|
|  | Author: Liaquat Ahamed
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
List Price: $32.95
Buy New: $8.82
as of 11/22/2009 23:04 CST details
You Save: $24.13 (73%)
New (74) Used (34) Collectible (2) from $8.38
Seller: KYBOOKS
Rating:  61 reviews
Sales Rank: 6495
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 576
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.4 x 2
ISBN: 159420182X
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.10922
EAN: 9781594201820
ASIN: 159420182X
Publication Date: January 22, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW! May have small publisher mark.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 61
 A great and clear exposition of the years from 1914 to the 1930's August 24, 2009
Schmerguls (Sioux City, Ia USA)
As one reads this great book one feels sorry for the people who had to deal with financial affairs of the world in the years following World War I. The insistence on reparations made a world of trouble, and the course of world history would have changed if Maynard Keynes had been listened to in 1919 and in the years thereafter. And I was glad that the people dealing with the crisis of 2008-2009 were not those who said the Government should let the financial troubles of the world work themselves out without government attention.
We should learn from history so that we don't repeat it August 14, 2009
Mariusz Skonieczny (ClassicValueInvestors.blogspot.com)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Considering that we are facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, I think that reading a book like this is extremely helpful. The author did a phenomenal job analyzing the causes of the Great Depression through the lives and actions of four central bankers (Lords of Finance) from the United States, England, France, and Germany. Their decisions not only caused the Great Depression, but also contributed to World War II.
I think it is important to read this book because the author describes similar problems that many other countries are currently experiencing. I wish that our government officials took the time to read this book because if they don't learn from history, they might make these same mistakes, and we are going to pay the price for it.
- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market
Very entertaining and informative August 13, 2009
MikeG (Houston)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found the approach in this book different from most: the author adds to the perspective the personal lives and eccentrities of the major financial players the 1920's - 1930's. And those are very interesting.
I think most people underestimate how much influence personalities and beliefs of the influential shape major events. How would history have played out without a Napoleon or a Hitler? Impossible to say, but we know it would have been a lot different. If Greenspan and Bernanke hadn't been so obsessed with allegedly free, self-correcting markets, would we have had the huge meltdowns we are experiencing and likely will continue to experience? I dounbt it.
There is a lot of propanganda, and, almost an obsession by economists, about having Economics recognized as a "science," although it's theories have not been and generaly cannot be validated scientifically. This book explores how much of what went on back in those storied times was simply the product of the individual backgrounds, personalities, and beliefs of those involved in the events.
 Bankers who broke the world August 8, 2009
Anthony F. Paul (New York, New York United States)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Bankers who broke the world- the title says it all, financial meltdown is not new and it has always been manifesting itself in some form. The story line is the same only the players are different, in each of its avatars.
This gives a great historical perspective of the socio-economic symbiosis of how the wars in Europe, formed and created the economic destiny for the world. It gives a good account of how a seemly inconsequential event at that time in the form of the assasination of Archduke Ferdinand lead to the World War I.
A good read for both the serious economic historian or for someone who is interested to see real life fiction play out.
 Again the data is misinterpreted by another Keynesian. August 8, 2009
Lance Christopher
16 out of 32 found this review helpful
John Maynard Keynes? Is he kidding me? First of all there were massive injections in the banking system which banks on hand denied these due to fear of inflation. Secondly Hoover created the biggest spending programs which Roosevelt continued, Henry Morgenthau (Roosevelts Secretary of Treasury) said that the administration has tried spending money and that it does not work. As an economist and a mathematician myself Keynesian economics is seriously flawed. 1.) You cannot inject a massive amount of fiscal money into the economy without there being a higher level of taxation which will inturn cause (liquidity traps) Keynes words. These will in turn induce a much lower demand because of the adjustment of consumers to taxation "making the recession/depression worst" 2.) If inflation is the way aka the Phillips Curve it does not account for the velocity of money that will cause higher prices while inventory remains limited, giving this money to the unemployed to spend will not induce demand but instead induce savings and demand on the most basic of items. I don't necessarily think an unemployed person will by a Versace handbag. Both of these ideologies have been firmly repudiated by history, econometrics, and economics period. Not to mention the depression lasted so long because of the forced artifcial wage increase due to the decreasing inventories which induced more unemployment and the Smoot Hawley Tariff bill which crushed trade and caused further unemployment. This is another propagandist book aimed at telling lies. The depression lasted so long because both Hoover and Roosevelt intervened and halted a much faster adjustment along the growth trend line from recession to recovery. The current myth is that Hoover was a Laissez Faire president who did nothing and Roosevelt came on his mystical white welfare horse and rescued the day with his economic programs coming back to haunt us today like Social Security and the other entitlement programs. This author again negates numbers and statistics for pure theatrical story telling. Both presidents introduced more regulations and spending that hampered actual recovery like the recovery of 1920-1921 which was a pure market recovery and faster because prices corrected themselves at a faster pace which meant the recovery could begin sooner. Truth be told Hoover and Roosevelt spent more money and introduced so many regulations that actually crushed what Free-Market existed it would make Obama blush. Do not purchase this book if you're interested in FACTS
Showing reviews 11-15 of 61
|
|
|
Return to Math.com | |
