|
Title: Rogue Economics: Capitalism's New Reality
Purchase
Item
Manufacturer: Seven Stories Press
List Price: $24.95
Our Price: $14.60
|
|
| Customer Reviews: |
| Rogue Economics: Capitalism's New Reality by Seven Stories Press Rose coloured illusions | I'll be honest I have nowhere near the academic depth of the Author, and I to some degree understand the criticisms relating to her subjective analysis, but she's entilted to it (and to the previous reviewer who's unhappy with that--let's hear your take). Not withstanding, the book is a fascinating glimpse into the true reality of our corrupt, venile world, and the way she relates our collective ignorance of it to the illusion portrayed by the movie "The Matrix" has been verified through her impressive research. I'll never again look at this world in the same way after reading this book.
"There is not a righteous man, not even one; there is no one that has any insight, there is no one that seeks for God. All men have deflected, all of them together have become worthless; there is no one that does kindness, there is not so much as one. Their throat is an opened grave, they have used deceit with their tongues. Poison of asps is behind their lips. And their mouth is full of cursing and bitter expression. Their feet are speedy to shed blood. Ruin and misery are in their ways, and they have not known the way of peace. There is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3:1-18
Amen | | Rogue Economics: Capitalism's New Reality by Seven Stories Press Misrepresenting itself, this is not the book it wants you to believe it is. | Loretta Napoleoni is an Italian Marxist who, in her book Rogue Economics: Capitalism's New Reality, makes her case that Capitalism is the cause of all the world's ill's and that the collapse of the Soviet Union, beginning with the fall of the Berlin Wall, was where all our problems started. Globalization and more specifically Capitalism are the villain. Furthermore, Democracy itself is the very root of all evil in the world.
Falsely promoting itself as a rigorous economic study, the publisher attempts to coattail its sales onto the bestseller, Freak-O-Nomics, by endlessly comparing itself to the other on the book jacket and with adjacent product placements. The two books have absolutely nothing in common what-so-ever.
Readers accustom to non-fiction economic writing will find nothing familiar in this book. Any arguments built on facts and an unemotional objective analysis of the data are strangely absent. Little information is sourced.
The book plays on every logic fallacy in the catalog-- straw man arguments, appeals to sympathy, appeals racism, appeals to nationalism, you name it, it's in there. What a piece of trash and a waste of my money.
No surprise that this book is marked down to a blowout fire-sale price here on Amazon. | | Rogue Economics: Capitalism's New Reality by Seven Stories Press Attention! Poor and Downtrodden! Utopia Is Coming Soon! Details Inside! | Whatever happened to all the profound social philosophers? In earlier days, everything about society was explained to you in verbose and turgid prose by, among others, Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and Oswald Spengler. After World War II a number of Jewish thinkers became popular, among them Karl Popper, Hannah Arendt, Elias Canetti, and Arthur Koestler. Alas, these towering intellects, once celebrated for their insight and wisdom, read by undergraduates everywhere, have all fallen into disfavor. Their books lie in the stacks, and on the rare occasions that their names appear, they're mentioned dismissively. The only exception to this neglect that I have come across in my reading is in Loretta Napoleoni's "Rogue Economics," for she quotes the oracles Veblen, Popper and Arendt at length. Not only that, but I have a faint suspicion that she longs for her own pedestal in the pantheon of great thinkers.
A portion of "Rogue Economics" is filled with information about everything that's wrong with the world today. No problem is overlooked or omitted, and all of these new misfortunes and crimes have but one cause -- likewise new -- greed. Greed in the form of capitalism run amok. Most of the topics have been given adequate coverage in the various media -- for instance, the kidnapping of young women in Europe for the purpose of keeping them in brothels or selling them to Arabs or Turks, a practice that was once known as White Slavery, and Mozart wrote an opera, The Abduction from the Seraglio on the subject. But other misdeeds had escaped my attention -- such as the fact that one-third of the fish consumed in the UK is caught illegally. Governments have done nothing to stop this poaching which threatens the remaining fish in the oceans, and this is something that people need to know.
The portions of the book regarding such criminality are certainly worth reading, and more attention should be devoted to all these examples of villainy. But then, the book goes screechingly off the rails as Madame Napoleoni attempts to demonstrate her powers as a great thinker. You see, for each of the world's problems, she has a theory.
A theory? Your bartender has a theory of why things are going to hell in a handbasket, and so does every teamster. One might expect that, given her academic credentials and renown, Madame Napoleoni's theories would be far more sophisticated than those of your cabdriver, and they are, but are they any more accurate or insightful? Are they far more enlightened and sensible? Put your thinking-cap on and be the judge.
Everyone knows that there is a flood of counterfeit and bootleg goods issuing from China. Why are the Chinese doing this? My guess would be that, because few Chinese hold any stock in, or are on the boards of directors of, Viacom, NBC Universal, Warner Chappell (the owners of all music), Gucci, Rolex or other plutocratic entities, it's no skin off their noses (such as they are) if they rip these businesses off. It's pure profit for the counterfeiters, and they can then afford to buy the goods shown in the movies they copy. Does that make sense to you?
If it does, it shows how illiterate and shallow you are, because Madame Napoleoni has a superior, more advanced theory:
"Piracy in China remains a way of economic life inextricably linked to centuries of historical recycling. Once history is written and rewritten to fit the needs of the power of the moment, reality evaporates. The value of its accessories, from works of art to music, from literature to fashion . . . also vanishes, and unique ideas and objects find themselves easily replaced by piles and pyramids of cheap replicas." (pg.108)
Got that? Piracy in China is due to the nation's inaccurate recording of history. (And here, I thought that, until Mao seized power in 1949, Chinese history was actually more accurate than Western history which had been adulterated to fit theology. But then, what do I know?)
You have presumably wondered what the cause of violence at football (soccer) matches is, and if you've given this new conflict enough thought, you have come to the same conclusion as has Madame Napoleoni:
"Football hooliganism is one of the surreal outcomes of globalization. [pg.233-235] . . . Globalization radicalized football fans and spread hooliganism, which in the 1990s became a universal phenomenon. . . . Thus, football became a window into our society as society is a window to football. . . . As described by Popper and Bergson, this retrenchment is a response both to the threat posed by the big, globalized teams . . . and to globalization's message of a homogenized society, where everything local, including football teams, vanishes."
There you have it. Violence from football games is something new, and it is caused by globalization. (The 1969 "Football War" --La guerra del fútbol-- between El Salvador and Honduras doesn't count because . . . because it's not related to globalization, I guess.)
But the Oracle Napoleoni cannot be dismissed as merely another left-wing muckraker. No, it's much worse than that. Those who are against giving humanitarian and developmental aid to the poor nations in Africa will be happy to learn (on pages 196-197) that she is vehemently against giving such aid. " . . . It becomes clear why foreign aid is the true cause of the malaise of Africa: foreign aid is an economic virus as infectious and deadly as AIDS. . . . Far from being the cure, foreign aid has caused the disease. The more money a country receives, the more it sinks into poverty." Such is Madame Napoleoni's talent for subtle understatement, but then, off come the kid gloves when she reveals that what's more, foreign aid "does not bring political stability." How do we know this? Because Kenya and Tanzania received foreign aid, and then, "members of al Qaeda attacked the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, causing hundreds of deaths." What more proof do you need that foreign aid is the cause of all suffering? "Post hoc, ergo propter hoc" must be her motto, and a fine motto it is.
The Oracle Napoleoni apparently admires "The Matrix" series of movies, and she uses them as a metaphor throughout the book. She does not, however, have a high regard for Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code. Why was this book so popular? Shallow thinkers like you and me might assume that people simply found the fast-paced and mildly-educational novel entertaining, but Madame Napoleoni has discerned that there is a deeper and more sinister cause for the novel's popularity -- globalization! "Culture, too, has not escaped this globalization trend. The success of the blockbuster 'The DaVinci Code', for example, well illustrates the appetite for widely recycled art history and religion. . . . historical novels satisfy readers' desire to rapidly consume junk history and culture as an escape mechanism. Culture has become a commercial product . . . Authenticity has become a fugitive because it is encoded in time and not in space." (pg.107)
This last sentence is one of Madame Napoleoni's leaping attempts to create a pithy phrase on the order of Hannah Arendt's "the banality of evil," so be sure to copy that onto a card and paste it in your hat, so the next time someone poses an intellectual question, you can just take your hat off and say, "Authenticity has become a fugitive because it is encoded in time and not in space." Such an unbounded axiom can be dropped into any conversation, and you can follow it up with Madame Napoleoni's theoretical hairsplitting such as the difference between nationalism and state tribalism: "State tribalism is alien to nationalism where the state is constructed around the national identity of its people: that is, the state is an expression of such identity."
If you haven't found all that astonishing enough, there are many more profound jaw-droppers to be discovered in the pages of this book. For instance, you will be intrigued to learn (on both pages 254 and 256) that the one-hundred years preceding World War I were years of peace in the world (apparently Madame Napoleoni has never heard of . . . of . . . oh, never mind), or that "Northern states are actually looking forward to global warming." Most astounding of all is the fundamental cause of all problems. Globalization is merely a proximate cause, but civilization went wrong because of one thing: the fall of the Berlin Wall. This catastrophic event is cited about every 3 to 5 pages and when you read the phrase "the fall of the Berlin Wall" it means that a new predicament is about to be discussed. Curiously, most of these references to the ruinous fall of the Berlin Wall are not listed in the book's index -- such as on page 219, where it is cited as the cause of street-gang violence in Los Angeles.
Books of ordinary muckraking are written to move the reader to howls of indignation over the injustice of it all, and they seldom suggest practical solutions to the wrongs they describe, but this book is exceptional as it offers an antidote to the poison of rogue capitalism. What does The Oracle Napoleoni recommend as a specific remedy to our global grief? You will (I hope) be relieved to learn that she does not advocate rebuilding the Berlin Wall. Instead, she foresees but one hope if mankind is to be saved from the ravages of capitalism run amok, and the only thing that can save us is . . . [cue-in heavenly choir]. . .is . . . [sunrise on camera three] . . . *Islamic finance*!
"Partnership between leaders and clerics . . . serves as the root of Islamic finance. . . . Partnership is the heartbeat of Islamic economics . . [which is] the opposite of Western finance, which revolves around the individual's self-interest.
Above all, Islamic finance represents the sole global economic force that conceptually challenges rogue economics. It does not allow investment in pornography, prostitution, narcotics, tobacco, or gambling. As discussed above, since the fall of the Berlin Wall [!], all these areas have blossomed thanks to globalization outlaws under the indifferent eyes of the market state."
Why will we be better off once we all live under the laws of Islam? Because, "a sharia-compliant product requires a fatwa, or religious edict, from a recognized scholar . . . and its roots are intertwined with the religious pride of being a Muslim. . . . This gives Islamic finance a greater degree of flexibility than traditional Western finance, while at the same time it offers investors a degree of security unknown to Westerners. The ethical issue, central to modern finance, does not arise in Islamic finance because the fatwa clears investment from any notion of wrongdoing."
Although The Oracle Napoleoni does not go into the specific details of exactly how the marvel of Islamic finance actually works, we know it will be wonderful, because anything produced under a fatwa must be good, and the coming utopia she describes far surpasses the "worker's paradise" envisioned by Lenin.
"Patents and trademarks will disappear, reducing capitalism's ancient privileges, giving impetus to hard-working individuals, who will flourish thanks to this form of liberalization. History will lose its shine and be recycled to fit the needs of the moment. The quality of fake goods will improve until it becomes all but impossible to distinguish the original from its replica Western brands' edge will vanish. This simple fact will trigger a massive redistribution of wealth at global levels."
That sure sounds great, doesn't it? Where do I sign-up for this utopia? Will I have to get circumcised first? The only lingering uncertainty I harbor is that over at the nonprofit Transparency International website, where nations are rated as to the degree of corruption in their society, the nations where Islam is the state religion and sharia is the law are rated without exception as among the most corrupt societies on earth. Iran comes in at 131 out of 179 (Somalia), and Malaysia, which Madame Napoleoni hails as the Islamic-finance nation of the future, is shown to be far more corrupt than the USA, Uruguay, or even Italy. Ironically, the least corrupt of all Islamic nations, Qatar, is precisely where many of the kidnapped girls from Eastern Europe end up as the prostitutes Madame Napoleoni laments over at the beginning of the book. (I guess sharia says it's o.k. if they're infidels, huh?)
Thus it is that we starving/dieting masses can rejoice that the Golden Caliphate is soon at hand, and that we will thus be redeemed, but I wouldn't over-rejoice, because Meet the new boss -- same as the old boss.
Highest rating! This is the most amusing book I've read since the fall of the Berlin Wall! | | Rogue Economics: Capitalism's New Reality by Seven Stories Press DeepUnderstanding of Global Economics | I studied social science, majoring in sociology. I thought that I had the "way the world works" sussed until I discovered the writing of economist and writer, Loretta Napoleoni.
Napoleoni's writing has given me a perspective on the global economy that I have never had before.
She gives an understanding that allows one to penetrate beneath the thin veneer of the news that we see in the popular media, into the causes of major world events. I have also read her book, "Modern Jihad, Tracing the Dolalrs behind the Terror Networks which is equally insightful and illuminating. | | Rogue Economics: Capitalism's New Reality by Seven Stories Press Reveals the Despicability of Third World Countries | | This excellent and informative book should serve as a Wake-Up Call to those of us in the west who believe in fair play, honesty and other "obsolete" values. These monsters in China, Iran and other third-world countries will stop at nothing to further their nefarious objectives. Unless we dig in now and prepare for the "Clash of Civilizations" - a clash between all that is right and true and all that is evil and despicable - we will be swept away along our civilization. | | Rogue Economics: Capitalism's New Reality by Seven Stories Press Product Description | Economist and syndicated journalist Loretta Napoleoni argues that the world is undergoing rapid and unexpected great transformations fueled by what she calls rogue economics. Eagerly awaited around the world (translation rights have already been sold throughout Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia), Napoleoni's account is based on top-to-bottom primary-source interviews from banking executives in New York to Russian prostitutes to London morgue workers, and grounded in the author's personal experience in international finance. From Eastern Europe's booming sex trade industry to China's "online sweatshops," from al-Qaeda's underwriters to America's subprime mortgage lending scandal, Rogue Economics exposes the paradoxical economic connections of the new global marketplace. Loretta Napoleoni is the author of the best-selling book Terror Inc.: Tracing the Money Behind Global Terrorism, which has been translated into twelve languages. One of the world's leading experts on money laundering and terror financing, she has worked as London correspondent and columnist for Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, El Pais, and Le Monde. A former Fulbright scholar, she holds a PhD in economics, an MA in international relations and economics from Johns Hopkins University, and an MPhil in terrorism from the London School of Economics. For her work as a consultant for the commodities markets, she traveled regularly to Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and other Middle Eastern countries, where she has met top financial and political leaders. She lives in London. |
No item elements found in rss feed.
|
