The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy
Raj Patel - 2009
He reveals the hidden ecological and social costs of a hamburger (as much as $200), and asks how we came to have markets in the first place. Both the corporate capture of government and our current financial crisis, Patel argues, are a result of our democratically bankrupt political system.If part one asks how we can rebalance society and limit markets, part two answers by showing how social organizations, in America and around the globe, are finding new ways to describe the world's worth. If we don't want the market to price every aspect of our lives, we need to learn how such organizations have discovered democratic ways in which people, and not simply governments, can play a crucial role in deciding how we might share our world and its resources in common.This short, timely and inspiring book reveals that our current crisis is not simply the result of too much of the wrong kind of economics. While we need to rethink our economic model, Patel argues that the larger failure beneath the food, climate and economic crises is a political one. If economics is about choices, Patel writes, it isn't often said who gets to make them. The Value of Nothing offers a fresh and accessible way to think about economics and the choices we will all need to make in order to create a sustainable economy and society.
How Rich People Think
Steve Siebold - 2010
It compares the thoughts, habits and philosophies of the middle class to the world class when it comes to wealth. The differences are as extreme as they are numerous. The strategy is simple: learn how rich people think, copy them, take action and get rich. This book hits hard and never lets up. It's based on a quarter century of interviews with millionaires. It's written in unfiltered, politically incorrect language that makes the point crystal clear and easy to follow. The hundreds of millionaires interviewed for this book had nothing to gain by sharing their secrets, nor any interest in sugar-coating their advice. These people gave me unprecedented access to their lifestyle and playgrounds; from Palm Beach to Aspen. I was searching for the raw, uncensored truth about how rich people think, and they agreed to share it with me on the promise that their names never be published and their remarks never made public. I've mixed their wisdom with my words, and the result is a book so brutally honest it will shock some and inspire others. If you've ever dreamed of living a life most people only see in movies, study this book like a scientist. Freedom from financial worries and a millionaire's lifestyle is closer than you think.
Market Mind Games: Profiting from the New Psychology of Risk, Uncertainty, and the Convergence of Trading with Investing
Denise Shull - 2011
Read this first and you will learn that the surest path to success will be to start with yourself; solve that conundrum and challenges like understanding how you do and should react to markets will come to be solvable."--Marvin Zonis, Professor Emeritus, Booth School of Business, The University of Chicago"When it comes to fast-moving global financial markets, professional investors strive to evaluate complex economic conditions from data analysis, economic reasoning, and professional judgment. This is what is taught in business schools. Denise Shull demonstrates how investment decision making is also determined by unconscious emotions and perceptions. "Market Mind Games" is a fascinating book that proposes a new and unexpected hypothesis about the factors that drive financial decision-making."--A.G. Malliaris, Professor of Economics and Finance, Loyola University Chicago"Denise Shull wants us to get in touch with our feelings, not to beat our bare chests and utter primordial screams. Far from it--her techniques are focused on making more money."--"Financial Times""Denise Shull's gem of a book is long overdue. . . . "Market Mind Games"] has made the ability to analyze and overcome our unconscious biases and prejudices available to everyone."--Dr. Donald T. Wargo, Department of Economics, Temple University""Market Mind Games" is iconoclastic to say the very least Pay attention to the last word in the subtitle: "risk." This book will change your perspective on how to approach and think about the markets and your life "--Michael J. Levas, Founder, Senior Managing Principal, and Director of Trading, Olympian Capital Management, LLC"Denise changes the way you look at yourself and investing. Her insights and methods are necessary to succeed in the markets, period."--Jared Levy, Portfolio Manager and author of "Your Options Handbook """Market Mind Games" offers a new school of trading psychology. Truly an important work that needs to be on the bookshelf of every serious market participant."--Mike Bellafiore, author of "One Good Trade""Masterful explanation of not only why emotionless trading is a myth, but how we can take advantage of our natural wiring to gain an edge."--Derek Hernquist, Chief Investment Officer, Integrative Capital, LLC"Shull details ways to learn how you 'feel' before you 'act' so that your buy, sell, or hold decisions become more successful."--E. Bernstein, OPUS Trading"A must-read for those who want to make their livelihood as a professional investor, trader, or algorithmic trading developer."--Larry Tabb, founder and CEO, Tabb Group"Denise Shull enlightens the reader how to effectively unlock one's psychological capital and translate that awareness into clear and concise investment decisions."--Grant Mashek, Managing Member, Palm Equity, LLC"Shull's book is not only a great read but lays out an entirely more effective approach to thinking about any decision that involves the unknown--market related or not."--Leslie Shaw, Ph.D., Behavioral Economics, and trained psychoanalystAbout the Book:What if the mystery of market crashes stems from a simple but total misunderstanding of our own minds? Could everything we think we know about ourselves--intelligence and rationality versus emotion and irrationality--be wildly off the mark? Simply put: yes.With these words, Denise Shull introduces her radical--and supremely rational-- approach to risk. Her vision stems from the indisputable fact that human beings can't make any decision at all without emotion and that emotion gets the first--and last--word when it comes to our perceptions and judgments.Shull should know. She started out managing major accounts for IBM and then chose to research unconscious emotional patterns instead of getting her MBA. Next she became a trader and trading desk manager while continuing to study biopsychology.We are all taught that sidelining our emotions is the best way to make good decisions-- Shull declares the converse: "emotions inform us." Attempting to control them actually increases the risks we take. Shull advocates treating feelings as data, and she convincingly argues that doing so eradicates the baffling question that repeats itself in our heads after making a poor investing decision: "What was I thinking?"Through a series of "lectures," Shull logically but engagingly connects emotions, beliefs, and context to our innate reaction to uncertainty and risk (yes, the two are different). In "Market Mind Games," she merges more than 20 years of studying risk decisions into a single, astoundingly effective strategy.A reasonable approach to emotion is the best and only way to win the investing game. The methods Shull details in "Market Mind Games" shake the foundation of conventional market and decision psychology. And, most important, they work.
Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future
Robert B. Reich - 2010
But Robert B. Reich suggests a different reason for the meltdown, and for a perilous road ahead. He argues that the real problem is structural: it lies in the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top, and in a middle class that has had to go deeply into debt to maintain a decent standard of living.Persuasively and straightforwardly, Reich reveals how precarious our situation still is. The last time in American history when wealth was so highly concentrated at the top—indeed, when the top 1 percent of the population was paid 23 percent of the nation’s income—was in 1928, just before the Great Depression. Such a disparity leads to ever greater booms followed by ever deeper busts. Reich’s thoughtful and detailed account of where we are headed over the next decades reveals the essential truth about our economy that is driving our politics and shaping our future. With keen insight, he shows us how the middle class lacks enough purchasing power to buy what the economy can produce and has adopted coping mechanisms that have a negative impact on their quality of life; how the rich use their increasing wealth to speculate; and how an angrier politics emerges as more Americans conclude that the game is rigged for the benefit of a few. Unless this trend is reversed, the Great Recession will only be repeated. Reich’s assessment of what must be done to reverse course and ensure that prosperity is widely shared represents the path to a necessary and long-overdue transformation. Aftershock is a practical, humane, and much-needed blueprint for both restoring America’s economy and rebuilding our society.
The Education of Millionaires: It's Not What You Think and It's Not Too Late
Michael Ellsberg - 2011
The reality: The biggest thing you won't learn in college is how to succeed professionally.Some of the smartest, most successful people in the country didn't finish college. None of them learned their most critical skills at an institution of higher education. And like them, most of what you'll need to learn to be successful you'll have to learn on your own, outside of school.Michael Ellsberg set out to fill in the gaps by interviewing a wide range of millionaires and billionaires who don't have college degrees, including fashion magnate Russell Simmons, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and founding president Sean Parker, WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg, and Pink Floyd songwriter and lead guitarist David Gilmour. Among the fascinating things he learned: How fashion designer Marc Ecko started earning $1000 a week in high school with his own clothing business, and later grew it into an empire. How billionaire Phillip Ruffin went from lowly department store employee with no college degree, to owner of Treasure Island on the Vegas Strip. How John Paul DeJoria went from homelessness to billionaire as founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems Hair Care Products.This book is your guide to developing practical success skills in the real world. Even if you've already gone through college, the most important skills weren't in the curriculum-how to find great mentors, build a world-class network, learn real-world marketing and sales, make your work meaningful (and your meaning work), build the brand of you, master the art of bootstrapping, and more.Learning the skills in this book well is a "necessary" addition to any education. This book shows you the way, whether you're a high school dropout or a graduate of Harvard Law School.
Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job and Your Dream Job
Jon Acuff - 2011
At first I thought I was the only one who felt that way, but then I started to talk to people and realized we're becoming the "I'm, but" generation. When we talk about what we do for a living we inevitably say, "I'm a teacher, but I want to be an artist." "I'm a CPA, but I'd love to start my own business." "I'm a _____, but I want to be a ______." All too often, we hear that dreaming big means you quit your day job, sell everything you own, and move to Guam. But what if there were a different way? What if you could blow up your dream without blowing up your life? What if you could go for broke without going broke? What if you could start today? What if you already have everything you need to begin? From figuring out what your dream is to quitting in a way that exponentially increases your chance of success, Quitter is full of inspiring stories and actionable advice. This book is based on 12 years of cubicle living and my true story of cultivating a dream job that changed my life and the world in the process. It's time to close the gap between your day job and your dream job. It's time to be a Quitter.
How to Retire Early: Your Guide to Getting Rich Slowly and Retiring on Less
Robert Charlton - 2013
We retired from full-time work at the age of 43 and have been living the good life ever since – and by good life we mean a life rich with travel and adventure rather than luxury and extravagance. In this book we share with you the roadmap we followed to get from full-time work to financial independence in less than 15 years. If we can do it, so can you! What makes this book different from all the other books out there on early retirement? We think it's the amount of personal financial detail we provide. We don’t hold back! You can use this information as a kind of financial yardstick to measure what you can achieve in your own life. If we can empower you to stop dreaming and start planning, to stop wishing and start willing your early retirement into existence, we’ll have done what we set out to do in this book.
The Shadow Market: How Sovereign Wealth Funds and Rogue Nations Threaten America's Financial Future
Eric J. Weiner - 2010
Weiner reveals how foreign countries and private investors are increasingly controlling the global economy and secretly wresting power from the United States in ways that our government cannot reverse and about which the average American knows nothing. The most potent force in global commerce today is not the Federal Reserve, not the international banks, not the governments of the G7 countries, and certainly not the European Union. Rather, it is the multi-trillion-dollar network of super-rich, secretive, and largely unregulated investment vehicles—foreign sovereign wealth funds, government-run corporations, private equity funds, and hedge funds—that are quietly buying up the world, piece by valuable piece. As Weiner’s groundbreaking account shows, the shadow market doesn’t have a physical headquarters such as Wall Street. It doesn’t have a formal leadership or an index to track or a single zone of exchange. Rather, it comprises an invisible and ever-shifting global nexus where money mixes with geopolitical power, often with great speed and secrecy. Led by cash-flush nations such as China, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and even Norway, the shadow market is hiring the brightest international financial talent money can buy and is now assembling the gigantic investment portfolios that will form the power structure of tomorrow’s economy. Taking advantage of the Great Recession and subsequent liquidity problems in the United States and Europe, the major players of the shadow market are deploying staggering amounts of cash, controlling the capital markets, and securing not only major stakes in multinational companies but huge tracts of farmland and natural resources across the world. Yet that’s not all; they’re also pursuing political agendas made possible by their massive wealth and are becoming increasingly aggressive with the United States and other governments. Highly informative and genuinely startling, Eric J. Weiner’s up-to-date account gets out in front of daily events, with proof of his argument destined to appear in the news for years to come. The Shadow Market moves the conversation from “international competition” to “global financial warfare,” and stands as an urgent must-read for anyone interested in the future of the global economy, America’s position in the world, or how and where to invest money today. DID YOU KNOW? ***The Pentagon has run elaborate simulations of global financial war. Result: America lost, and the shadow market won. ***The U.S. dollar is under siege as a global currency; oil-producing nations have already begun secret discussions about replacing it in oil trading. ***While Greece was burning in the spring of 2010, the shadow market nations were spending hundreds of billions of dollars all over the world rather than helping to fix the European crisis. Why? Because it wasn’t their problem. ***With its wealth of natural resources, Brazil may be more powerful than Germany, France, and Great Britain put together, and may soon rival the United States for economic supremacy in the Western Hemisphere. ***In April 2009, China told the International Monetary Fund to sell 3,217 tons of gold. How much did China buy? That’s a secret. What else is China buying? As many of the oil reserves in non–Middle Eastern countries as it can, including in Canada. It has bought so many Australian natural resource companies that Australia is getting nervous. And some would say that China has, in effect, already purchased Taiwan. ***Many of the shadow market countries are racing to improve their food-security risks by buying large swaths of farmland in other countries, potentially at the risk of starving the local citizens. Saudi Arabia has a farm the size of Connecticut in Indonesia, and Korean industrial giant Daewoo controls half the arable land of Madagascar. ***Iran is China’s third largest oil supplier and in return receives significant protection from Chinese diplomats, who are increasingly important players on the geopolitical stage. ***The shadow market countries will soon control nearly $20 trillion in assets, a sum greater than the gross domestic product of the United States.
The 4 Laws of Financial Prosperity: Get Control of Your Money Now!
Blaine Harris - 1996
If applied, the principles of financial wellness taught in this audiobook will produce lasting results. This entertaining and captivating audiobook shows that how much a person earns isn't really as important in achieving prosperity as most people think. Nearly anyone, on any income, can achieve prosperity by applying the 4 Laws.
Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street
Neil Barofsky - 2010
In behind-the-scenes detail, he shows the extreme degree to which government officials bent over backward to serve the interests of Wall Street firms at the expense of the public—& at the expense of effective financial reform. During the height of the financial crisis in 2008, Barofsky gave up his job as a prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office in NYC, where he'd convicted drug kingpins, Wall Street executives & mortgage fraud perpetrators, to become the special inspector general in charge of oversight of bailout money spending. From the first his efforts to protect against fraud & to hold big banks accountable for how they spent taxpayer money were met with outright hostility from Treasury officials in charge of the bailouts.Barofsky discloses how, in serving banking interests, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner & his team worked with Wall Street executives to design programs to would funnel vast amounts of taxpayer money to their firms & would have allowed them to game the markets & make huge profits with almost no risk or accountability, while repeatedly fighting efforts to put the necessary fraud protections in place. His investigations also uncovered abject mismanagement of the bailout of insurance giant AIG & Geithner’s decision to allow the payment of millions of dollars in bonuses & that the Obama administration’s TARP Czar lobbied for the executives to retain their high pay.Providing details about how, meanwhile, the interests of homeowners & the broader public were betrayed, Barofsky recounts how Geithner & his team steadfastly failed to fix glaring flaws in the Obama administration’s homeowner relief program pointed out by bailout watchdogs, rejecting anti-fraud measures, which unleashed a wave of abuses by mortgage providers against homeowners, even causing some who wouldn't have lost their homes otherwise to go into foreclosure. Ultimately only a small fraction ($1.4 billion when he stepped down) of the $50 billion allocated to help homeowners was spent, while the funds expended to prop up the financial system totaled $4.7 trillion. As he raised the alarm about the bailout failures, he met with obstruction. He recounts in blow-by-blow detail how an increasingly aggressive war was waged against his efforts, with even the White House launching a broadside against him. Bailout is a riveting account of his plunge into the political meat grinder of Washington, as well as a vital revelation of just how captured by Wall Street the political system is & why the too-big-to-fail banks have only become bigger & more dangerous in the wake of the crisis.
The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity
Catherine Ponder - 1962
Catherine Ponder writes in such a loving gentle way. The secrets she reveals are not secrets at all but Universal truths for health, love, success and peace. As she explores these dynamic laws of prosperity she shares actual success stories to help those of us who are uncertain. Practical advice for using Divine power to overcome difficulties and achieve happiness. First published in 1962, and revised and updated by the author in 1985, THE DYNAMIC LAWS OF PROSPERITY presents basic laws of prosperity in clear language for the modern reader."During my first year in the ministry, one of the most severe business recessions since WWII hit this country. Members of my congregation began asking for lectures on ways to survive this difficult period. It was then that these dynamic laws of prosperity began to take form. And, with breathtaking rapidity, these ideas worked, for all types of people!" Catherine Ponder
Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know about Wealth and Prosperity
James D. Gwartney - 2005
Stroup, and Dwight R. Lee are three of the most prominent economists today, and in "Common Sense Economics" they show us why economic understanding is an essential ingredient for life in today's society, a key element that empowers those who possess it to better take charge of their own lives and their own responsibilities to their society. In clear, powerful language free of any hint of jargon or obscurity, they illuminate the basic principles of supply and demand, private ownership, trade, and more. In a world where free trade, taxes, and government spending are issues everyone needs to understand, "Common Sense Economics" is a lucid, simple explanation of how and why our economy and our world work the way they do, and how and why individuals and nations prosper.
The Richest Man Who Ever Lived: King Solomon's Secrets to Success, Wealth, and Happiness
Steven K. Scott - 2006
Scott reveals King Solomon’s breakthrough strategies to achieve a life of financial success and personal fulfillment.Steve Scott flunked out of every job he held in his first six years after college. He couldn’t succeed no matter how hard he tried. Then Dr. Gary Smalley challenged him to study the book of Proverbs, promising that in doing so he would achieve greater success and happiness than he had ever known. That promise came true, making Scott a millionaire many times over. In The Richest Man Who Ever Lived, Scott reveals Solomon’s key for winning every race, explains how to resolve conflicts and turn enemies into allies, and discloses the five qualities essential to becoming a valued and admired person at work and in your personal life. Scott illustrates each of Solomon’s insights and strategies with anecdotes about his personal successes and failures, as well as those of such extraordinary people as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and Steven Spielberg.At once inspiring and instructive, THE RICHEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED weaves the timeless truths of one of our greatest works of literature into a detailed roadmap for successful living today.
Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit, and the Era of Predatory Lenders
James D. Scurlock - 2007
In other words, it's a great time to be in the banking business."Maxed Out" takes us on a road trip that is sometimes hysterical and often horrifying: from Las Vegas to the Bible Belt, from the backwoods to inner cities, where the world's largest financial giants troll for their next victims. Welcome to a country populated by debt pirates, corporate predators, human credit card billboards, debt evangelists, megamillion-dollar spec homes, and, of course, trillions of dollars of easy credit.Combining startling facts with even more startling examinations of individuals, institutions, the government, and modern religion, James Scurlock separates the myths (there is "good debt" and "bad debt") from the harsh reality (corporations partner with colleges to target today's youth; credit reports are riddled with errors that will never be fixed; and death, for many of those in trouble, is the only way out).At a time when the financial industry posts ever-higher profits even as its clients drown in the flood of easy credit, Scurlock exposes very real, potentially disastrous systems and policies that are consuming millions of Americans. "Maxed Out" takes readers on a wickedly smart and entertaining tour of what one interviewee calls "the last taboo."
Enthusiasm Makes the Difference
Norman Vincent Peale - 1967
Dr. Peale offers a simple, sure-fire solution for stress: a healthy dose of enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the magic ingredient that can make the difference between success and failure, and it can help you to: • improve your problem-solving abilities • overcome your fears • sharpen your mind • make your job more rewarding • calm your tensions • build self-confidence • kindle the powerful motivation that makes things happen