Robert Lekachman (1920–1989)

We all need money to survive and, I am not going to pretend that, were I to learn that I had won millions of pounds, I would be disappointed and reject the opportunity of millionaire status. I can, however, tell you with complete honesty, that money bores me. Those stories of some spotty youth who has made billions with some tacky computer game, kicked a plastic imitation pig's bladder about a field or starred in the latest infinitely forgettable blockbuster film and been rewarded with a multiplicity of king's ransoms, leaves me totally unmoved. It would be pointless, on this basis, to ignore capitalism. It is what makes the 21st century world spin.

Given my feelings towards the subject, it would be tedious in the extreme, to read a host of learned tomes upon the subject but most introductory books leave much to be desired. I have read several of the 'For Beginners' series and never been disappointed: I am pleased to say that, having read this one, my views have not required major review. If you are not au fait with these works, I strongly advise you to remedy the situation.

The 'For Beginners' books are adult comics, in that they are packed with cartoon drawings surrounded by pithy notes. These snippets of information seed themselves effortlessly into the brain, in a way that blocks of text simply fail to do. Were I to have read a standard book, on a topic which I feel the need to grasp, but which does not excite me, I would do well to remember 20% and would probably be required to endure a second reading to gain sufficient grounding. This book, however, I consumed in little more than an hour, quite enjoyed it and retain in excess of 50%, which is more than sufficient for my needs.

The benefits of this type of book do not end there: being lavishly illustrated means that, if at some future time, I need to brush up on one of the 50% of information that hasn't really nestled into my cranial cortex, then the relevant passage is easy to find.

I thoroughly recommend this series for any 'overview' topics or, as an excellent introduction to a subject in which one has an interest, but no grounding.… (more)

1673 The Age of Keynes, by Robert Lekachman (read 21 Nov 1981) This is a 1966 book and the author is full of glow about the Kennedy and Johnson economic policies, and I sure would like to know what he says today, when "balance the budget" is a loud cry of newly-elected Senators, etc. I was impressed by these sentences: "Strongly as the President [Kennedy] spoke, he evidently thought it prudent to stop short of the standard textbook proposition that the size of an internally held public debt is of little importance since its handling amounts to no more than a series of income transfers among citizens of the same political jurisdiction. Certainly, there is no sense in which the public debt represents the sort of burden upon the community that a private debt does upon an individual." This is, of course, a little more elaborate way of saying the debt is not bad, since we "owe it to ourselves." But a trillion dollars? Well, anyway, this book was still interesting and a good antidote to the Reagan aura. [2008 note: "internally held public debt"--not today's situation.]… (more)