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Reading for the Holiday Season
It's the holiday season. Everyone is making their lists and trying to figure out what kinds of gifts to give. Sometimes, a book is great.
Frequently, while out on the speaking circuit or at seminar, people ask what book I would suggest for them to read that would give them a better understanding of what's going on, not just in the stock market, but in the overall economic world. Well, here are some books that I think would make great gifts.
At the top of this year's reading list, if you missed it (it came out last year), is a book I've discussed on the radio and at seminar titled, The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter from the New York Times. Friedman's premise is that almost everything that is happening worldwide today concerns globalization. He says that globalization is not just a phenomenon or a passing trend, it is an international system that has replaced the Cold War system. Globalization is the integration of capital, technology and information across national borders in a way that is creating a single world, like it or not. You really can't understand today's news, how to invest your money or the world in general unless you understand the new system, which is influencing the domestic policies and national relations of every country in the world. Friedman dramatizes the conflict of the "lexus and the olive tree," the tension between the globalization system and the ancient forces of culture, geography, tradition and community that also still exist. He says that to find a proper balance between the lexus and the olive tree is the great drama of this globalization era. Some catch phrases include, "If the Cold War had been a sport, it would have been Sumo wrestling; if globalization were a sport, it would be the hundred-yard dash, over and over and over again." "The symbol of the Cold War was a wall which divided everyone; the symbol of the globalized world is the World Wide Web, which unites everyone." "During the Cold War we reached for the Hotline between the White House and the Kremlin, a symbol that we were all divided, but at least the two superpowers were in charge. In the era of globalization, we've reached for the Internet, a symbol that we are all connected, but nobody is totally in charge." The book is fast and very enjoyable reading.
The next book is entitled The Fortune Tellers, by Howard Kurtz, who is the media reporter for the Washington Post. Kurtz reports from inside the Wall Street media machine, with its bitter feuds, cozy friendships and whispered leaks that move markets. Kurtz exposes the disturbing conflicts of interest among the brokerage analysts and the fund managers whose words can make or break stocks. If you're involved in the stock market, and names like Ron Insana, Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs, Jim Cramer and Abbey Joseph Cohen are familiar to you, then this book will make for a delightful "gossipy" insight into the people who move markets by analyzing and reporting on them.
The other book for this year, I have to admit I haven't read yet but soon shall. It is titled Maestro: Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom, by Bob Woodward, who is now the number-two man at he Washington Post. Could there be anybody more fascinating today than Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan? Arguably, he is the most powerful man in Washington and the true architect and maintenance man of our economic boom over the last dozen years. I cannot believe that the combination of subject, i.e., Greenspan, and writer Woodward will be anything but terrific.
A repeat from last year includes: A Piece of the Action, by Joseph Nocera. The subheading on the book cover is, "How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class." Forty years ago, you must remember, "credit" was something most people had to jump through hoops to obtain. Savings went into the bank; investing was for the rich. Today, we use credit cards without thinking. We put our money into money markets, short-term bonds and mutual funds, and fully expect them to outperform the S&P 500.
Joe Nocera reveals how two humble inventions, the credit card and the mutual fund, opened the financial world's doors to the middle class.
Bottom line, any of the above-mentioned books would make enjoyable reading for a person trying to gain more insight into the financial and economic world around us.
(Tom Butenhoff is a First Vice President with J. E. Liss and Company, Inc.
in Milwaukee. The views are his, and not necessarily those of Liss
Financial Services or the Job Connection/Hiring
Network.)