that's certainly an aspect of this industry, there's a far more surprising side to this story: Their role in the restoration of peace, and in the reconstruction of wartorn countries.

Thus, private military firms (PMF's) are actually one of the 8 sectors of restorative development, often referred to as the global "restoration economy", which currently accounts for about $2 trillion annually. [Restorative development is defined as "socioeconomic revitalization based on restoration of the natural and built environments".]

This shouldn't be so surprising, given that most of them come from engineering or construction roots. But, why the dichotomy of good and evil? It's simple, really:

When PMF's are used to advance "new development" (such as exploiting someone else's natural resources, which often requires a "regime change"), they are often operating on "the dark side". When they are advancing "restorative development", they are usually the "good guys". The same dynamic can be found in the ordinary (non-PMF) civil engineering community.

Corporate Warriors does a wonderful job of documenting this fast-growing, highly profitable "ancient" industry, which is experiencing a rebirth as a major global force after 3 centuries of slumber. ... Read more

Book Description

Praise for America Beyond Capitalism

"At a time when the national media’s been transfixed by the imperalist adventures and crony capitalism of the Bush administration, Gar Alperovitz discovers that not only have the seeds of a legitimately democratic political economy been planted, they are bearing fruit. Addressing a range of necessary changes, from urban design to health care to the distribution of wealth, Alperovitz’s Pluralist Commonwealth is the kind of careful, well-researched, and practical alternative progressives have been seeking. And it’s more–visionary, hopeful, even inspirational. I highly recommend it."
–Juliet Schor, author of The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need, and Professor of Sociology, Boston College

"An important guidebook to the future. First, Alperovitz leads a grim tour of the deteriorated values at the core of the American experience–equality, liberty, democracy, and the wise use of our collective wealth. Then he takes us to the mountaintop with a broad and optimistic mapping vision of how Americans can remake their economy and society to restore those values. A compelling and convincing story of the future."
–William Greider, author of The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy

"Succeeds brilliantly in taking the Jeffersonian spirit into the last bastion of privilege in America, offering workable solutions for making the American economy one that is truly of, by, and for the people."
–Jeremy Rifkin, author of The End of Work ... Read more

Book Description

How did the industrialized nations of North America and Europe come to be seen as the appropriate models for post-World War II societies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America? How did the postwar discourse on development actually create the so-called Third World? And what will happen when development ideology collapses? To answer these questions, Arturo Escobar shows how development policies became mechanisms of control that were just as pervasive and effective as their colonial counterparts. The development apparatus generated categories powerful enough to shape the thinking even of its occasional critics while poverty and hunger became widespread. "Development" was not even partially "deconstructed" until the 1980s, when new tools for analyzing the representation of social reality were applied to specific "Third World" cases. Here Escobar deploys these new techniques in a provocative analysis of development discourse and practice in general, concluding with a discussion of alternative visions for a postdevelopment era.

Escobar emphasizes the role of economists in development discourse--his case study of Colombia demonstrates that the economization of food resulted in ambitious plans, and more hunger. To depict the production of knowledge and power in other development fields, the author shows how peasants, women, and nature became objects of knowledge and targets of power under the "gaze of experts." ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Anger does not equal analysis
This is a tract, not a thoughtful piece of scholarship. It is in the Latin American school of angry social science, but is little informed by fact. Much of what it says is correct, but is also well known. But the analysis is weak, based on incorrect or outdated data, and simply a regurgitation of stereotypes instead of a deductive grounded analysis based upon good ethnographic work. It is therefore often simply wrong. But anger sells books.....

Reunderstanding development
Arturo Escobar critics the whole concept of development in theory and practice from an extremely unusual and original perspective. He steps back and views development as something exotic and almost non-sense. Inspired on the work of Foucault, the author examines the evolution of the discourse about development as a form of how the West keeps exerting power and influence on the Third World. The ethnocentric views of development and interventions that come with them - propagated by Western governments, multinational companies, development institutions and academia - puts Third World cultures and traditional populations as something that should be significantly changed to achieve the so-dreamed "development." Although the results of these western-driven interventions over decades have usually been catastrophic for Third World's populations and cultures, Western "experts" keep coming to the Third World and elaborating new forms of discourses on development, now addressing objects like sustainable development, women and development and poverty erradication - all ethnocentric and based on western values. This book should be read by anyone who wants to reunderstand development in the Third World (and reflect if it is needed at all!). ... Read more

Book Description

The King reader is a collection of articles on international economics by leading economists drawn from various scholarly sources (e.g., Foreign Affairs, The Brookings Institution, Finance & Development, Federal Reserve Publications, the Journal of Economic Perspectives).Written by the top economists in the field, all the articles are written at a level appropriate for undergraduates or masters students.The Reader makes an inexpensive supplement when packaged with any McGraw-Hill/Irwin text, or at a reasonable price when sold by itself. ... Read more

Book Description

The most powerful case against the American central bank ever written. This work begins with a mini-treatment of money and banking theory, and then plunges right in with the real history of the Federal Reserve System. Rothbard covers the struggle between competing elites and how they converged with the Fed.

Rothbard calls for the abolition of the central bank and a restoration of the gold standard. His popular treatment incorporates the best and most up-to-date scholarship on the Fed's origins and effects. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

One Nation Under the Fed
Ever since the creation of the Federal Reserve Board ("the Fed"), the American economy has been subject to a cycle of boom and bust. Most recently, we saw a bubble in technology stocks in general and telecommunication stocks in particular, fueled by the creation of credit. But no one wants to blame the culprit -- the Fed. Why has an institution that was created allegedly to bring stability to the economy caused such havoc? Equally importantly, why is an institution that has so much power so unaccountable?

Murray Rothbard (1926-1995) provides in this book an outstanding discussion of money, banking, the Fed, and U.S. monetary policy. As usual, Rothbard sees the "big picture." There was no need for a central bank, however the Banksters ' in combination with Big Business and Big Intellectuals -- pushed for the creation of the Fed. Rothbard's discussion of the battles between the Rockefellers and the House of Morgan is fascinating. (See his Wall Street, Banks and American Foreign Policy for a more elaborate discussion of this great "conspiracy" in U.S. history.)

The foundation for this work is Austrian economic theory. Through fractional reserve banking ' which is little more than legal counterfeiting ' banks are permitted to print new money, thus creating inflation. Yet the central insight of Austrian theory is that this creation of money doesn't simply increase prices, but distorts the cycle of production as it works its way through the economy. This creates the boom and bust cycles that have plagued our economy.

For a more detailed discussion of many of the issues raised in this book, the interested reader should consult Rothbard's The Mystery of Banking.

Rothbard Exposes Americas Greatest Counterfeiter: The Fed
Murray Rothbard once again cuts through the popular dogma and conventional knowledge which government would prefer we all simply take on faith. In this case, the subject is money and the creation of it. Rothbard, an exceptional economist, showcases his ability to set aside the technical jargon and higher mathematics of the profession in favor of language accessible to everyone. In "The Case Against the Fed," Professor Rothbard examines the roots of money, as a commodity with subjective value which, because of wide-spread acceptance and other desireable qualities, becomes a medium of exchange for a people. Furthermore, he exposes the government's, via the Federal Reserve, monopolization of money. Rothbard shows how the Fed uses the power of the printing press to tax the people via inflation, to redistribute income, and to artificailly lower the interest rate leading to the infamous "business cycle" and the roller coaster of depressions and booms which our eceonomy is regualraly subjected to. Anyone who is concerned about the purchasing power of their income and about the unemployment which the business cycle regularly brings should read this book. Professor Rothbard portrays the federal government as what it is: the self-proclaimed, legitimate counterfeiter

An opinion worth reading.
For the realtively uninitiated. These days, anything related to the Austrian school of economics is worth al least looking at. Rothbard is a bit extreme, proposing that un-backed credit creation is equivalent to counterfeiting. In my opinion there is a difference, since money supply based solely on credit can evaporate into bad debt write-offs if a credit bubble bursts, while money supply cannot evaporate if based on the issuance of counterfeit currency. Nevertheless, this is interesting material in a concise book with no fluff. If you're reading a dozen books on the Fed and money, this might as well be one of them.

Great book !
This book explains in a simple language how the Fed manipulates money supply.

A must-read for any patriot!
Like other books by Rothbard, it is a most excellent piece! A must-read for any person interested in expanding his horizons on the world's most important social and political issue - the Money Issue. This is a very accessible book. ... Read more

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Reviews (108)

Outstanding
Hayek's classic book is a dissertation on why political freedom is, and can only be, inextricably linked to economic freedom. Originally published in 1944, his specific examples of socialist planning gone wrong are (were) Italy, the USSR, and most prominently, Germany. He primarily uses the British for comparison and contrast purposes, and directs many of his remarks toward Western European nations who were flirting with their own versions of socialist economic planning. He felt that these nations were ultimately going down the same road that the Germans had already traveled two or three generations earlier.

Hayek's central thesis is that individual liberty (economic and political) and collectivism are mutually exclusive, and that even the most well-intentioned socialist society will ultimately evolve into a totalitarian state. Hayek elaborates upon the following key arguments (and others): (1) Collectivism represents the undoing of liberalism (in the classic sense). (2) Socialism necessitates that the efforts of the populace be directed towards a common goal, often called something like "the common good." The economic system must be centrally planned in order to achieve this goal. Such planning amounts to coercion, and individual liberty is sacrificed for the degree of security a socialist state provides. (3) A free society operates according to the Rule of Law, where the rules are known beforehand. The economy of a free society consists of the net sum of individual decisions made within the known legal framework. By contrast, a centrally planned society relies upon government decisions that must be made on the basis of current necessity, what Hayek calls "arbitrary government." (4) Money promotes economic liberty, acting as the medium to provide the individual with the freedom to use his compensation in whatever manner he chooses, rather than being dependent upon a compensation whose specific nature is determined by others. (5) Socialism is inherently nationalistic or ethnocentric, because the leading party often must rally the populace to focus against a threatening group in order to effectively promote its own agenda. A "one-world" socialism that unites across peoples, nations, and ethnic backgrounds is not workable. (6) True believers in a socialist society must hold the interests of the State as higher than their own. Those who will move up the ranks in a socialist society are often prepared to do anything on behalf of the state, no matter how much this opposes one's own moral principles. Those who are amoral are thus more likely to "succeed" in a socialist hierarchy. Hayek holds out little hope that a socialist utopia will work if only "good people" are put in charge.

Contrary to some of the negative reviews below, I must argue that Hayek's book is certainly not "vicious propaganda," (and, I might add, that I sincerely doubt that Hayek's own lips were "lice-ridden.") Nowhere in the book does Hayek celebrate wealth. There is not one sentence in the book extolling the virtues of material riches. He DOES celebrate individual liberty and the superiority of a free market economy. To intelligently oppose Hayek, one must provide a literate argument against the points Hayek actually argues. In addition, one would be compelled in this debate to explain how a rigid socialist system would NOT degenerate into Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, or Stalinist Russia (or, for that matter, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Castro's Cuba, Communist China, etc.)

That said, Hayek's book is not free from criticism. He takes a few swipes at the Germans -- Hayek all but proclaims that because of their general ethnic personality the Germans as a people were an ideal setup for Naziism and ruthless obedience to Hitler. Not surprisingly, some readers may take offense to this. Hayek also concedes that in a prosperous economy a basic minimum standard of living should be guaranteed everyone, although he makes no mention of how it could be guaranteed in a manner consistent with his overall free market vision. There is not a single statistic in the entire book (some may find this a GOOD thing), nor is there mention of any specific historical event, except the ongoing war at the time. Hayek's arguments are essentially based upon logical deductions, relying upon assumptions of human nature - as individuals, large groups, or those in authority. I suppose some will find Hayek's logic dubious, although arguably the history of the fifty-plus years since Hayek wrote The Road to Serfdom would back him up quite well.

A Snapshot of History - A Profile in Intellectual Courage
The late Professor Hayek's book is one of the most important books of the twentieth century. It is dedicated to "the socialists of all parties". When Hayek wrote the book, virtually no one was left believing in a competitive market economy in mainstream English politics. The book was utterly defiant in terms of the zeitgeist. Indeed, the Attlee Labour government in England was elected not long after the book's publication and Hayek had long enjoyed a substantial connection with the London School of Economics. A wave of socializations followed - coal, steel, electricity, gas, water utilities, etc.

Whilst Hayek's arguments are valuable and important and should not be forgotten, because we are doomed to repeat history that we forget, the world has moved on. The truths Hayek had to argue for trenchantly are today commonplace. No one of any political significance in the English speaking Western world believes that he or she can secure election by promising to end private property and inheritance rights, for example.

The Holocaust, which was not fully appreciated in 1944 by the public and the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 have concretely made Hayek's points.

However, Hayek's surmounting of the vilification that he suffered for writing this important work and and his having the courage to speak against "the powers that be in academia" who expected an ocean of jobs from the socialization of the economy mark him as a man of profound intellectual courage, vigour and honesty.

It is noteworthy that Professor Hayek lived to see the fall of the Berlin Wall. This is an important book written by a Nobel economics laureate at the height of his intellectual powers, against the impending death camp of a totalitarian future. We are all in his debt for his courage. That one can read the book today in horror that his arguments were arrogantly dismissed shows how far the world has come.

The Corporation Bible
If you love Enron and Halliburton, and you support corporate opression of the middle-class, read this hogwash.

If capitalism is so great, why is it easier to get health care in former Communist countries like Poland? Why does Cuba have a lower infant mortality rate than the United States?

Paradox of success
Hayek distinguishes liberty, or true freedom, from license and "serfdom." In the tradition of Adam Smith, he analyzes economic and political questions from moral and practical perspectives, with emphasis on individual liberty. His central conceit, that increasing government activity in the economic sphere would devalue individual dignity and stifle human progress, might seen overblown to some readers; it could be that the influence of this book on conservative political leaders and thinkers in the latter half of the American century may have corrected some of the impending problems Hayek foresaw. The Road to Serfdom is a pleasurable, thought-provoking read, persuasively written.

Why we have to fight government
Hayek, the great communicator of libertarian thought, meticulously explains why every scheme aiming for an utopian goal through state power, whether it be the well-being of a "race" or the universal socialist Eden, _must_ end in tyranny.

At first glance, his analysis seems to apply to a bygone era, before "the end of history" where liberal democracy triumphs over statist terror. However, his words are as important today as ever - liberty is as threatened today by both the well-meaning and the self-interested.

The most interesting part of this book for me was his explanation of how Nazism, Fascism, and Communism are of the same cloth, not only in their effects, but also in their influences. Major figures in the National Socialist movement made their way there from a communist background, well documented in this book.

It is illuminating, and sad, how society still considers Nazism to be to the "right" of the political spectrum and communism to the "left", and therefore less evil than Nazism. This despite the fact that communism killed many more people than Nazism ever did. Compare only the 14 million Ukranians with the 6 million Jews, and then we have not even mentioned the Poles and the other statistics on the road to tyranny.

In fact, fascism, national socialism and communism are the same - they meet in the oppresion and killing of people. That should give pause to the left and the right today, but still they persist in their schemes to achieve their idea of "justice" at any cost - even if that cost is tallied in human lives. Killing civilians in Iraq is good for them - because their childrem might be free. Or, it is unfortunate that you will die because the FDA forbids you to try unapproved drugs, but, it is better for the other people, don't you see? ... Read more

Book Description

Corporations are often so focused on making short-term profits for theirstockholders that they behave in ways that adversely affect their employees, theenvironment, consumers, American politics, and even the long-term well-being of thecorporation, says Lawrence Mitchell in this provocative book. This is a significant issuenot only in the United States but also in the world, for many countries are beginning toemulate the American model of corporate governance. Mitchell criticizes this emphasison profit maximization and the corporate legal structure that encourages it, and he offersconcrete proposals to bring about more socially responsible corporate behavior.Mitchelldeclares that managers should be freed from the legal and structural constraints that makeit difficult for them to exercise ordinary moral judgment and be held accountable for theiractions. He suggests, for example, that earnings reports be required annually rather thanquarterly, that the capital gains tax be increased on stocks held for fewer than thirty days,and that elections of corporate boards of directors be held every five years rather thanevery year. Mitchell places the problem of corporate irresponsibility within the broadercontext of American life and demonstrates the extent to which contemporary corporatebehavior represents a corruption of our cherished liberal values of personal freedom andindividuality. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Suggestive But Too Theoretical
This fascinating and suggestive book makes a strong argument that an undue emphasis on financial performance has caused American corporations to shirk their responsibilities to workers, creditors, communities, or any other group except stockholders. To prove his point, author Mitchell, a business law professor at George Washington University, tackles a vast range of topics, from industrial sociology and shareholders' derivative suits, to Enlightenment individualism and comparative corporate governance. This makes for fascinating reading, and is designed to show that capital markets force corporate managers to focus on short-term financial results. However, it also left me with the sense that Mitchell's theoretical stretch exceeds his empirical grasp: none of the issues is really developed in any depth.

In particular, Mitchell fails to systematically compare the behavior of public and non-public corporations in the U.S., or to compare American corporations with corporations operating in less-individualistic legal and cultural environments abroad. Yet such comparisons would be crucial to testing his points about the harmful impact of financial markets on American corporate management. In reading the book, I also wondered whether the pressures to maximize short-term returns are less the result of "American individualism" and more the result of a business environment where hostile takeovers are easy and executive compensation is tied to stock prices. In any event, these issues can't be resolved by theorizing. Mitchell needed to interview some managers to find out what really makes corporations tick.

This is a pity since Mitchell writes well, has common sense, and cares about ordinary Americans who spend most of their working lives in large business organizations. His concerns about warped corporate priorities were entirely vindicated by the scandals at Enron (where shareholders as well as workers were screwed by corporate managers bent on boosting short-term share values), which were exposed only AFTER his book appeared in 2001. We need more books pointing out that American-style capitalism isn't the last word on business and can take a heavy toll on humane values. I just wish that Mitchell had crossed his T's and dotted his I's.

Learned but heavy
I found myself being frustrated by the convoluted nature of his arguments to prove - IMO - unnecessarily academic and esoteric points. The writing style, while reasonably light, does labour on some issues to justify and support his arguments to a degree that is a little too involved. While I fully appreciate that Mitchell needs to properly formulate and support his arguments (and he is right in most of what he says I must add) - the shear "readability" suffers from the overly-academic rigour present. I would happily accept less rigour for have more anecdotes of misbehaviour for a more "easy read". Nevertheless what he says is very important, solid and I agree wholeheartedly with it.

Superb.
The way Mitchell breaks down the corporate system in America today is outstanding. The way it practically predicts Enron is eventfully precise. His view for the future is one that is intricately complex, but at the same time simply logical. Great reading for those who are already knowledgeable about the subject or those newly acquainted with it.

Lawyer-Author-Reformist: Double Oxymoron Overturned

I just realized this is the third book by a lawyer I have absorbed in this month's reading, and that is somehow a scary thought. If lawyers are starting to write popular reformist tracts against unfettered capitalism and the export of the flawed U.S. approach to capitalism, something very interesting must be happening in the dark recesses of our national mind.

This is not an easy book to read but on balance it is a very important book and one that would appear to be essential to any discussion of how we might reform the relationship between the federal government with its 1950's concepts and regulations, corporations with their secularist and short-term profit and liquidation notions, and the people who ultimately are both the foundation and the beneficiaries (or losers) within the political economy of the nation and the world.

The author lays out, from a business law perspective, all the legal and financial reasons why our corporate practices today sacrifice the long-term perspective and the creation of aggregate value, in favor of short-term profit-taking. He makes a number of suggestions for improvement.

Toward the end of the book, citing Lipsett but adding his own observations, he digs deep and summarizes our corporate culture as one that threatens traditional forms of community and morality (Lipsett), while increasingly dominating--undermining--foreign governments and cultures. Elsewhere in the book the stunning failure of our form of capitalism in selected countries is explored.

Although there are adequate notes, there is no bibliography and the index is extraordinarily mediocre--not containing, for example, the references in the book to oversight, political, or regulation. One star is deducted for this failure by the publisher to treat the book's content seriously. ... Read more