Weekend Reading

As a rule, I don’t post weekend reading that I think is just interesting but only stuff that I think can make you money or save you money or stimulate you to do one or the other.  But the book I’m reading is so well written, I had to share it.  I don’t know how it will make us money other than to provide some historical perspective.  We live in an unusually precarious economic world.  It’s not unprecidented.  In fact it shares some remarkable patterns with the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, and the inflationary/deflationary spirals leading up to WWII.

http://www.economist.com/node/18928514

 

 

	The Age of Deleveraging: Investment Strateg… by A. Gary Shilling
	Exorbitant Privilege : The Rise and Fall o… by Barry Eichengreen
	Endgame: The End of the Debt SuperCycle and How… by John Mauldin

I can’t honestly say I read these four books over the weekend but I did download samples to both my Kindle and iPad.  I am “listening” to Lords of Finance.  That’s from my Audible account. I’m listening to more books these days as I prefer to soak up my mountain biking, exercise, walking the dogs time listening to books and podcasts.

Lords of Finance is a fascinating read ( I mean listen). It’s an important work of economic history that covers a period of time between World War I and the events that led up to the most horrific time in mankind’s history, WWII.  I think it’s really important to understand what economic collapse can do to nations and individual’s psyches.   Of course, history doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes and that’s why this link to some words from the author himself are interesting: What is quite shocking to me is how as a country we have gone from the creditor to the world to the lead borrower.  Historical context of this leads me to the conclusion that nothing good will come of this and perhaps something very bad indeed will result from it.  Lords of Finance will be our book of the month selection in July as soon as I can find some time to put it up.

Amazon Exclusive: Liaquat Ahamed on the Economic Climate

Economist Debt reduction

Handle with care

“Deleveraging” will dominate the rich world’s economies for years. Done badly, it could wreck them

Jul 7th 2011 | from the print edition

DEBT reduction, or deleveraging as it is known in the inelegant argot of economists, is a painful process.

 Washington Post  Huntsman gets a second dose of bad news from home state

• JULY 8, 2011, 6:22 P.M. ET For the second time in less than a week, a former aide to ex-Utah governor Jon Huntsman who is now in Congress has distanced himself from the GOP 2012 presidential candidate.

 Washington Post   Boehner steps back from broad-range debt plan

Paul Kane and Lori Montgomery

The House Speaker abandoned efforts to reach a long-term debt-reduction deal, citing an impasse over Bush-era tax cuts for nation’s wealthiest. President Obama said he will still push for a comprehensive deal at today’s summit at the White House.

Smart Money Bouncing Back With the World’s Greatest Investors Four money managers who trounced the market during the crash and recovery explain how they did it, and tell us what stocks they’re buying now. Click here