Tell me your best book recommendations to understand the current economic crisis:

[undeterred]

I'm unemployed, I got time.

[ZombieHorde]

1. Everyone Poops by Tarō Gomi. nt

[tama]

2. Couple recommendations

Top Soil and Civilization
free pdf from:
http://www.soilandhealth.org/copyform.asp?bookcode=010113

John Michel Greer
http://www.newsociety.com/Books/L/The-Long-Descent
http://www.newsociety.com/Books/E/The-Ecotechnic-Future

GARDEN PLANET: The Present Phase Change of the Human Species by William H. Kötke
http://www.rainbowbody.net/Finalempire/gardplan.htm

[undeterred]

5. Thank you!

:hi:

[tama]

9. Did you know that

the word 'school' comes from the Greek word 'skhole' that originally meant leizure time? Time to study, think and just be.

Your wellcome!

[CrispyQ]

3. Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klien - a disturbing read.

Also, tpsbmam put together this excellent post with links to complete articles by Michael Hudson: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1787200

[socialist_n_TN]

15. That's mine too. Especially if you're just looking

for a modern overview. For something a little deeper, try Howard Zinn's "The People's History of the United States".

[undeterred]

17. I read Klein's book last year

but its the only thing I've read. Thanks for the link.

[marmar]

4. 13 Bankers by Simon Johnson & James Kwak

http://13bankers.com/

[undeterred]

13. Looks interesting.

[indypaul]

6. Greenspan's Fraud - Ravi Batra

Sub Title "How Two Decades of His Policies
Have Undermined The Global Economy"

Publisher-Palgrave McMillan 2005

Author: Ravi Batra - Prof of Economics Southern Methodist Univ. Dallas, TX

[Javaman]

7. 1984. nt

[undeterred]

10. WAR IS PEACE.

Watched the movie on TV recently. Depressing as shit.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. Zombie Capitalism: Global Crisis and the Relevance of Marx

by Chris Harman

[Skink]

11. Treasure Islands

Shaxson

Learn all about offshore finance.

[Agony]

12. books

David Cay Johnston "Perfectly Legal" and his newest one( I think) "Free Lunch- How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves and Stick You With The Bill"
Nomi Prins "Other Peoples Money"
Ha-Joon Chang "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism"

Prins and Chang both have written other good books that I can't remember right now....

enjoy? Is that the right thing to say when recommending books about how screwed we are?

Cheers! (anyway)
Agony

[HopeHoops]

14. "The Gas We Pass"

http://www.amazon.com/Gas-We-Pass-Story-Science/dp/1929132158/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314035159&sr=1-1

[undeterred]

16. All the good titles are taken.

:rofl:

[HopeHoops]

20. Nobody has mentioned "Go the FUCK to Sleep" or "Once Upon a Potty" yet.

[undeterred]

26. great titles, but I don't have litle ones

[HopeHoops]

36. I bought "The Gas We Pass" as a gift for my (now late) grandmother.

She thought it was hilarious. I received it back after she passed away.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. Catch-22 Follow Milo Minderbinder's schemes to understand how our economy works.

The part about renting out our bombers to the Germans to bomb our own airfields is pretty good example of how business is conducted here.

[Ezlivin]

19. "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins

While not directly applicable to this country's economic problems, it does show the hand we've had in "controlling" the economies of other countries.

Warning: Do not read it in conjunction with Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" lest ye give up all hope.

[undeterred]

25. I've heard him interviewed but never read the book.

[in_cog_ni_to]

37. Ditto! Economic Hit Man is a MUST read. It explains it all....how we got where we are

and why the world hates us.

[Fuddnik]

21. Democracy Incorporated by Sheldon Wolin.

Subtitled, "Managed Democracy and the specter of Inverted Totalitarianism.

One of the most important and eye-opening books I've ever read.

And right now, I'm reading Chalmers Johnson's "Dismantling the Empire". And it has a lot of references for other good reads.

Chris Hedges, "Death of the Liberal Class".

"The Big Short"

"The Shock Doctrine".

"Griftopia".


And if you've never read it, Howard Zinns, "A peoples History of the United States, 1492-Present. That's probably the most important book I've ever read.

As you can see, I have a lot of free time too.

[undeterred]

27. Thank you.

Reading is a better way to spend time than watching tv or arguing on a messageboard.

[mrdmk]

22. 'The War at Home', by Jack Rasmus year 2006

<snip from the preface>

Corporate America and its numerous pundits and talk-show mouth-pieces are quick to point fingers and charge 'class war, you're advocating class war', whenever anyone writes or speaks up about the Corporate Offensive against workers and their unions today. Accusations of class war are levied at the slightest criticism of the radical restructuring of jobs, wages, the retirement system, taxes, healthcare, and civil liberties currently underway today -- restructuring begun by Reagan two decades ago and now accelerating even more rapidly under George W. Bush.

'Class war' has become the economic 'N-word' for Corporate America and Bush apologists. But like a discrete racist who acts but dares not say it, Bush and his corporate contributors have been engaging increasingly in then very thing. Class War, they so readily decry.

That practice of Class War has become so blatant of late that even notable figures within Corporate America itself have raised a note of concern. Someone no less than Warren Buffet, the multi-billionaire and one of the richest men in America, in his most recent annual letter to the stockholders of his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, was compelled to point out "if class war is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning".

In the pages that follow, The War at Home unapologetically attempts to describe and analyze the major elements of that economic class war being waged today in the U.S. against American workers and their unions.

<end of snip>

Not a easy read, but full of information, statistics, and quotes from people who did what they did and why they did it...

[CatholicEdHead]

23. A History of American Labor - Rayback

http://www.amazon.com/History-American-Labor-Joseph-Rayback/dp/0029258502

It helps understand all the ups and downs of Labor from colonial days to the end of the 1950's. The same economic forces are going today and the push and pull between labor and capital.

Edit:

This one is also on my to read list.
http://www.amazon.com/Anti-Intellectualism-American-Life-Richard-Hofstadter/dp/0394703170/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314037761&sr=1-1

Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, from 1964. As all around us even in economic terms the smarter you are the more you are disdained by groups with power (Tea Party).

[Bragi]

24. "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

http://www.amazon.ca/Big-Short-Michael-Lewis/dp/0393072231

[undeterred]

28. Kicking for evening crowd!

:kick:

[Fool Count]

29. Karl Marx' "Capital: Critique of Political Economy"

It is a bit dense to tackle on your own, but there are some good companion books, i.e. by David Harvey
(http://www.amazon.com/Companion-Marxs-Capital-David-Harvey/dp/1844673596/). David Harvey's website
(http://davidharvey.org/) also has a series of 13 lectures on the subject.

[undeterred]

30. Read it in grad school

but that was years ago...and my professor always said they should have paid him more and it would have changed history.

[Fool Count]

33. Then you can try "The Enigma of Capital" by David Harvey

for a contemporary Marxian analysis of the current crisis: http://www.amazon.com/Enigma-Capital-David-Harvey/dp/1846683084

[undeterred]

35. Thank you, I will!

[Uben]

31. Foreclosure for Dummies by Uben Scrude nt

nt

[Zanzoobar]

32. Sneetches

It will teach you everything you need to know about human frailty.

The ending will teach you how frail and false are the solutions we employ to resolve our problems.

[DireStrike]

34. ABCs of the Economic Crisis

http://monthlyreview.org/press/books/pb1955/