Currently Reading
Posted at 11:08 am on Sunday, March 22, 2009, in Reading, and tagged bush, economics, iran, krugman, terrorism.
Former CIA operative Robert Baer feels that the real terrorism threat lies in Iran, and that the unwillingness and political weakness in Washington and the impotence at the CIA are the reasons that America remains unsafe; after reading his story, it is hard not to see that Baer makes a strong argument.
On to my next book — a collection of columns by Paul Krugman, the best-selling The Great Unraveling…
Image: Amazon.com
There are two things that make my copy of this book different from the image above. First, it includes a fancy shiny sticker that says “Nobel Prize Winner.” Second, it is signed by the author. I received this as a gift from my sister-in-law. I thought about buying and reading one of Krugman’s books the past several months, but I could never choose a specific book, so I was happy that that responsibility has been lifted. Thank you, Edyta.
The content of the book — Krugman’s columns from 1998 through 2004, an indictment of the flawed Bush economic policies — may seem to be outdated in the wake of current financial crises, but based on the introduction and foreword* it seems that the lessons learned from the dot-com bubble were in fact not learned, and the corporate malfeasance that provided such unexplained and irrational exuberance has not been curtailed. The only significant difference is a change in the administration, and hopefully that will be a big factor in the development of long-term changes in our financial system.
* One other reason I love paperback editions of books is the “new foreword or afterword” by the author that is often added, with just a little bit more information that may be useful (sometimes critically so) since the publishing of the hardcover edition.
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March 23rd, 2009 at 9:43 am
i’m assuming you meant “incompetence”………unless he’s suggesting that the cia needs to start filling tubs of cialis to help make us safe??
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:50 am
@”dont post this” – No, I meant impotence.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:48 am
[...] finished reading the Krugman book yesterday. I was on the train, and it was windy. Krugman laid out several arguments against the [...]