Review of Banking in Asia: The End of Entitlement (Hardcover)

As a marketer of technology products to the financial services industry, I found this text extremely useful in developing a go to market strategy for Asia.Excellent qualitative analysis and suprising amount of quantitative detail.The best (only) overview for anyone wanting to understand financial services in the countries of the Asia Pacific region.



Click Here to see more reviews about: Banking in Asia: The End of Entitlement (Hardcover)

Review of A Term at the Fed: An Insider's View (Hardcover)

There is no question that the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) is the world's most powerful institution, even stronger than the United States military. The members of the board understand this power, and follow an effective code of secrecy concerning their plans. However, representatives of the board are regularly required to speak in public, even testify before Congress. Therefore, Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Fed, has raised the art of obfuscation to a level never seen before. I have watched tapes of him testifying before Congress and have never been exactly sure what he is saying. Apparently, this trait is so ingrained in him that when he proposed marriage, his wife wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about.
Laurence H. Meyer served a term at the Fed from 1996 until the end of January, 2002. Therefore, he was there during the incredible boom of the late nineties and the economic downturn of the early years of the twenty-first century. This enormous contrast in economic performance means that the debate within the Fed, as related by Meyer, covers the entire range of positions.
In the early years, the debate was always about whether to raise rates, in order to stave off the possibility of inflation. During most of that time, Meyer and Greenspan were on opposite sides of the discussion. Greenspan took the position that the incorporation of new technology was causing a dramatic increase in productivity that was not reflected in the economic data. Meyer did not believe this until the data forced the conclusion.
The core of the argument was the value of NAIRU (Non-accelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment), an economic statistic that is not universally accepted to say nothing of having ever been accurately measured. It is the level of unemployment considered the bound, where if the rate drops below the NAIRU, then employers are forced to increase wages in order to attract and retain workers. The end result will then be a strong inflationary pressure. It was very illuminating to read Meyer's account of the discussions inside the Fed regarding whether this "mythical" value had indeed been reached. Those discussions reveal a great deal of what actually goes on inside the Fed and how so much of their work is on the order of reading the tea leaves. While the consequences of their actions are very practical and dynamic, it also shows that the governors are sometimes forced to rely on unproven economic theories to make their decisions.
The last years of Meyer's term were spent in cutting interest rates, as the economy began to enter a deep slide. In this case, the discussions were completely different, with the theory now being based on deflationary models. Deflation is what occurred in the depression of the thirties and in Japan in the nineties. Prices begin dropping, leading to purchasing being delayed, hoping for a better price. If a feedback loop begins, it can be disastrous, considered even worse than inflation. The governors of the Fed became concerned about that possibility, and the arguments were now over how much to cut interest rates and how fast to do it.
Those who are hoping for a juicy expose of dramatic arguments or revelations about personalities will be disappointed with this book. There is very little about Alan Greenspan that was not already known and the arguments between the Fed governors are described as being quite tame. In some ways the descriptions seem too tame. Human nature and the major consequences of their actions dictate that the discussions would be carried out more passionately than Meyer describes.
I commend Meyer for his approach in writing this book. So many of the books written by former government officials are "explanations" of why they were right and so many others were wrong. They are filled with as much dirty linen as possible, without really explaining how decisions were arrived at. Meyer describes how things were done at the Fed, how it is run under Greenspan and how decisions were made. While he does criticize Greenspan, it has none of that spiteful tone that so many others use. Therefore, if you really want to know how the Fed makes the decisions that drive the world economy up or down, then this is the book to read.



Click Here to see more reviews about: A Term at the Fed: An Insider's View (Hardcover)

Review of Biography of the Dollar: How the Mighty Buck Conquered the World and Why It's Under Siege (Hardcover)

Craig Karmin's new book, "Biography of the Dollar," explores a world that most of us in America take for granted - the world of currency.So, what's so important about the currency?My answer to that is simple- everything.

A free-flowing, stable currency is what makes all trade possible- both domestically and internationally.A lack of confidence in the underlying value of a currency can bring entire economies to a screeching halt.The results can be devastating- life savings are wiped out, hyperinflation can take root, debt is defaulted on, investment dries up.It can take decades for economies to recover.

If you're like me, you probably haven't given much thought to these issues.Because, as Americans, they seem to be such remote possibilities.But are they . . . ?

Karmin's book does an excellent job of informing the reader of how the US Dollar is created, distributed and used not only in the United States; but, throughout the world.Karmin covers many aspects of the Greenback- from printing (it costs 5.7 cents to print one) to foreign government's hoarding (60% of the dollars in circulation are overseas) to lending and interest rates (thank China, not the fed, for keeping US consumer borrowing rates low).

Karmin also brings to light the intense pressure that the Dollar is under every day from seemingly all sides:

-the U.S. Government's unwillingness to balance the budget,
-Asian and Middle Eastern countries growing less interested with "subsidizing" the value of the Dollar,
-the solidifying of the Euro as an alternative global currency, and
-the U.S. consumer's never-ending desire to "borrow-and-buy" their way through life

All of these factors have already played out to a certain degree in the declining value of the Dollar over the past couple years.Will the trend continue and how far will it go?Those questions are explored as well.

I highly recommend that anyone read this book- it is an eye opener without getting technical (economist-types will miss their I-L-S-M diagrams)- and it poses all the right questions to get American's thinking about the implications for the future- whether that be as vital as national security or as trivial as the cost of a hotel room in Paris.




Click Here to see more reviews about: Biography of the Dollar: How the Mighty Buck Conquered the World and Why It's Under Siege (Hardcover)

Review of Global Banking (Economics & Finance) (Hardcover)

A great book. Exciting to read, clearly written and full of practical insights into global banking.Discusses tenable strategies for financial firms world-wide and contains insights that are difficult to find anywhereelse.The authors taught a course based on this book at INSEAD and thebook retains the liveliness and rigor of that excellent course.

A mustbuy for anyone connected with or interested in the structure and strategiesof global finance firms.



Click Here to see more reviews about: Global Banking (Economics & Finance) (Hardcover)

Review of The Prudential Regulation of Banks (Hardcover)

This book is useful both for economic and legal analysis of financial institutions.It provides a plausible model to explain the corporate mechanism of a commercial bank, taking into account shareholders', lenders' (depositors'), and regulators' incentives. Although it does not provide any analysis of statutes or codes of banking laws, the model is simple enough to consider any rules in banking industry, from law and economics point of view, both domestic and international.It also provides brief analysis of specific financial schemes, such as scuritization, market value accounting, and more.Anyone who is interested in banking industry will find it worth spending several hours to at least scan through the content of this book.



Click Here to see more reviews about: The Prudential Regulation of Banks (Hardcover)

Review of Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We Can Fix It!) (Hardcover)

Dorgan argues that leaving the free market unchecked is like driving a car without brakes, and asks "if these companies (banks, auto firms, AIG, etc.) are too big to be allowed to fail, why weren't they big enough to be regulated?" Now with the latest takeovers, the U.S. has four banks controlling one-third of all our bank deposits.

By January, 2009, over $8 trillion of taxpayer money had been used to help big financial institutions. During that period some of the same institutions were paying big bonuses - overall, they're year-end results totaled $35 billion of losses, and $18 billion in bonuses.

One of the worst decisions that contributed to today's reckless finance was the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act that repealed the ban on banks investing in securities and real estate. (Earlier legislation that allowed S&Ls to invest in higher risk real estate brought the 1987 S&L Crisis.) Senator Phil Gramm was the major Congressional force behind the change, but it also was supported by President Clinton (signed it), and made worse by President Bush II's choice of willfully blind regulators and a Federal Reserve Chairman (Alan Greenspan) blinded by the ideal of a self-regulating market. Then in 2004, Henry Paulson, Chairman of Goldman Sachs, helped convince the SEC to allow banks to use greater leverage.

Other problems include "no-doc" and teaser (no payments for up to a year, ARMs, interest-only) loans, brain-dead rating firms, low Federal Reserve interest rates (partly to counteract an earlier recession and the inflationary effect of both an Iraq War and major tax cuts), and remarketing of sub-prime loans that appeared to spin gold out of chaff.

Home-equity helped fuel personal consumption in the middle of the new millennium's first decade - $310 billion/year from 2004-2006. Government borrowing exceeded $2 trillion in 2008, and it's expected to be higher in 2009. Meanwhile, we continue with $700-800 billion in trade deficits as well. Dorgan contends this cannot continue.

Government regulators in the last ten years sat by while Enron, Madoff, Tyco, and the MCI WorldCom scandals blew up. Commodities trading is another scandal waiting to explode - Brian Hunter controlled 70% of natural gas on the NYMEX in 2006, without CFTC awareness. Dorgan also attributes last-year's $147/barrel oil to speculators running amok, but offers no substantiation.

The top 1% of households own 38% of the nation's wealth; the bottom 60% own 4%. Warren Buffett pays 17.7% of his annual income in payroll and income taxes, vs. 32.9% as the average of others in his office. The rich should pay more - per both Buffett and Dorgan.

Corporations, until 2004, bought and leased back municipal assets (eg. sewer systems) to allow them to depreciate the assets and lower their taxes. Corporations now only pay about 10% of federal taxes.

Dorgan says he's thinking about a VAT - the advantage is that it can be eliminated for exported products and would make U.S. companies more competitive. (The bad news is that a VAT is VERY regressive in its impact.)

Dorgan realizes we're in a bit of bind regarding the millions of illegals already in the U.S. Before solving that problem, he believes we need to secure our borders and go after companies that hire illegals. Dorgan has nothing to say about curing our job outsourcing problem - that was covered in his prior book, "Take This Job and Shove It."

My one criticism of "Reckless" is Dorgan's treatment of health care. Dorgan does recognized the need for reform, and suggests greater emphasis on prevention, improved personal responsibility (don't smoke, better diets), lower drug prices (aka other nations), less drug advertising, etc. Dorgan, however, doesn't seem to realize that normal workforce-turnover, coupled with a multi-payer system, undermines financial incentives for prevention. In addition, he doesn't come out for a single-payer system - others claim it would reduce expenditures by about 10% (less overheads), nor does he bring up the enormous regional variation in health care practice that, if reduced, could save billions and billions more.



Click Here to see more reviews about: Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We Can Fix It!) (Hardcover)

Review of International Economic Indicators and Central Banks (Wiley Finance) (Hardcover)

If you need to understand how central banks function in the major economic markets around the world (European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada, and China), this book is for you.You might invest in overseas markets, your company might be working with overseas partners or considering expansion to new markets, or you might simply be interested in better understanding the economic events you read in the news.For us, Anne Dolganos Picker has done a wonderful service with this book.

In the first part of the book (the first seven chapters), she gives us an overview of central banks in the world today and then a specific chapter on each of the six central banks being discussed.We learn a bit about their history, their independence (or not), their transparency (or not), what they have been charged with doing (price stability or currency valuation or whatever - they are not all the same), if their objectives have been changed over time, and their track record over time in achieving those objectives.

The second part of the book looks at the economic indicators used by those various central banks in making their decisions and if those indicators are available to the public, by subscription, or not at all (China being the most closed).The United Kingdom is the most open while others are open or closed to mixed degrees.It is important to understand what these banks are tasked with doing, what their favored indicators are in order to try and get a feel for what actions they are likely to take.

Another reason to learn about these indicators is that even measures with the same names such as GDP or CPI are defined differently in different countries.For example, the unemployment rate in Germany is reported two ways, by the way the Germans measure it and by the European standard.This is because the country and the EU define employment differently.Base years for these measurements are not synchronized around the world, either.This can make comparability of changes in these measures difficult to compare without careful adjustment.

I found the book fascinating and was pleased with how clearly the author wrote the book.This subject could have easily melted down into impossible to understand jargon, but she kept it surprisingly lively.Appendix A is a terrific list of the key indicators by country and the issuing agency for each indicator (and if they are available on the web).Appendix B compares the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) used by the United States versus the System of National Accounts (SNA) used in most other countries.Appendix C discusses the various Industrial Classification Systems (which have a big impact on the usability of certain manufacturing and labor statistics and for comparison across nations).And there is a very useful glossary and index.

This is a terrific book and I am glad to have it on my shelf and expect to refer to it with regularity.



Click Here to see more reviews about: International Economic Indicators and Central Banks (Wiley Finance) (Hardcover)

Review of International Economic Indicators and Central Banks (Wiley Finance) (Hardcover)

If you need to understand how central banks function in the major economic markets around the world (European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada, and China), this book is for you.You might invest in overseas markets, your company might be working with overseas partners or considering expansion to new markets, or you might simply be interested in better understanding the economic events you read in the news.For us, Anne Dolganos Picker has done a wonderful service with this book.

In the first part of the book (the first seven chapters), she gives us an overview of central banks in the world today and then a specific chapter on each of the six central banks being discussed.We learn a bit about their history, their independence (or not), their transparency (or not), what they have been charged with doing (price stability or currency valuation or whatever - they are not all the same), if their objectives have been changed over time, and their track record over time in achieving those objectives.

The second part of the book looks at the economic indicators used by those various central banks in making their decisions and if those indicators are available to the public, by subscription, or not at all (China being the most closed).The United Kingdom is the most open while others are open or closed to mixed degrees.It is important to understand what these banks are tasked with doing, what their favored indicators are in order to try and get a feel for what actions they are likely to take.

Another reason to learn about these indicators is that even measures with the same names such as GDP or CPI are defined differently in different countries.For example, the unemployment rate in Germany is reported two ways, by the way the Germans measure it and by the European standard.This is because the country and the EU define employment differently.Base years for these measurements are not synchronized around the world, either.This can make comparability of changes in these measures difficult to compare without careful adjustment.

I found the book fascinating and was pleased with how clearly the author wrote the book.This subject could have easily melted down into impossible to understand jargon, but she kept it surprisingly lively.Appendix A is a terrific list of the key indicators by country and the issuing agency for each indicator (and if they are available on the web).Appendix B compares the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) used by the United States versus the System of National Accounts (SNA) used in most other countries.Appendix C discusses the various Industrial Classification Systems (which have a big impact on the usability of certain manufacturing and labor statistics and for comparison across nations).And there is a very useful glossary and index.

This is a terrific book and I am glad to have it on my shelf and expect to refer to it with regularity.



Click Here to see more reviews about: International Economic Indicators and Central Banks (Wiley Finance) (Hardcover)

Review of Money, Banking and Financial Markets (Hardcover)

The book I received was exactly what I was expecting!Would definitely do business with again.



Click Here to see more reviews about: Money, Banking and Financial Markets (Hardcover)