Every once in a while something awesome happens to a reader. Like a treasure hunter discovering some titillating chest of third-century gold Bezants, a book is found that not only teaches, instructs, and entertains, but actually thrills: its content is relevant, its references interesting, and its sentences crafty and witty. I have made such a discovery, and I am so enthralled with it that I must pass it along to all three of you loyal blog readers out there.
The book is called "The New Empire of Debt: The Rise and Fall of an Epic Financial Bubble," and it is written by William Bonner and Addison Wiggin.
It is unfortunate that the book has to have a title, because no matter what title would have been chosen, its description of the contents therein would not be sufficient. It is not merely a book about finances, bubbles, markets, empires, or anything else so neatly categorized and named. Rather, it is a work of art depicting human nature and its follies and foibles which have led us to our current malaise. But that is not even a valid description. To understand why this book literally (notice the pun?) defies classification, you must obtain a copy and read it for yourself.
One of the book's most redeeming features is its ability to inform without the need for prior initiation on the subjects contained therein. I realize that many have not read anything regarding economics, geopolitics, history, or sociology in years, if ever. No worries. This book uses human nature as its starting point for all points, then applies it to each of these categories in an eclectic but smooth way. And that is especially convenient and entertaining because, well, every reader is automatically qualified as a human (members of the Council on Foreign Relations excepted).
Also, the book is entirely non-partisan: something extremely refreshing in a brainwashed world where people are conditioned to automatically categorize and align everything "left and right," as if artificial constructs of supposed political policy had any bearing on the reality of government and control.
Below are a couple of my favorite passages:
"American spending created a boom in China, where the average person works in a sweatshop, lives in a hovel, and saves 25 percent of his earnings. Meanwhile, in the United States, the average man lived in a house he couldn't pay for, drove a car he couldn't afford, and waited for the next shipment from Hong Kong for distractions he couldn't resist."
"There are no exceptions. All empires die."
"There is nothing quite so amusing as watching another man make a fool of himself. That is what makes history so entertaining."
"The two most important public issues of the early twenty-first century were the growth of debt in the United States, both public and private, and the stretch of American military resources around the world."
"The prejudice for action in public affairs is a constant. And a constant disappointment."
"The American system of the twenty-first century has no more in common with the system set up by the Founding Fathers than, say, a Mercedes Maybach has with a Tin Lizzie."
"But people find it easier to die than to think; and for most people, it is probably preferable."
"Within every world improver and empire builder lurks a vain animal - displaying his tail feathers. For it is neither love nor money that makes the world go 'round - but vanity."
Like all books, of course, I don't agree with everything. Attempting to be a bit too contrarian, at times, leads the authors into some odd cul-de-sacs. They also lose their grip in their direct, though funny, attacks on New York Times colunist Thomas Friedman. Their points are correct; their personal assault is not. But these minor detractions only add to the eclectic and refreshingly different voice of the work. Strange it would be, indeed, if wit and cynicism didn't occasionally go awry (after all, I can relate!)
Judging by what passes for curriculum in today's public school civics books, this book should become required reading to offset the claptrap. I hope you enjoy it!
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