Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

In this book, the author argues that the entire modern financial system - that is, fiat money, central banks, fractional reserve banking, and so forth - is, in fact, a vast centuries-long conspiracy aimed at the formation of a global socialist government. In spite of the apparent absurdity of this premise, I read the book. To be fair, I will grant that the author has researched many of the topics well, and at times makes some valid observations about the consequences of poor monetary policies, both in the US and abroad. That being said, he also (in the tradition of conspiracy theorists everywhere) selectively ignores all evidence that contradicts his theory. For example, he attributes that fact that the overwhelming majority of economists dismiss his claims as being due to their "indoctrination" in graduate schools controlled by the conspiracy. The author also invents impressive-sounding terms - the "Mandrake Mechanism" and the "Rothschild Formula", for example - which appear to add nothing to his argument, save for the veneer of academic credibility. Unfortunately, anyone versed in economics will quickly see that there is nothing magical, hidden, or revolutionary in any of the ideas that the author has "discovered". One thing I found particularly irritating about the book is the author's apparent fascination with the effects of inflation - he seems to believe he has discovered something incredible in that an inflating currency loses purchasing power with time. In addition, he seems to regard this as a fundamental crime against humanity, and spends much of the book ranting about it. He does not, however, seem to give any thought to the economic effects of *deflation*, and seems to think that a perfect dream world of absolute price stability would occur if only we embraced his ideas. In summary, this book is somewhat entertaining, but written by someone with little grasp of modern economics, and is filled with selective data omission and logical fallacies. Like most conspiracy-theory cases, it sounds credible on the surface, but crumbles under real scrutiny. The real danger of books like this is that persons unversed in the nuances of the topic may embrace these ideas blindly, and make poor decisions - both as individuals and as voters - as a result.