893. "The Economists’ Hour" by Binyamin Appelbaum – 5 Stars

The Economists’ Hour by Binyamin Appelbaum – 5 Stars

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

ISBN: 9780316512329

This was like an interesting page-reader novel. Just when, after decades of investing and studying the economy, my world turns around. My heroes are no longer quite the heroes as I imagined and my enemies gained some credibility. It is so easy to believe the so-called gurus on TV for every comment they make, particularly when other TV personalities start quoting the same errors. Along comes this book with footnotes and references galore that fairly presents the history of the economy and the players, recognized economists, presidents, and world money managers that affected the world and U.S. economy.

Keynes was one of the most accepted economists of old whose ideology was followed by the world – in general, the velocity of money governed the economy. But Milton Friedman presented strong enough theories himself that instead it was the volume of money or monetarism that was the key control of the economy. Just when these two certainly not entirely correct economists, others insisted that tax cuts were the key to influencing the economy. President Reagan had captained that premise way back in the 50’s and it didn’t catch hold by economists, even Friedman, until the boat sailed back and forth through the limitations of the other ideologies. Reagan wasn’t the first to lower taxes, though his Reagonmics is highly touted.

Who did what when and their successes and failures are covered in this fine book.  In my opinion after reading this and in the process of rereading it, all contributed something, started something, and messed up something else. But, read this to learn what they did do and didn’t. It appears each had less success than failure, no one had demonstrated a theory and practice that worked entirely and as expected, and each struggled for decades with the government for some level of implementation. Which presidents stood in the way, which ones built administrations to erect hurdles? Where do Volker, Greenspan, Benanke, Yellen, Laffer and Schultz excel or fail? Who are all the players and manipulators of the economy? Was Reganomics implemented and as easily and successfully as we’re constantly reminded?

I like a summary statement by the author in its Conclusion: “If you have taken anything away from this book, I hope it is the knowledge markets are constructed by people, for purposes chosen by people – and they can be changed and rebuilt by people.” Believe me, you’ll gain a lot of history and how people influenced the economy that should be helpful to understand how to invest both short-term and long-term. The names in past now mean something to me and I now possess the knowledge of their actions and struggles. Kudos to Mr. Appelbaum for an excellent book.

Reviewer: Rich