Customer Reviews
Overly Biased - By: M. Murdoch, 22 Oct 2008 
This is one of those books that preaches to the converted. There are many unspoken assumptions used within the books (commerce = bad, risk=bad, regulation=good, profit=evil).
If you agree with them it's fine, but you can see some significant examples of double standardsin terms of challenging sources (believing lefty people more than righty people).
Some good points, but overall quite difficult to read if you don't agree with the authors' original viewpoint.
Excellent analysis of a system in crisis - By: William Podmore, 31 Jul 2008 
In this brilliant book, Larry Elliott, the economics editor of the Guardian, & Dan Atkinson, the economics editor of the Mail on Sunday, explain why the economy isin such a mess.
Previously, strong unions, progressive taxation, managed trade & controls on capital & immigration produced higher living standards for the majority. As the authors note, "A fifth factor, immigration controls, also contributed to rising real incomes of blue-collar workers." Now the opposite policies are producing stagnant or falling incomes, massive debts, tepid growth, & soaring income inequality & economic insecurity. Workers are subjected to material losses & moral uplift. GB plc is not a decent industrial company but a dodgy hedge fund.
Elliott & Atkinson blame what they call the twelve gods of globalisation - communication, financialization, privatisation, liberalisation, competition, & their partners speculation, recklessness, greed, arrogance, oligarchy & excess. They show how the Labour party, the European Commission, the IMF, the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation & the International Court of Justice have all embraced these gods. As the authors note, bodies like the EU "far from being essentialin order to exercise some sort of control over large companies ... look rather more like being essential to the simplification of large companies' dealings with political authorities."
The present crisis arose because US companies promoted enormous `ninja' loans to those with No Income, No Job or Assets. So US household debt is now three times the economy's annual output, the highest proportion since 1929. Two million insolvent borrowers means insolvent lenders, builders & hedge funds. Every previous crashin the US housing market has led to a full-blown recession & this one will too, largely because the US economy has relied not on increased production but on growing debt. Its productivity has grown less since 1973 than it didin 1947-73 & it created no more jobs between 2000 & 2005 than anywhere else.
Elliott & Atkinson show how the Treasury, its Financial Services Authority, & the Bank of England all failedin the Northern Rock debacle which signalled the start of the crisisin Britain. Their answer was to nationalise the losses & privatise the profits. The authors sum up finance capitalists' plight, "They have to borrow money from the public purse because their system does not work."
Instead, Elliott & Atkinson urge a New Populism focusing on a real-world agenda of jobs, living standards & securityin retirement. Its aims should be to subordinate finance to industry, establish personal & social security (mainly by providing high-quality pensions), enhance democracy, curb the semi-detached super-rich, strengthen the professions, value social stability above market efficiency or shareholder value, & reaffirm the liberty of the person.
They urge protection for our industries, tighter controls on lending & credit, splitting retail from investment banking, smaller banks, proper vetting of all financial products, higher taxes on hedge funds & private equity partners, & deregulation for smaller businesses & the self-employed.
This is a bold set of proposals, whose implementation would go a long way towards saving industry & rebuilding Britain. Those who worship the twelve gods would, of course, fiercely resist, & it would take the strength of the organised working class to make this New Populism work - but we could do it.
Market meltdown coming to a town near you... - By: Daniel A, 07 Jul 2008 Having read the authors' previous effort 'Fantasy Island', which was a well written, if devastating, critique of New Labour's failed agenda, I must admit to being a little disappointed with their latest book. Not so muchin terms of what they are saying - which I believe to be another accurate assessment, this time of the the economic mess the Western World is in, indeed just how much worse things are likely to get - & it isn't looking good - butin terms of style. They have chosen to use metaphor instead of just straightforwardly making their case, relying on a comparison with the 12 Greek gods, thoughin place of Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena & so forth, we have globalisation, liberalisation, privatisation & competition etc. The problem with this approach is that it is very cumbersome & hard to pull off. It would be a challenge for any creative writer, let alone a couple of economic journalists. As a result, the book is very stodgy and, at times, hard to follow.
That said, if you are struggling to understand why the Government, the City & a whole range of related institutions are suddenly starting to panic; why the property market is falling through the floor; & why America, the UK & much of Europe are facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, but are unsure of what all the fuss is about then this might be the book for you.
Accurate diagnosis - By: Dr. Nicholas P. G. Davies, 03 Jul 2008 This is an important book. It's a follow on from Fantasy Island but this time it's a fantasy world.
The book begins slowly with a forensic deconstruction of current problems. It's detailed, & not the easiest reading. However it summarises down to the fact that money has been created & lent beyond the worth of assets & incomes. The scale of this, & the hiding of itin obscure off balance sheet transactions, is a scandal, that will come home to roost. Inevitably there will be a devaluation from such financial recklessness. The USA & UK are particularly vulnerable to this "correction." We will be paying for the problems created for many years to come.
The authors suggested remedies are at the back of the book (last 15 pages out of 310)
I found this book's argument convincing. I liked the author's set of suggested remedies. I recommend this important book to other readers. And may it send shivers down Mr Brown & Mr Darling's spines.
