Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country Review

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(More customer reviews)One might think of William Greider's "Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country" as "Central Banking for Poets." If you've ever scratched your head in wonder when reading how Alan Greenspan and the Fed have "lowered interest rates" or are "easing monetary policy," this book will be extremely enlightening and well worth the time it will take you to plow through all 700 plus pages. If (like me) you majored in economics, you'll be surprised how much better Greider is in explaining arcane economic theory than your college professors (and you'll probably learn -- or re-learn -- quite a bit in the process).
The focal point of the book is the celebrated and controversial tenure of Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker (1979-1987), but the mechanics of central banking so clearly and concisely explained are just as much applicable today as in 1980 - or 1950 for that matter.
Greider divides the book into three more-or-less equal thirds. The first covers the inflationary surge of the 1970s, Carter's tenuous decision to appoint Volker, and Volker's radical move of abandoning the control of interest rates in favor of controlling the nation's money supply. (In other words, a shift from the Keynesian orthodoxy dominant in the post-War period in favor of a monetarist approach more in line with the theories of the iconoclastic economist Milton Friedman.) The second, and most informative third provides an historical overview of central banking and its development in the United States. For those solely interested in a better understanding of central banking and the US Federal Reserve in particular, this book will be worth your while even if you only read this middle section. The final third deals with Volker's punishing monetary policy during the early 1980s, as he attempted to destroy lingering anticipation of inflation and the incredibly simulative effects of the Reagan era federal deficits and tax cuts.
Greider is highly critical of Volker's performance as Fed chairman. In short, he argues that far from being the independent and benevolent Shepard of the economy it often claims to be, the Fed, in practice, is beholden to its most powerful constituency: the major money-center financial institutions (i.e. Citibank, Bank of America, etc.). Traditional central bankers view combating inflation as their primary professional objective, which tends to favor creditors at the expense of debtors. Grieder suggests that in waging war on inflation the Fed in effect was waging war on the millions of ordinary Americans struggling to make end meets and keep their heads above water.
Whether you agree with his conclusions or not, Greider's "Secrets of the Temple" is exhaustively researched, expertly written, and extremely enlightening.

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The Return of the Great Depression Review

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(More customer reviews)Admittedly, I didn't know what to expect from this book. I am a frequent reader of Vox Day's blog, and do find his views on a variety of topics both insightful and thought-provoking. However, having read a number of "Doom and Gloom" predictor books in the past, only to have the author's assertions not only fail to come true, but their methodology proven eminently suspect.
The first thing that stands out about this book is the delivery. It's fluid, conversational, and devoid of economic jargon that permeates most books on the subject. The book also exhibits none of the haughty arrogance displayed in books more suited for overworked graduate students of economics than public consumption. The graphs illustrate and illuminate rather than confound and confuse. There are ample anecdotes used to illustrate Day's points. Having read von Mises' "Theory of Money and Credit", "The Anti-Capitalist Mentality", "Socialism", and Rothbard's "America's Great Depression", "Return of the Great Depression" is about as easy to read and understand as Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson".
As far as the book's content goes, it's thoroughly researched and uses cites numerous sources to illustrate his points. Though Day is a student of the Austrian School of economics, the manner in which he methodically examines the historical events and the personalities involved displays no trace of any personal bias. That isn't to say that the book itself is devoid of his own viewpoint, rather, it is to say that he makes it tacitly clear where the line between the "science" of his deconstruction of history ends and where his personal opinions begin. His expertise on economic metrics and their application is exemplary. In my opinion, the portion of the book that discusses the utter uselessness of economic metrics published by the government alone should be photocopied and given out to any student enrolled in an undergraduate economics course.
In conclusion, whether you're an ardent student of economics, or merely the kind of person who wants to learn a little more about how we wound up in our current economic situation and how to decipher what the media pundits are really saying about unemployment, CPI's, and GDP, you will find this book quite enlightening.


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In this sophisticated yet readable book, Vox Day - one of the few economics writers to predict the current worldwide financial crisis - explains why it is likely to continue.

Day shows that the policies being pursued in Europe, Asia, and the United States are very similar to Japan's failed policies of the past twenty years and, therefore, doomed to similar results. According to Day, the economic theories behind those policies are flawed and account for why most economists were unable to anticipate the recession or see that their expectations of an imminent recovery are incorrect. Day applies a different theory, the one he used to predict the current crisis, to show that the world is in the early stages of a massive economic contraction. Then he turns to the six scenarios presently envisioned by the world's leading economists and assesses which is most likely to unfold. As the title suggests, Day concludes that the most probable scenario is a Great Depression 2.0 that will be larger in scale and scope than that of the 1930s.

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The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World (Little Books. Big Profits) Review

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(More customer reviews)Greg Ip's Little Book of Economics frames current economic issues in an
easy to read and understandable fashion. It combines economic theory
with real world conditions. Ip provides context to the credit market
crisis, the Great Recession, and to the painfully high unemployment of
recent years. The book also explains in a non-technical fashion the role
of the Federal Reserve, the factors that are considered in the
formulation of policy, and the many unconventional policies of the
Federal Reserve employed during the crisis. I have assigned this book to
my Money & Banking class at Rutgers as a complement to the regular text.
Feedback from the students has been uniformly favorable. I strongly
recommend The Little book of Economics for those with an interest in
connecting the dots between theory and practice, for students who
are looking for purpose in economic theory, and for the more general
reader looking for the forest beyond the financial news trees.


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One positive side-effect of the recent financial market meltdown that toppled giant, century-old institutions and cost millions their jobs is that it created a strong desire among many Americans to better understand how the U.S. economy functions. In The Little Book of Economics, Greg, Ip, one of the country's most recognized and respected economics journalists, walks readers through how the economy really works.
Written for the inquisitive layman who doesn't want to plow through academic jargon and Greek letters or pore over charts and tables, The Little Book of Economics offers indispensible insight into how the American economy works – or, doesn't. With engaging and accessible prose, the book
Provides a comprehensive understanding of each aspect of our economy from inflation and unemployment to international trade and financeServes as an insider's guide to the people and institutions that control America's economy such as the Federal Reserve and the federal budgetExplains the roots of America's current economic crisis and the risks the country faces in its aftermath, such as stratospheric government debt, while offering advice on overcoming these threatsWalks readers through the basic concepts and terminology they need to understand economic newsPunctures myths and political spin from both the left and the right with candid and often surprising insight

A must read for anyone who wants a better grasp of the economy without taking a course in economics , The Little Book of Economics is a unique and engaging look at how the economy works in all its wonderful and treacherous ways.

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