Know It All

Alright. I oversold it a little. You won’t know it all but you will be way ahead of the game.

Seventy percent of the American populace doesn’t read even one book a year. Ya think that might explain Little George getting elected twice, Sarah Palin, Big Orange Boehner, et al?

Unless you count the Great Depression, WWII, the atom bomb, the fall of the Soviet Union and Paula’s departure from American Idol, you are living in the midst of the most important international event in your lifetime. That might warrant finding out who and what caused it. It really is interesting to learn how it happened.

Do you want it to happen again? Although Harry Truman and Winston Churchill usually get credited, we have George Santayana to thank for reminding us that, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

I wish to bring to your attention some suggested works to provide what I feel is a necessary background for appreciating just how deep the do-do is that we are slogging through. A short comment or two accompanies each selection. They are not presented in any order of preference.

None of these books provide the entire picture. I do not find myself in full agreement with any of these books but that does not lessen their value. If they do fail to agree with something I’ve told you, you know who loves ya, baby.

The Big Short

Michael Lewis isn’t new to this subject. Twenty years ago he wrote the best-selling Liar’s Poker. The subtitle, Inside the Doomsday Machine, might give you a hint that the story is told from the points of view of the vultures. Fair warning: you may not feel real good about yourself if you find yourself identifying with these criminals. Many reviewers are using the descriptive unputdownable.

Freefall

Does Stiglitz know what he’s talking about? He should. As the former chief economist for the World Bank, he understands the big picture. His subtitle reflects that: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy.

No one would accuse him of favoring a system other than capitalism but he has long recognized the dangers of a lack of meaningful regulation. He attacks the financial industry, the politicians and the regulators mercilessly. He shows that the problem has not been fixed. The selfsame bankers are still in charge.

Crisis Economics

Nouriel Roubini is often called Dr. Doom. Such a terrible sobriquet. He earned it in large part for his prediction of this current meltdown. He predicted the international aspects of it as well.

Here, he gives you an historical perspective, the causes of the present mess, the extreme remedies required and the dangers of not doing what needs to be done.

Via his subtitle, he calls it A Crash Course in the Future of Finance. Given his record, it would be unwise to ignore him.

13 Bankers

Is it possible to combine impressive credentials with readability? Let’s see. Simon Johnson is a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.

Why did I miss out on intelligent economics professors when I was doing my graduate studies in international economics. I wondered why there were none.

The author subtitles it, The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown. Think about that subtitle. It suggests there will be another meltdown. Publishers Weekly uses the term blistering to describe this it.

It pulls no punches while being nuanced. I wish I could do that.

For those of you willing to put in the effort to take different tacks, I offer two more.

A Week in December

Is truth stranger than fiction? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Fiction can be used to bring a power that nonfiction usually strains to provide.

From across The Pond, Sebastian Faulks weaves a couple of plotlines to keep your attention. Both are very current: financial misdeeds and terrorism. Each illuminates itself and the other.

The Way We Live Now (Oxford World’s Classics)

To provide a better grasp of what brought on this crisis we need to explore morality and values. Actually, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Anthony Trollope did it for us in his 1875 classic.

This is a book we all should have read long ago. Guilty. I missed it back when (no, not when it was first published). It is very high on my to do list.

There is a prize for those reading all six works. That would be an understanding of economics greater than eighty percent of economists (I’m being generous), ninety-nine percent of the public and all but a couple of Obama’s economic team (those he ignores).