Accelerating out of the Great Recession: How to Win in a Slow-Growth Economy Review

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Accelerating out of the Great Recession: How to Win in a Slow-Growth Economy ReviewWhile I am usually rather sceptical about Consultants who are explaining the world - this book truly does add crystal clear insights. It not only puts the financial and economic crisis into a historic perspective, it also seperates root causes from secondary fallouts, it distinguishes temporary symptoms from longlasting changes.
All very readable and easy to digest, rather entertaining - particularly the elaborate company case studies and analogies from last century - and their (non-)relevance to the current situation. I found the authors' analysis and outlook to be extremely helpful in order to define what the "new normal" we all will have to adjust to is going to look like. Mandatory reading for everyone who has to make long range and global investment decisions (or who is affected by them).Accelerating out of the Great Recession: How to Win in a Slow-Growth Economy Overview

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Ambassador from Wall Street: The Story of Thomas W. Lamont, J.P. Morgan's Chief Executive Review

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Ambassador from Wall Street: The Story of Thomas W. Lamont, J.P. Morgan's Chief Executive ReviewThe Ambassador From Wall Street is a fasciating tale of one of the great financial leaders of the 20th Century. As a retired New York banker who started work in 1950 and who held some quite responsible positions, I found the book contained messages for bankers that are as true today as they were in the life of Mr. Lamont, particularly on how to avoid undue risk and how to manage the inevitable messes when they occur. The book seems to have been well researched by the arthor, a Grandson of the subject,and takes us through the many economic and financial developments of the first half of the twentieth century. Its scope allows the reader to have a broad view of the financial world, a useful benefit in this age of globalization. I particularly recommend the book to young students of finance. The lessons learned will enhance their careers.Ambassador from Wall Street: The Story of Thomas W. Lamont, J.P. Morgan's Chief Executive Overview

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The Changing World of the Executive (Drucker Library) Review

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The Changing World of the Executive (Drucker Library) ReviewMr Drukker presents a very smart outlook of management in the 80's with a prediction of the times to come. The book ends with a question whether this book will hold up for future readers. 20 years later the answer is yes. How are we defined as a nation in terms of our corporations ? This is described. How is sexual harrassment defined and handled? How do we compare to other nations such as Japan and Germany? There is no ego made by the author. He recognizes that he is an expert in the subject matter and lectures with clarity and without any sense of condescendingness.The Changing World of the Executive (Drucker Library) Overview

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Age of the Democratic Revolution, Vol. 1: The Challenge Review

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Age of the Democratic Revolution, Vol. 1: The Challenge ReviewWritten over 40 years ago, The Age of the Democratic Revolution is still the major effort at interpreting the political upheavals of the late 18th century. Covering a remarkably broad range of societies, Palmer deals with France, the American Revolution, Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, various German states, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. This is an effort to reveal the major structural features of political and social conflict in what Palmer refers to as the Atlantic world. Since he has extensive discussion of Eastern Europe as well, it might be better to describe his frame as something like Greater Europe. In order to produce his major structural analyses, Palmer narrrates and analyzes events across several decades and across several countries. It is a measure of the quality of Palmer's scholarship and writing ability that this book serves as a excellent narrative overview of the political and diplomatic history of many of the countries discussed. Not surprisingly, France and the events generated by the French Revolution occupy a central place but one of the most impressive things about this book is how Palmer features the importance of events in places like Holland and the Austrian controlled parts of Italy. Even the tiny Genevan republic and Ireland receive thorough and enlightening coverage.
Palmer sees the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and allied events as driven by the collision of a series of pan-European forces. He points out that the first half of the 18th century had actually seen a hardening of social barriers, a decline in social mobility, and increasing dominance of important political institutions by smaller inherited elites. The increasingly aristocratic nature of many European societies was opposed to a very large extent by Monarchies wishing to extend their authority. The financial strains imposed by the Seven Years War appear to have been particularly important in prompting several governments, France, Britain, and even the Holy Roman Empire, into attempts to extend royal power and reduce the power of traditional and aristocratically dominated institutions. Implicit in Palmer's analysis is that the humanitarianism of the Enlightenment had produced alternative ways of looking at society and governance that undermined the legitimacy of aristrocratic institutions and social structure based on deference. Ironically, some aspects of Enlightenment political theory were used to defend traditional institutions. Over the course of the second half of the 18th century, this collision produces, at least initially, aristocratic success in turning back the challenges to traditional institutions. In many countries, notably France, the aristocratic revolution is followed is then followed by Democratic Revolutions resulting in the ultimate destruction of a huge array of traditional politcal and social institutions. Palmer has thoughtful discussions of the varying aspects of this general phenomenon in a large array of nations. Britain and the American colonies prove to be important exceptions to the general model and their unique features result in the American Revolution and what can only be called a relatively peaceful counter-revolution in Britain.
This is then followed by a superb series of discussions of the consequences of the Democratic Revolutions throughout Europe and North America.
Some aspects of Palmer's analysis are probably incorrect. This is not surprising as he wrote over 40 years ago and there has been a lot of important scholarship since the publication of this book. For example, I think Palmer is a bit unfair to Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists in the USA. I suspect that some will find this book, with its emphasis on political history, a bit old-fashioned. These, however, are quibbles. In terms of breadth of understanding and depth of analysis, this is a truly outstanding work of scholarship.Age of the Democratic Revolution, Vol. 1: The Challenge Overview

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Origins of the Crash: The Great Bubble and Its Undoing Review

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Origins of the Crash: The Great Bubble and Its Undoing ReviewRoger Lowenstein is one of the best financial reporters around, and he has done a fine job of taking the public information about stock market influences since the 1970s and connecting them to the 2000-2002 stock market crash in the United States.
I know of no book that touches on so many subjects including:
-Retirement money moving into mutual funds
-LBOs creating pressure on CEOs to get their stock prices up
-Leveraging of public companies to improve stock price
-The rise of free market economics as a policy influence
-401(k) plans creating a chase for fast results
-CEO stock options rising through the roof
-Michael Jensen and Joel Stern providing arguments in favor of excessive payments to executives
-Rise of the CFO as a "profit engineer" to produce most of company earnings results
-Lack of e.p.s. hit for stock options
-CEO pay skyrockets in the absence of performance due to lax consultants and boards
-New stock options being granted after stocks drop
-Cozy boards that inappropriately keep CEOs in place
-Managed earnings (especially by GE and Coca-Cola)
-Reduced disclosure
-Special Purpose Vehicles (to keep losses and debt hidden from investors)
-Security analysts having conflicts of interest
-SEC didn't do enough
-Accounting firms have conflicts of interest
-Derivatives are too unregulated
-Too much money to Venture Capital funds
-IPO boom
-Pro forma earnings
-Overinvestment in telecommunications
-Unrealistic expectations for the Internet and Internet companies
-Fraud by Enron, WorldCom and others.
Mr. Lowenstein also goes on to describe the current reform efforts including Reg FD and the Sarbanes-Oxley legistlation, and finds that we have not really cured the problem. We will inevitably have another bubble and crash ahead. I agree with that view.
At bottom, Mr. Lowenstein understands very well that too much financial incentive for executives is bad for everyone. The temptation is simply too great to bend the line . . . or to cross way over it. The average compensation in major public companies is excessive now, so the ultimate cause of inappropriate behavior is still in place. As a consultant, I have repeatedly seen honorable people make lousy decisions when the size of their bonus and stock option potential was larger than they could deal with in an unemotional way.
The book's main weaknesses come in two areas. First, Mr. Lowenstein views from the problem as an outsider and gets almost all of his information from the media. As a result, he doesn't give you the real pulse of what was going wrong in the companies. It would have been helpful if he had contrasted the Enrons and WorldComs with companies that were led by executives who have done an outstanding job running their companies during the same years (while being exposed to the same temptations and conflicts) such as Michael Dell, Tom Golisano, James Morgan, Jake Gosa, Bob Swanson, and Bob Knutson.
Second, he is sometimes careless about details. Joel Stern's Economic Value Added (EVA) is described as "Equity Value Added." The Innovator's Dilemma by Professor Clayton Christensen is described as being a bad influence on Citicorp by discouraging executives from improving their existing operations (nothing could be further from the truth).
In the end, I was impressed by his understanding that feeding greed with unlimited incentives is a bad idea. That's the bottom line on this crash.
As I finished the book, I was left wondering how we can cure this tendency to provide too many financial incentives to do the wrong thing. Simply policing those who are provided with the incentives more closely will probably not work by itself.Origins of the Crash: The Great Bubble and Its Undoing Overview

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Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) Review

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Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) ReviewThe author has written a well documented and detailed account of how less than 1% of Americans are getting rich of the backs of the other 99%. And, it isn't just individuals who are reaping millions of dollars from taxpayers...it's also corporations.
Some of the items presented in detail in the book include how one of the largest baseball teams in the country destroyed a public park for a new stadium, had it paid for by the citizens, and then gave payback to politicians who helped.
Or the two major hunting and fishing chains that got millions and millions in tax subsidies to build stores based on false and unsustainable promises, and continue to try to rape the treasuries of communities across the country with more false promises.
Or the company who built a call center in Buffalo using tax subsidies and sold it to the public through a newspaper owned by the same company.
These are just several examples of the material detailed in the book. In addition to showing who is taking, and how, the author details who is fighting back and how they are trying to in an era when the courts and politicians are held by corporate interests.
The book is well written, and well documented. In addition, the author took what can be a very dry subject and made extremely readable. This book should be read by every American, particularly in light of the upcoming presidential elections. Some familiar names will pop out at you as individuals who made their fortunes off our backs.
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Prophets of Regulation: Charles Francis Adams; Louis D. Brandeis; James M. Landis; Alfred E. Kahn Review

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Prophets of Regulation: Charles Francis Adams; Louis D. Brandeis; James M. Landis; Alfred E. Kahn ReviewThe book chronicles tidy snapshots of the lives and careers of 4 different men whose influence in corporate regulation remains unrivaled. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Brandeis. It is terribly unfortunate to contemporary American society that a man like Justice Louis Brandeis is not still alive and a sitting judge with the Supremes. Brandeis's intellect and legacy puts the 9 slugs currently sitting on the bench to shame.Prophets of Regulation: Charles Francis Adams; Louis D. Brandeis; James M. Landis; Alfred E. Kahn Overview

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