Publication Date:September 4, 2008 Availability:Usually ships in 1-2 business days Shipping:Expedited shipping available Condition:SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION.
Product Description David Smick keeps a low profile, but experts consider him one of the most insightful financial market strategists in the world. For more than two decades, he has conferred with central bankers (such as Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke) and advised top Wall Street executives and investors, from George Soros to Michael Steinhardt to Stan Druckenmiller. Political leaders (from Bill Bradley to Jack Kemp) have regularly sought his policy advice.
The World Is Curved picks up where Thomas Friedmans The World Is Flat left off, taking readers on an insiders tour through the private offices of central bankers, finance ministers, even prime ministers. Smick reveals how todays risky environment came to beand why the mortgage mess is a symptom of potentially far more devastating trouble. He wrestles with the two questions on everyones mind: How bad could things really get in todays volatile economy? And what can we do about it?
Drawing on riveting anecdotes in language anyone can understand, Smick explains:
Why the churning cauldron we call China (the next great bubble to burst) represents a powerful threat to everyones pocketbook How Japanese housewives have taken control of their nations savings, and why it matters to us How greed-driven bankers and investment bankers have put everyones pensions and 401(k)s at risk Why todays incredible shrinking central banks may not be able to save us when the next crisis hits Why the big-money Russian, Chinese, Saudi, and Dubai sovereign wealth funds represent a tectonic shift in global financial power, away from the United States, Europe, and Japan Why the world desperately needs a big think financial doctrine to guide todays dangerous ocean of money
The World Is Curved is the rare book that speaks simultaneously to the Wall Street, Washington, and London elite, yet its apt storytelling shows Main Street readers how to survive in these turbulent times.
Not because of content....December 2, 2008 I wouldn't know whether this book is good or not. The reader seemed adequate, if not terrific. But, 3 of the first 5 discs had flaws and skipped and sputtered and made whole sections incomprehensible. We had a car trip ruined.
AARP Crash Couse in Estate PlanningNovember 25, 2008 Excellent overview of a complex subject. Relatively easy to read with lots of examples.
All the endorsements are a mystery to meNovember 16, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Based on the endorsements for this book I assumed I would be getting an in depth description of how international finance worked and maybe a clue as to why so many were worried about trade deficits and the possible demise of the dollar.
Instead, what I got was more boosterism about free trade, globalization, and entrepeneurship - and warnings to politicians to not mess with this glorious world. No nuance. Very shallow.
Why it received so many prominent endorsements is a mystery to me. Rather than educating, the book just promotes political viewpoints. I would not like to see free trade disrupted, but I have read all his arguments a hundred times before.
BubbleNovember 13, 2008 The book is an almost timely look behind the scenes at the world's financial bubbles. It was published after the subprime crisis but before the collapse of Wall Street's investment community. The author attempts to justify the continued practices of this community while calling for inspired attempts to regulate it. He has no real suggestions on how this could be done. He defends the system as moving people out of poverty in great numbers defined by those who no longer live on less than $1 a day. I would suggest that living on $2 a day is no less a reasonable definition of poverty.
World Economics for Dummies 101ANovember 12, 2008 The world is curved is filled with easily understood facts and figures but will astound the unknowing person. We are being kept in the dark by the drive by media and this book will shed light on our faultering economy. This is a good read.
