Review of On the Edge of Certainty: Philosophical Explorations (Hardcover)

It is unfortunate that Tallis' views seem to be rather obscure compared to the large piles of tripe put out by people such as Dennett, Dawkins, Foucault and the Churchlands.In the series of essays contained in this book Tallis mehodically dismantles many aspects of both modernism and its antithesis, post-modernism.

Both have needed to have their fundamental frameworks laid bare but few have been able to cut through all the self-grandizing hyperbole to really go for the jugular.Tallis' essays demonstrate his wide range of knowledge and very perceptive views.

The first essay, "Explicitness and Truth (and Falsehood)" is worth the price of the book alone since it brings to the fore how the nature of truth itself has been obscured and twisted to suit modernism and post-modernism.Not only does Tallis' argument lay bare the problems but this is one of the few philosophical works that is quite readable.That is, Tallis' tone and style make this book quite enjoyable to read.

The "A Critical Dictionay of Neuromythology" neatly debunks the interesting variations on definitions readily invented by authors such as the Churchlands and Dennett.I suspect they will bluster and perhaps produce some responses but the true nature of their arguments, incoherence, shines forth after reading this work.

I enjoyed Tallis' references to Wittgenstein and the critique of de Saussure in addition to the other essays.Throughout the book Tallis displays a quiet brilliance that will hopefully be recognized by others in the philosophy of mind.

Enjoy.



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Review of The Impact of the Euro: Debating Britain's Future (Hardcover)

This is a fascinating collection of articles on the vital question - should Britain enter the euro? Nine economists evaluate the economic and policy implications of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Three somewhat atypical representatives of business - Stephen Davies of the Institute of Directors, and the Lords Haskins and Simon - discuss its likely effect on British firms. Couldn't they find anybody from manufacturing industry?

Unfortunately, the editors include only two trade unionists, both of whom support EMU. Why didn't they find someone to speak for the majority of trade union members who oppose it? Finally, four MPs discuss its effect upon national sovereignty.

The contribution by John Edmonds, the GMB's General Secretary, is most revealing. He argues for conditionally supporting EMU. Yet he admits, "The tendency in any negotiations is for conditions to be successively stripped away until all that remains is a stark position of support covered by a few words of threadbare rhetoric." Quite!

The editors write that entering EMU "is intended to be a one-way shift towards future economic integration." But that is not all that EMU means: Edmonds openly says that he wants to `achieve extensive political union'. That is why he supports our entry into the euro: the euro was, until recently, the key motor for driving us all into the single European state that the EU's leaders all want.

Blair has now had to accept that he cannot presently win a referendum on the euro. However, this does not mean that he will respect our wishes in future. The EU's leaders can advance on many different fronts and employ many different devices to form a single European state: the Euro-army, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Corpus Juris, a single taxation policy, etc.

The majority of the British people do not want to enter the euro. Doesn't democracy have something to do with what people want?



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Review of Rethinking Globalization(S): From Corporate Transnationalism to Local Interventions (International Political Economy) (Hardcover)

This book is an interesting mix of articles that represent various versions and views of what is termed as globalization. Most other treatments of globalization as a phenomenon, look at it from a businessstandpoint and view it as a normatively desirable state of affairs. Themain appeal of this book is that it presents contrasting viewpoints and inthe process throws light upon some of the pitfalls that might be associatedwith such blanket acceptance of the business version of"globalization" as a normative end-state or at least anunstoppable trend. One of the key insights that I derived from this bookwas the ability of each one of us to shape the future of globalizationrather than to accept it as industrialization, marketing and technology onthe rampage. Business people who seek to develop insights intoglobalization would gain a lot from reading this ecelectic mix ofperspectives and realizing that this is one phenomenon that business schoolresearchers may not be able to put in a two by two matrix.



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Review of The Eurosceptical Reader 2 (Hardcover)

This excellent collection of essays on the EU looks at the economics and the politics of the European Union; it finds the EU to be failing on both counts.
Tony Thirlwall explains why the euro would not bring a stable interest rate to aid our industry, nor would it curb the speculators: a single currency may end speculation within euroland, but it increases capital flows between euroland and everywhere else, threatening the euro's stability and therefore interest rate stability.
Mark Baimbridge, Brian Burkitt and Philip Whyman provide a characteristically sharp study of the European Central Bank. They note that the OECD says that for the industrialised economies, the natural rate of unemployment, below which inflation will accelerate, is 11%. So for the Bank, "the focus of monetary policy becomes to ensure, in practice, that unemployment is sufficiently high to reduce price and wage increases." The present level of unemployment across euroland is 11%, so this must be an EU success story: why aren't we applauding?
They show that Britain is not meeting the five tests. The EU's economies are diverging, as Wim Duisenberg has admitted. We have more economic flexibility than euroland does; investment into Britain is rising, the City of London is flourishing, and unemployment is lower than in euroland.
On the political side, many of the essays prove that the EU wants the euro to lock members forever into the planned EU state. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said, "The introduction of the euro was not only the crowning-point of economic integration, it was also a profoundly political act, because a currency is not just another economic factor but also symbolises the power of the sovereign who guarantees it."
And it would be a most undemocratic state, as even the Euro-fanatic Michael Heseltine admits: "The ... notable characteristic of present political arrangements is that they are about as ineffective and unaccountable as they could be ... the institutions themselves are totally incapable of adjusting to that change. We have federalism by stealth ..." Unaccountable, incorrigible, deceitful - he could be describing himself! No wonder he loves the EU.



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Review of Reforming Boston Schools, 1930-2006: Overcoming Corruption and Racial Segregation (Palgrave Studies in Urban Education) (Hardcover)

I worked for Boston Public Schools in the 1970's..It was just as tunmultous and political as this book describes.
Mr. Cronin was obviously there and knows the past problems and the recent breakthroughs.
i recommend that everyone interested in city schools read this important history of the movs improved urban school system in America.



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Review of BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World (Hardcover)

At a time when recession promises another culling of the on-line business world, Brand Digital offers both a survival guide for brands at risk and a consolidation guide for strong brands seeking to exploit weaker competitors.

Grounded in interviews with over 100 industry leaders, this book provides valuable context for the shift we have seen from the internet as a transactional medium to its new role as a relationship medium.In many industries the internet is now the primary medium for interacting with customers.Adamson walks the reader through the many levels of customer relationships the digital world offers for your business and brand.His first piece of advice is the digital equivalent of "Get out of the office and into the field talking to customers" (my phrasing not his). Adamson gives sound practical examples of the many ways managers in various industries are using the internet to engage with and learn from their customers outside of the transaction process.

Adamson then walks the reader through techniques for how to take what they learn on-line from customers and use it to hone product or service strategy, surrounding information services, brand image, and marketing strategies.He explores how to process the stream of customer information and make the trade-offs required for a focused, clear product strategy and brand image.Finally, he gives practical advice on making customer learning and product/brand refinement a continuous, evolving process. Many concrete examples from various industries keep the theorizing limited and the simple, practical ideas front and center.

The only shortcoming is that one would normally expect more visual content (charts, pictures, etc.) in a book about the visually-intensive digital world.But this small shortcoming is outweighed by the exceptional content of this book.

Net/net, an extremely valuable read for those who want to emerge from the recession with deeper relationships and stronger brand images across many more customers.




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Review of The Keynes Solution: The Path to Global Economic Prosperity (Hardcover)

Paul Davidson has done a remarkable job of explaining John Maynard Keynes' key insights, most of which he first introduced to the world in his seminal 1936 "General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money."Unfortunately, for Keynes, that book is fairly impenetrable, so the general public is essentially unaware that the economics movement that bore his name (i.e., "Keynesian") is, in fact, a synthesis of the classical economics that Keynes rejected and Keynes' less controversial ideas.In other words, Keynes' own name was hijacked by what were, essentially, classical economists.

This book is an easy read and easy to understand because it uses the recent economic crisis to compare and contrast neoclassical economics (best exemplified by Milton Friedman and the Chicago School) to true Keynesian economics.If you really want to understand Keynes' insights in detail, pick up a used copy of Anatol Murad's "What Keynes Means," which is a fantastic primer.

If you are interested in reading other accessible economics books by heterodox economists, check out Steve Keen's "Debunking Economics."Like Davidson, Keen is a Post Keynesian economist.



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Review of Greenspan's Fraud: How Two Decades of His Policies Have Undermined the Global Economy (Hardcover)

Ravi Batra is a Professor of Economics at SMU Dallas TX. This very readable book is partly about Greenspan's career in government, and politics, but mostly about the economic policies of the last three decades. Batra explains how the Federal Reserve has impoverished most Americans to enrich the wealthy, and attacked the middle class to benefit Big Business.

Chapter 1 tells the real impact of Alan Greenspan, how he unwittingly effected a global crash and spread economic misery (p.5). Greenspan's [...] swindled millions of families (p.6), while he benefited from his tax policies. Chapter 2, one of the most important, explains the [...] that was used to raise Social Security taxes in 1983 and then squander this money on tax cuts for the wealthy (p.12)! Greenspan's [...]was that he helped to raise payroll taxes, then sought to lower Social Security benefits (p.36). Chapter 3 discusses Greenspan's worship of "free profits" (p.48). Adam Smith was against mergers of competitors, and government regulation to restrict competition (p.50). The fallacy of Classical Economics is they could not account for depressions of falling output and rising unemployment (p.60). Batra explains the fallacy of "Supply Side Economics" (pp.68-70). Chapter 4 explains "Greenspan's Intellectual [...]" (p.74) as deceiving an audience by using fake or selective data for monetary gain. Greenspan saved the country from a Reagan Depression in 1987 by flooding the markets with liquidity (p.91). Afterwards he raised interest rates to regain this money and prevent inflation (p.92). Chapter 5 reports the global effects of Greenspan's policies. The 1981 tax cut led to soaring interest rates and a steep recession (p.123). Cutting the interest rate resulted in higher stock prices (p.136). The bubble of speculation inevitably burst (p.139).

Chapter 6 notes that economic theories can't explain the causes of a stock market bubble (p.141)! Batra says it is a mismatch between supply (productivity) and demand (wages and debt). When wages are high from productivity there is prosperity without a crash (p.143). Stagnant or falling wages create unemployment (p.146). Expansionary fiscal policies create a debt that comes due (pp.147-148). Regressive taxation and low wages create a global crisis. Chapter 7 explains how the income tax rate affects our standard of living. Reagan's tax cuts created a giant budget deficit and high interest rates (p.169). Clinton's raised income tax rates was followed by relative prosperity. Bush lowered the top income tax rate, which always hurts the economy and stunts economic growth (p.173). Chapter 8 documents another of Greenspan's [...], the claim that minimum wages create unemployment. This lie has been proven wrong since 1935. Greenspan wants increased immigration to keep wages down (p.191)! High money growth causes inflation (p.192).

Chapter 9 discusses the trade deficit, which could cause the budget deficit (p.199). A country that exports goods has a trade surplus, one that exports services or farm products has deficits (p.204). Prosperity comes from manufacturing (p.205). Regressive taxation has forced a gap between wages and productivity (p.214). A regressive value-added tax makes it worse. The merger mania results from a lack of competition and the desire for monopoly control of output. Chapter 10 tells how Greenspan's policies changed but still aimed at the economic destruction of the middle class (p.217). Most Americans have seen a drop in their living standards since 1973 (p.219). Regressive taxes, higher health insurance, and lowered pensions make it worse (p.220). The effect is rising bankruptcies, mushrooming debt, and a drastic decline in the household savings rate (p.221). Countries with ultra-regressive taxes like VAT (value-added taxes) experience the same slow growth and higher unemployment (p.229).

Chapter 11 lists the needed economic reforms. Batra lists the top-ten problems that need fixing (p.236). Returning Social Security to a pay-as-you-go system will benefit the economy (p.240). An ethical economic policy benefits all of us, an unethical economic policy creates massive debt and increasing poverty (pp.244-245). Batra lists 6 reforms for wages and taxes to bring back prosperity (p.247). A separate export exchange rate will benefit manufacturing (p.251). Reducing the wage gap will reduce recessions, inflation, and poverty (p.253). The long-run cure for economic imbalance is economic democracy (p.255). [But his proposals seem to idealistic, and lack the checks and balances needed in the real world. Batra does not mention that these regressive policies came about after Nixon's devaluation of the US dollar in 1971.]





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Review of Exchange Rate Regimes: Fixed, Flexible or Something in Between (Hardcover)

A wonderful guide with all the basics to understand the different kinds of exchange rate regimes and the challenges they pose to different economies.



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