Free-to-trade

I found this book to be very informative. I would recommend it to anyone new to the industrial marketing arena or to anyone looking to fortify their current editorial coverage. Before this book there were few resources for marketing professionals!

It's obvious that Bruce Wiebusch has experience in the business-to-business trades. His insights are specific and his examples descriptive and to the point. In a world where getting visibility for your product or service is important to the growth of your company, Bruce's book cuts through the mire and provides practicle solutions that are immediately useable. Any company -- small or large -- would benefit by reading and re-reading this book. If you want to truly "Maximize Your Company's PR Campaign", I suggest getting copies for your marketing and sales staff! Knowing how the system works, means getting the most out of your time and efforts. I actually send copies to prospective clients. --A happy customer

Too often marketing professionals are given the undaunting task of getting exposure for the company they represent. In many cases, these people do not have a clue as to what the press is looking for therefore many opportunities are missed.

Bruce Wiebusch helps solve this puzzle by looking at the situation from both sides of the desk. Anyone who is involved with the promotion of a company or its products should read this book. Just as important would be for editors of the trade press to be clued in as well as they need to read how reality can be beneficial to their jobs and their integrity.

A great read!

Bill does an extraordinary job depicting the Zapatista rebellion and the political scene. excellent corrolation between struggles in different states in Mexico and Cental and South America.

This book ties together over 500 years of Mayan history and places the current conflict in its accurate historical and cultural setting. Unlike many of the current videos and some books that have been published on Chiapas and surrounding areas of Mexico since the Zapatista uprising, the author has done the extensive research needed to sort out a very complex conflict. I have traveled much in this area of the world and I immediately recognized the social and political landscape described within these pages. I cannot say this about all the books in the recent spate of Chiapas and Mayan scholarship.

I've followed Bill Weinberg's writing for years and have the highest regard for the veracity and insight of his work...

Written in a concise, well-argued style, the book offers a deep and critical analysis of the controversies of globalisation. Went systematically reviews major approaches to globalisation, and offers an original, historically and socially inspired vision of the global change. The text provides plenty of ground for those dissatisfied with the reductionist economistic formulas of globalisation. It critically examines complex issues of free trade and capital movements, structures of accumulation and their social, politico-economic and historical elements. Well-timed and exhaustive in its overview of literature, the book would be an invaluable addition to reading lists of both researchers and students of global political economy and social sciences generally.

Excellent! Semmels' 1993 book is a historical overview concerning the origins of theories on imperialism from the time of Adam Smith's 1776 "Wealth of Nations" to J. Schumpeter's 1919 classic "Imperialism and Social Classes", which already demonstrates the outline and shape discussions on imperialism would take into the present. This work is of lasting historical value, there is informed and intelligent discussion on subjects and topics ignored by most other works dealing with the theme of imperialism. Semmels writes of the four major traditions of analysis on imperialism; the classical economists or liberal idealists, the social theorists, the national economists, and the Marxists. Each attempts to explain the phenomena of imperialism along characteristic lines. While evaluating the merit of the views set forth by each school, Semmel is careful to point out how these school borrow from one another in their construction of a "political demonology" of feudal aristocrats, usurious bankers, and industrial capitalists and merchants who push for empire and war. Semmel's conclusion is that the complex phenomena of empire isn't easily explained by any theory that serves a political agenda as much as it tries to explain certain facts. This is a timely work that will add much to intelligent discussions on American foreign policy.

"The Race To The Bottom" fails to deliver on it's shock-value title.

Author Tonelson provides considerable detail that demonstrate the
increase in job exports from US, yet still concludes that "of the
1990s, manufacturing wages ... grew ... 2.9 percent after adjusting for inflation" - pg. XIII. It was GREW, not shrank.
On page 48: "large influxes of legal and illegal imigrants into the United States have forced many of America's loweset income workers into a race to the bottom of the wage scale". Note that the AVERAGE worker is in fair shape. Finally, on page 137: "The race to the bottom is only the worst and most important symptom, not the cause, of the global economy's problems."

The main thrust of the facts presented betray the book's title:
that dispite the truth that job export has had a deflationary
effect on US wages, those wage losses have been minimal. The facts presented would better name a book "downward wage pressure" - but of course that title would not sell many books.

Not a waste of time, but by itself this book paints an incomplete
picture. "The Dollar Crises" by Richard Duncan is better, and with "Tommorrow's Gold" by Marc Faber fill the most of void. Add
"Globalizaation and It's Discontents" by Joseph Stiglitz and a
much clearer view is created of the crazy world economy that we
must deal with.

I found this work to be significant in that the title and the content described clearly the global trade dynamic which we find our selves in today. I'd heard George Gilder a few years back tell a gathering of telecomm executives that they were caught up in this very dynamic; many of them have already lost that race and are no longer with us.

Mr. Tonelson's research is clearly evident in this book. He has done the heavy lifting(analysis)needed to make considered and substantiated statements about something a complex as the impact of global trade on our quality of life in this country.

I recently read "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" by Thomas Friedman and thought it a good counterpoint to "The Race To The Bottom."

"The Race To The Bottom" is richer in the numbers and is focused on us, while "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" is the more subjective and places the subject in a global and human context.

I highly recommend both books, however if you want solid facts before solid impressions, I'd say read "Race To The Bottom" first to get a good sense of "what." Then read "The Lexus And The Olive Tree" to figure out the "why" of it all.

My thanks to both authors.

This book details the depressing details of globalization, and debunks the promises of free trade, like Mexico being a huge market(it isn't), most workers that lose their factory jobs would get new and improved high tech jobs(they haven't), and we'll do the high tech stuff and the Third World will do the low tech(not true). We are living in an age where business can relocate almost anywhere. Our corporations are dumping our highest paying jobs overseas and/or importing Third World workers to do them (like Indian programmers). The result is a slowly sinking standard of living. Between mass immigration and globalization it appears we may be at the beginning of a new age of poverty.
For "fun" scroll down to the first review of the book, down to the guy that gave it one star (apparently after reading only part of chapter one). Print it out and keep it with this book. After you read the book, re-read his review and then see if you can answer the question: What planet are the globalists living on?
This just in: According to NPR, one of the last textile factories in the US closed on October 22, 2002. It was a fancy high-end shirt factory in Maine. It had been in business for decades. The women there worked so fast that their hands were just a blur. Not fast enough apparently, as they couldn't compete with the sweat shops of the Third World. (NPR said "foreign competition") Some of the women had worked there for twenty years and cried when they left. I seem to remember the globablists saying that foreigners only took jobs Americans didn't want. Perhaps those women were just crying tears of joy.

As a person with a wheelchair-bound relative, I found it to be a very informative book. It was well written, easy to read, and I liked its conversational style. It was filled with details that only people who are actually in a wheelchair would know or appreciate. It is obvious that the author has based her writings on personal experience. I also thought that the diagrams and house floor plan were excellent.

I had to read this book for a Business course. Larsson meanders through the chapters, dropping and picking up points like a stream-of-concience dictation. While his Pro-globalization points are good, he disregards the arguments against globalization as if they are irrelevant. The point of the book could be made in about half the pages, especially if Larsson would leave politial bashing out.
If you want to explore the issues of globalization to make your own decision on whether you agree with it or not, choose something else, or supplement this book heavily. It's a little boring, but may be useful once you have the background on globalization.
If you have a background in business, don't waste your time with this book. The arguments are based almost soley on Macro and Microeconomics 101 priciples.
If you are looking for fuel to support your Free-Trade fire, this book will provide you with many supportive case studies. You have my blessing to read this book.

Check out the cato institutes site, much more interesting and cheaper.
Then rememember who funds cato. Maybe if they'd just come out of the closet that their ideology and analysis is slanted by contributors it wouldn't be side. Check their contribution page, too. No cheapo's are allowed.
The old truism rears it's ugly head: "He who calls the piper calls the tune." especially when it comes to politcal economy.

The world was more global prior to WWI than it is now. All industries have flourished and been rescued as a result of keynesian policies and government intervention. All the buzzwords flying around mean that labor and wages will be further destabilized and thrust downward, all in the name of returns on bonds and stock knockers, the part of the economy that receives the most welfare and protectionism. A stable, productive, and well-paid working class make for a strong economy. This one proposes slight variants on the current pyramid scheming. Should be called something along the lines of "health and happiness through starvation."

From 73 to 97 productivity went up some 37% while wages fell 14%. Fool's progress. This is the trend that people who thrive on this would like to see continue. If this is you then you'll like this book.

The book is a good read, however, there is too much focus and evidence on Asian countries. This may be due to the author's obvious familiarity with the region. However, this renders the evidence for his case rather skewed and less colourful. Also, the book gets off the track occasionally and loses its touch with the argument for globalization. Frankly, I am not sure whether I liked the book overall or not as I have a feeling that the arguments could have been put forward in less space. I wish it was written in a more succinct way.

Folks use your common sence and save the 12 bucks on this one. This book would be good for any one under 16, but for even the
most sheltered adult this book will be a waste of your time. Good Luck

A general summary of how to start and run a store, almost common sense. Not very use full in terms of marketing and customer service. Based on an 'American' way of running a large size store instead of a boutique store.

This book provided a good overview for some one looking to get started in the retail business. I would caution readers that much of the information is directed more towards a retail business that will be located in a mall setting, not necessarily a stand-alone or downtown located specialty or boutique shop. With that in mind, it certainly provided good personal advice and insight.

There is a germ of a good book in here. It needs to be whittled down by 50% and the characters need more personality. It has some excitement in the trading scenes, but you have to slog through worthless stuff to get to them. For example, we go through a long, dull chapter describing a visit to the narrator's mum, hear a description of his father, his father's death, etc. and it really is all for naught. I hope his other books are better. Maybe if he read some Hammet or Hemmingway he can pick up some pointers on how to make the prose more efficient.

Thrillers set in real worlds are often the best escapism, I find. But not this time. Why? Because Ridpath's leaden writing deprives his setting of any real blood or believability. The result is rather tedious, because you'll find it very hard to care what happens to any of the hollow characters involved. A very over-hyped thriller...

Ridpath did an excellent job of weaving information about financial markets and trading into a mystery that spans the globe from London to Phoenix. He did a great job of portraying the people caught up in the bond and borrowing industry, and the ethical dilemmas they face. I would heartedly recommend the book.

I would put the book on par with Dick Francis and Grisham.

If you are looking for a decent critique of Friedman, that goes beyond a rehash of the leftist, elitist, collectivist nonsense that only plays in the ivory tower world of college campuses, as opposed to the real world, then don't look here. Not an original idea in the entire boring, poorly written, pathetically reasoned diatribe.

If you studied economics, or more importantly, critical reasoning in college, you will be very disappointed in this hackneyed effort.

Make no mistake, the Friedman statist economics is certainly not immune to criticism. This just isn't it. It's almost like you're in a time warp swept back to the age of Ricardo, Marx and other collectivists with absolutely no memory of the total discrediting of that theoretical nonsense by the real world over the past 50 years.

Am still trying to understand the critique of capitalism as "failure" in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea where the people are demonstrably freer, certainly better off economically, and with real prospects for steady improvement in their lives than most other people throughout the world.

I mean where do you knuckleheads see a better life, the state managed economic paradises like Nigeria, Kenya, Burundi, Argentina, or maybe Brazil? Get real. Friedman at least is right in that sense: freedom is the single most important factor in improving the quality, and importantly, the length of ones life. And capitalism is the only economic system consistent with individual freedom. But the free market does not mean that an imperial Federal Reserve must exist to "plan" (read: control) your economic life.

Of 12 reviews of this book at this time, 5 are 5 stars, 1 is 4 stars and 6 are 1 star. It is clear that this is a book you will either love or hate. If you have already decided that laissez faire capitalism is the best of all possible systems, don't read this book; you will hate it.

As for myself, I have a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University, and was committed to the idea that free markets/free trade is the best solution for all economic problems -- this is the basis of current economic theory. I chanced upon a book entitled Economics and World History: Myths and Paradoxes by Paul Bairoch. One of the chapters shows that historically, free trade has the opposite effect of the one that I had been led to believe in graduate school. Among many historical examples presented, Bairoch showed that the colonies did very poorly under a free trade regime. I was extremely puzzled at this contradiction between historical experience and theory. I asked some of my mentors about this, and was even more surprised by their reactions. In graduate school we studied only theory, with virtually no relation to actual economic history, and my mentors, well known professors at distinguished universities, seemed fairly unfamiliar with history and seemed to think it irrelevant. Their attitude struck me as pre-scientific; one decides on a priori theoretical grounds that the heavier stone will fall first and never bothers to actually drop two stones and check whether or not it is true.

After this failure of my colleagues to reassure me of the validity of neoclassical views and rebut Bairoch, I started investigating the validy of this model on my own. In the process I read this book and found it very enlightening. It contains enough data to convince one who is open minded that the free market model does not actually work in practice, great as it appears in theory.

It's interesting to see that after the historical record of the past few decades, nicely put together by Rayack, monetarism and his apostle Friedman are still enjoying some popularity here and there around the world. I guess it's mostly due to the power of the corporate rulers of the world, pumping enormous money into their propaganda apparatus staffed by political commissars mistakenly called economists.

It's their job to instill in minds like that of Jerroldd the belief that, for example, South Korea flourished thanks to laissez faire economic policy while abundant evidence points to the contrary. It seems characteristic that Jerroldd doesn't even try to refute a single claim that Rayack makes. Instead, he resorts to vague cliches about academic Left, supposedly out of touch with reality. Ironic, isn't it?