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Loading... Money: How the Destruction of the Dollar Threatens the Global Economy - and What We Can Do About Itby Steve Forbes
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.  katsmiao | Oct 23, 2015 |   After reading this I have a much better understanding of how money works, what it really is, and how fiscal policy can affect the whole world, not just the economy of one country. Complex theories explained in easy to understand ways, very interesting to read, not at all dry or boring. (  ) katsmiao | Oct 23, 2015 | After reading this I have a much better understanding of how money works, what it really is, and how fiscal policy can affect the whole world, not just the economy of one country. Complex theories explained in easy to understand ways, very interesting to read, not at all dry or boring. ( ) katsmiao | Oct 23, 2015 | To hear Forbes tell it, the problems of the last 40 years have been due exclusively to the fact that the United States abandoned the gold standard. Inflation, deflation, recession, depression, unemployment, trade deficits, fluctuating currency valuation - all of the economic ills you can imagine - were due to the fact that the U.S. had become a fiat currency (along with every other nation in the world). Forbes' cure-all for the world economy would be for the U.S. to re-adopt the gold standard, providing a fixed base value to be used as a standard for all other currencies. In this fashion, the value of all things would be fixed and set, with no currency fluctuation, no trade deficits, no inflation. It is in vogue among some economists and politicians to support a shift to the gold standard (or something like it). Practically, however, there is no way to have a pure gold standard, where every dollar was supported by its worth in gold: U.S. gold reserves would support around $500 billion, while there are $4 trillion in U.S. currency. Adoption of a strict gold standard would not be possible. Forbes' suggestion, therefore, would be to set the value of the dollar at an average market value of gold thereby using gold as a de facto standard, although no country would have to have enough gold to support the entirety of a country's currency. To a large extent, Mr. Forbes' argument that we would not have had the economic troubles of the past 40 years had we maintained a gold standard is a counterfactual argument. The reasons for dropping the gold standard were that it placed artificial limits on the economy, it didn't take into account the growth of the economy, that value derived from more than simply gold. This book is interesting as a recent history of the world's economic situation, but as a defense of the gold standard it is lacking. It may be food for thought, but it's an awfully limited diet. (  ) jpporter | Jun 17, 2014 | no reviews | add a review
***Updated content to coincide with the public television documentary, In Money We Trust*** Why a return to sound money is our only hope for a true recovery and a healthy global economy Few topics are as misunderstood today as the subject of money. Since the U.S. abandoned a gold-linked dollar more than four decades ago, the world's governments have slid into a dangerous ignorance of the fundamental monetary principles that guided the world's most successful economies for centuries. Today's wrong-headed monetary policies are now setting the stage for a new global economic and social catastrophe that could rival the recent financial crisis and even the horrors of the 1930s. Coauthored by Steve Forbes, one of the world's leading experts on finance, Money shows you why that doesn't need to happen--and how to prevent it. After reading this entertaining and hugely well-informed book, you will know more about money than most people in the highest government positions today. Money explains why a return to sound money is absolutely essential if the U.S. and other nations are ever to overcome today's problems. Stable money, Steve Forbes and Elizabeth Ames argue, is the only way to a true recovery and a stable and prosperous economy. Today's system of fluctuating "fiat" money, in which governments manipulate the value of the dollar and other currencies, has been responsible for the biggest economic failures of recent decades, including the 2008 financial crisis, from whose effects we continue to suffer. The Obama/Bernanke/Yellen Federal Reserve and its unstable dollar policies are accelerating our course toward disaster, the authors show, in numerous convincing examples. In Money, Forbes and Ames answer these crucial questions: What is the difference between money and value?What is real wealth? How does sound money contribute to a well-functioning society? How have our money policy errors led to the current problems in global financial markets? What can we do now to reestablish the strength of the dollar and other currencies? The authors argue that the most effective way to return to a sound money policy and a healthy economy is to put the dollar back on a gold standard, and they outline the several different forms a gold standard could take. They also share invaluable suggestions for how to preserve our wealth and where to invest our money. Money is essential reading for anyone interested in this crucially important subject. No library descriptions found. |
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After reading this I have a much better understanding of how money works, what it really is, and how fiscal policy can affect the whole world, not just the economy of one country.
Complex theories explained in easy to understand ways, very interesting to read, not at all dry or boring. (