Gambling with Other People’s Money: How Perverse Incentives Caused the Financial Crisis


Russ Roberts - 2019
    Russ Roberts argues that the true underlying cause of the mess was the past bailouts of large financial institutions that allowed these institutions to gamble carelessly because they were effectively using other people’s money. The author warns that despite the passage of Dodd-Frank, it is widely believed that we have done nothing to eliminate ‘Too Big to Fail.’ That perception allows the largest financial institutions to continue to gamble with taxpayer money.

Google AdWords for Beginners: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to PPC Advertising


Corey Rabazinski - 2015
    Google's AdWords platform enables you to create pay-per-click advertisements that appear as 'sponsored links' when someone searches for content related to your product or service. You bid for the position to place your ad, and you only pay when someone clicks. It's that simple. If used correctly, AdWords can garner higher targeted traffic, which in turn will increase your conversion rates and profits. So, AdWords will definitely help your business, but you have no idea how to utilize them. What should you do? Take a couple of hours to read this book. Google AdWords for Beginners is designed to teach you the fundamentals of AdWords, how it works, why it works, and the proven techniques that you can use to make it work for you and your business. Additionally, this book details an eight-step blueprint that has consistently delivered positive results for companies. Upon completion, you'll be armed with the knowledge to launch profitable campaigns or drastically improve an existing one.

Microeconomics Made Simple: Basic Microeconomic Principles Explained in 100 Pages or Less


Austin Frakt - 2014
    Macroeconomics1. Maximizing UtilityDecreasing Marginal Utility | Opportunity Costs2. Evaluating Production PossibilitiesProduction Possibilities Frontiers | Absolute and Comparative Advantage3. DemandDeterminants of Demand | Elasticity of Demand | Change in Demand vs. Change in Quantity Demanded4. SupplyDeterminants of Supply | Elasticity of Supply | Change in Supply vs. Change in Quantity Supplied5. Market EquilibriumHow Market Equilibrium is Reached | The Effect of Changes in Supply and Demand6. Government InterventionPrice Ceilings and Price Floors | Taxes and Subsidies7. Costs of ProductionMarginal Cost of Production | Fixed vs. Variable Costs | Short Run vs. Long Run | Sunk Costs | Economic Costs vs. Accounting Costs8. Perfect CompetitionFirms Are Price Takers | Making Decisions at the Margin | Consumer and Producer Surplus9. MonopolyMarket Power | Deadweight Loss with a Monopoly | Monopolies and Government10. OligopolyCollusion | Cheating the Cartel | Government Intervention in Oligopolies11. Monopolistic CompetitionCompeting via Product Differentiation | Loss of Surplus with Monopolistic CompetitionConclusion: The Insights and Limitations of Economics

The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy: And Everything Else the Right Doesn't Want You to Know about Taxes, Jobs, and Corporate America


Joshua Holland - 2010
    Labor unions hurt their members. Government regulation destroys jobs. These are just a few of the biggest lies in the web of misinformation spun by conservatives and the Chamber of Commerce. Holland's book dissects each malicious fiction to show how the Right is just plain wrong on the economy—wrong on jobs, wrong on the deficit, wrong on taxes, wrong on trade.Takes down old and new conservative myths about the economy, including healthcare, stimulus, progressive taxes, Wall Street regulation, and moreFilled with recent quotes from conservative politicians and pundits, from the misleading to the laughable to the totally outrageousTackles specific aspects of the Republicans' economic agenda, including their 2010 alternatives to Obama's budgetDeftly written and rigorously documented by Alternet senior writer/editor Joshua HollandWith the economy set to be the driving issue before and after the 2010 midterm elections, The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy sets the record straight on every part of the conservatives' economic agenda.

The Multifamily Millionaire, Volume I: Achieve Financial Freedom by Investing in Small Multifamily Real Estate


Brandon Turner - 2021
    No matter how much cash or experience you currently have, this book will take you on a journey through buying your first multifamily investment property and give you a framework for turning that into long-term financial freedom. Millionaires are created every day—isn’t it time you joined the ranks? It won’t happen overnight and it won’t always be easy, but The Multifamily Millionaire series will make sure it happens sooner than you ever thought possible! Inside this book, you’ll discover:• How to create a million-dollar net worth in five years using the stack method • The seven different types of small multifamily real estate and which make the best rental properties• How to quickly and accurately analyze your investment, whether its two units or twenty units • Three creative no and low money down strategies that work in any market• A game-changing algorithm for estimating your ongoing repair and reserve expenses • The powerful Multifamily Millionaire Model that illustrates how a million dollars can be created from one single deal• Six off-market acquisition strategies to help you land incredible deals, even in a competitive market• How the BRRRR strategy can help you supercharge your small multifamily portfolio• Detailed instructions for managing your growing portfolio (hint: find five-star tenants!)• And so much more

The All-Weather Retirement Portfolio: Your post-retirement investment guide to a worry-free income for life


Randy L. Thurman - 2014
     In this book you’ll find: • 9 steps to build a portfolio that will survive the Perfect Financial Storm, so you can stop worrying about the economy, the latest financial catastrophe, or what the market did today • 2 questions you must answer before you invest another dime • Why investing after you retire is radically different from investing while you’re still working • The life expectancy of 6 key types of investments—and what you can do to make them last as long as you do • The 10 essential questions you must ask a financial advisor—before you hire one • The exact amount of money you can withdraw without worry or guilt, knowing you’ve applied the best available research to ensure you’ll never run out of money “Thurman takes a subject that is often misunderstood, and provides you the reasons, the methods, and an understanding of what you can expect to achieve, so you can invest with confidence.” –Jimmy J. Williams, CFP®, CPA/PFS CEO/President of Compass Capital Management, LLC “A must for anyone thinking of retiring or recently retired!” –Stan Toler, bestselling author of The Secret Blend

The Wall Street Money Machine (Kindle Single)


Jesse Eisinger - 2011
    Their machinations made the collapse much worse. This Pulitzer Prize-winning series reveals how they did it.

Dumb Money


Daniel Gross - 2009
    Companies are shutting down and laying off workers, 401ks are melting away, and the government is spending $700 billion dollars to bail out banks and financial institutions -- and that's only the beginning. The financial services industry, and the many industries that depend on it -- from housing to cars -- is in intensive care. So what happened? How did we get to this point of financial disaster? Is the economy just a huge, Madoff-esque Ponzi scheme? It is a complicated and confusing story -- but Daniel Gross of Newsweek has a special gift for making complicated matters easy to understand and even entertaining. In Dumb Money, he offers a guide to the debacle and to what the future may hold. This is not so much a book about who did what, though that's part of the story. Rather, it pieces together the building blocks of the debt-fueled economy, and distills the theory and personalities behind our late, lamented easy money culture. Dumb Money is a book that finally lays it all out in an engaging way, and might just help people invest their money smartly until the gloom passes.

How To Be Smart With Your Money


Duncan Bannatyne - 2009
    No matter what our financial or family situation, we each get 24 hours a day. In the practical and straightforward style to which his Dragon's Den contestants are accustomed, Duncan Bannatyne explains how we can make the most of our time to get the most from our lives, and not just our working day. What do you really want to do with your life? This book will help you identify the goals and aspirations that really matter to you so that you can make them happen. It will give you the confidence to make your ambitions a reality and teach you how to focus on the things that count. In a series of short chapters, illustrated with examples from his extraordinary career in business, Duncan will show you how to make quicker, better decisions and how to make things happen - fast. Duncan knows more about what can be achieved in a day, a year and a lifetime than most and in this book he shares how you can achieve your ideal work/life balance.

Your Road to Wealth Starts Here: A Simple Step-by-Step Plan for Everyone to Get Out of Debt and Stay Debt-Free Forever in 2017


Avery Breyer - 2016
     You’ve seen all the goofy ideas and fads that don’t work. Now it’s time to get back to basics with a simple, time-tested, step-by-step plan that anyone can follow. Arm yourself with the truth about getting out of debt. Knowledge is power and you’re going to get it. Find out: • Whether your mortgage is good or bad (the answer may surprise you!) • About the Power Pay Off Plan (and how Sam saved 20 grand) • The secrets to successfully get out of debt • Where to find the money you need for debt free living • How much money you ought to be putting towards paying off debt • The truth about debt consolidation (including pitfalls to avoid) • How to use insurance to protect yourself from the unexpected • What to do next, once you’ve started on the road to wealth Your student loans, mortgage, car loans, and credit card balances can all be gone with the straightforward strategies you’ll learn in this book. You don’t have to feel stress, shame, or embarrassment over it for one moment longer. You’re going to take control and change your life for the better. You’ll also get free access to The Debt Destroyer. This wickedly good tool will create a customized plan for you to pay off debt and ensure that more of your money stays in your pocket. You don’t have to tackle this alone, and you don’t have to be rich to pull this off. If you want debt help on a budget - with straight talk and no tricks - you’ll find everything you need right here. Debt relief can be yours. Buy this book today and get started. It’s your turn.

India's Greatest Speeches


Nitin Agarwal - 2014
    Set to inspire, this book includes some of the most stirring and eloquent addresses by Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mother Teresa, JRD Tata, Abdul Kalam, Nardendra Modi and other influential Indian leaders.This impelling selection of expressive moments of oratory would provide the reader a fresh perspective; evoke feelings of patriotism, inspiration and unbounded motivation. Nitin Aggarwal introduces each speech with relevant information, providing valuable insight.

The Big Short: by Michael Lewis


aBookaDay - 2016
    If you have not yet bought the original copy, make sure to purchase it before buying this unofficial summary from aBookaDay. SPECIAL OFFER $2.99 (Regularly priced: $3.99) OVERVIEW This review of The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis provides a chapter by chapter detailed summary followed by an analysis and critique of the strengths and weaknesses of the book. The main theme explored in the book is how corruption and greed in Wall Street caused the crash of the subprime mortgage market in 2008. Despite being completely preventable, the big firms in Wall Street chose to ignore the oncoming fall in favor of making money. Michael Lewis introduces characters—men outside of the Wall Street machine—who foresaw the crisis and, through several different techniques, were able to predict how and when the market would fall. Lewis portrays these men—Steve Eisman, Mike Burry, Charlie Ledley, and Jamie Mai—as the underdogs, who were able to understand and act upon the obvious weaknesses in the subprime market. Lewis’s overall point is to demonstrate how the Wall Street firms were manipulating the market. They used loans to cash in on the desperation of middle-to-lower class Americans, and then ultimately relied on the government to bail them out when the loans were defaulted. Using anecdotes and interviews from the men who were involved first-hand, the author makes the case that Wall Street, and how they conducted business in regards to the subprime mortgage market, is truly corrupt beyond repair, and the men he profiles in this novel were trying to make the best out of a bad situation. By having the words from the sources themselves, this demonstrates Lewis’s search for the truth behind what actually happened. Ultimately, we as an audience can not be sure if the intentions of these underdogs were truly good, but Lewis does an admirable job presenting as many sides to the story as possible. The central thesis of the work is that the subprime mortgage crisis was caused by Wall Street firms pushing fraudulent loans upon middle-to-lower class Americans that they would essentially not be able to afford. Several people outside of Wall Street were able to predict a crash in the market when these loans would be defaulted on, and bought insurance to bet against the market (essentially, buying short). Over a time period from roughly 2005-2008, the market crashed and huge banks and firms lost billions of dollars, filed for bankruptcy, or were bailed out by the government. These men, the characters of Lewis’s novel, were able to bet against the loans and made huge amounts of money, but it was not quite an easy journey. Michael Lewis is a non-fiction author and financial journalist. He has written several novels—notably Liar’s Poker in 1989, Moneyball in 2003, and The Blind Side in 2006. Born in New Orleans, he attended Princeton University, receiving a BA degree in Art History. After attending London School of Economics and receiving his masters there, he was hired by Salomon Brothers where he experienced much about what he wrote about in Liar’s Poker. He is currently married, with three children and lives in Berkeley, California. SUMMARY PROLOGUE: POLTERGEIST Michael Lewis begins his tale of the remarkable—and strange—men who predicted the immense fall of the housing market by immediately exposing himself as the exact opposite type of person from them. He explains to the reader that he has no background in accounting, business, or money managing.

The Libranos: What the media won’t tell you about Justin Trudeau’s corruption


Ezra Levant - 2019
    You just can’t trust the media anymore, and Canadians know it.Trudeau wasn’t properly vetted by the media in 2015. He slouched across the finish line on the strength of his last name and Baby Boomer nostalgia for the Trudeaumania of the 1960s. The result has been an incompetent government that has hurt Canada’s prosperity at home and our relationships abroad.Canadians know something is desperately wrong — the latest polls show 63% of voters disapprove of Trudeau’s leadership. But with a full-court press from the Liberal Party, the Media Party and hundreds of third-party campaign groups (including some funded by the same Media Party journalists who will report on the 2019 election) there’s a good chance Trudeau will be re-elected, even if it’s with just a minority.That’s what this book is about: it’s really the case against Justin Trudeau. But it’s not about any one policy or gaffe. It’s about the real risk of Trudeau: the culture of corruption and cronyism that he has brought with him, that’s corroding our democracy and even our rule of law. The Libranos is the story of grifters and scammers and secret favours for friends. It’s about sociopaths who don’t hesitate for a second to break the law if it gets them ahead. But mainly it’s about an unaccomplished man who has nothing to offer but a famous last name and nice hair — and how he took power anyway, and might just do it again.

The Real Retirement: Why You Could Be Better Off Than You Think, and How to Make That Happen


Frederick Vettese - 2012
    This reassuring book debunks the generally-accepted claims about necessary savings rates, which can cause paranoia among those beginning to contemplate retirement. The authors offer greater insight into planning approaches that are not widely understood, demystifies retirement targets (age, savings, income), and outlines concrete approaches to maximizing retirement savings.Offers practical advice for dealing with the changes to Canada's retirement system Includes advice for calculating your Neutral Retirement Income Target Contains solid financial advice in accessible language Written by the Executive Chairman and Chief Actuary of Morneau Shepell Canada's national actuarial consulting firm The Real Retirement offers a down-to-earth guide for preparing for comfortable retirement and shows what it takes to achieve it.

The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution


Naftali Bendavid - 2007
    The Thumpin’ is the story of that historic victory and the man at the center on whom Democratic hopes hinged: Congressman Rahm Emanuel, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). Chicago Tribune reporter Naftali Bendavid had exclusive access to Emanuel and the DCCC in the year and a half leading up to the elections and ended up with the story of a lifetime, the thrilling blow-by-blow account of how Emanuel remade the campaign in his own ferocious image. Responsible for everything from handpicking Congressional candidates to raising money for attack ads, Emanuel, a talented ballet dancer better known in Washington for his extraordinary intensity and his inexhaustible torrents of profanity, threw out the playbook on the way Democrats run elections.Instead of rallying the base, Rahm sought moderate-to-conservative candidates who could attract more traditional voters. Instead of getting caught in the Democrats’ endless arguments about their positions, he went on the attack, personally vilifying Republicans from Tom DeLay to Christopher Shays. And instead of abiding by the gentlemen’s agreements of good-old-boy Washington, he broke them, attacking his counterpart in the Republican party and challenging Howard Dean, the chairman of his own party. In 2005, no one believed victory was within the Democrats’ grasp. But as the months passed, Republicans were caught in wave after wave of scandal, support for the war in Iraq steadily declined, and the president’s poll numbers plummeted. And in Emanuel, the Democrats finally had a killer, a ruthless closer like Karl Rove or Lee Atwater, poised to seize the advantage and deliver what President Bush would call “a thumpin.’”Taking its cues from classic political page-turners like Showdown at Gucci Gulch and documentaries like The War Room, The Thumpin’ takes us inside the key races and the national strategy-making that moved the Democrats from forecasted gains of three seats in 2005 to a sweeping gain of thirty seats when the votes were finally counted. Through this masterful account of Rahm’s rout, Bendavid shows how the lessons the Democrats learned in 2006—to fight for every vote, to abandon litmus tests, and to take no prisoners—will be crucial to the party’s future electoral success, and shape the political course the nation will take in the twenty-first century.From the Hardcover edition.