Fund-of-funds Books

I am pretty new to investing, but some friends introduced me to Mr. Jaffe's column last year and I felt like he was talking to me. I understood almost everything I read in his column, which was pretty amazing because I never would have told you two years ago that I could have followed any of this stuff.

When I heard Mr. Jaffe had written a book on funds, I figured it was the one for me. I was absolutely right.

It's just like his column (chatty, funny and easy to understand)but much more complete. It told me everything I needed to know about fund ownership in a commonsense way. And I like the idea that I can turn back to this "owner's manual" for help whenever something happens in my funds. (It's a lot easier to handle than that book of column Jaffe clippings I collected.)

This is nice and comprehensive, but chatty and easy to read. I particularly like the way the author has cross-referenced information so that you can skip right to the sections you want to know about, without reading every word that comes before or after. This gives you all the tools you need you get started.

Armen Alchian had written the BEST economics textbook "University Economics" and the BEST price theory textbook "Exchange and Production". These 2 textbooks are better than most of the other microeconomics and macroeconomics textbook because UE and E&P teaches you how to solve your daily problems using economics thinking. Economics is a way of thinking more than a mathematical or charting game. Many of current economics textbook emphasize only on the mathematical technique and mathematical beauty that is totally unrelated to the explanation of daily problems. This 2 collections of Armen Alchian papers contains all the raw material of Alchian's Economic way of thinking. The topics includes: 1. Evolution and Economic Theory. Why does Warren Buffet success? He is clever or he has good luck? 2. What is cost? If I build a swimming pool in my pool, is the pool is a cost to me? 3. What is unemployment? If I quit my current job to look for a better job, am I unemployed? You can find unbelievable large amount of treasury in this collected work. Armen Alchian is one of the best price theorist in Economics.

chris tam
Hong Kong

Armen A. Alchian is Professor Emeritus of Economics at UCLA and in the course of his long and accomplished career helped to found several schools of economic thought, being justifiably considered by his peers to be one of the most influential voices in the areas of market structure, property rights, and the theory of the firm. Complete in two volumes, "The Collected Works Of Armen A. Alchian" is professionally edited and provided with an informative introduction by Daniel K. Benjamin who drew upon Professor Alchian's most important essays, articles, editorials, and lectures to provide a comprehensive and detailed record of this thought on a broad range of topics in the field of economics. Volume One focuses upon the economic themes of "Choice and Cost Under Certainty"; Volume Two deals with "Property Rights and Economic Behavior" issues. "The Collected Works Of Armen A. Alchian: Volumes 1 & 2" is also available in a hardcover edition, and very strongly recommended for professional and academic library Economics Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Dove's text surpasses the two other books I've read on fundraising in numerous ways. He provides a thorough, well-organized approach to fundraising in general and with extensive attention both to the various types of campaigns and to the many components that make up a successful program. Furthermore, Dove cites countless sources of research and practitioner experience, so that his admonitions about what to do and how to do it have a clear rationale and empirical evidence undergirding them. While I'm sure I'll continue to read other texts to delve deeper into details, I can't imagine I'll need to read another overview in the near future, because Dove's work has completely met that need for me.

A comprehensive resource guide to the many variables of nonprofit fundraising campaigns and events. Well-researched; well-written. Especially helpful was the resource section, which provided actual templates and word-for-word scripts -- very applicable.

I enjoyed reading this book. I learned a lot. I took "Easy Politics" on a plane trip along with a current well-reviewed mystery novel. I found "Easy Politics" the far better read!
The author argues that too many apathetic voters open the door to more money in politics, contributed by people who too often expect an obscene return on their investment in the form of softened administrative regulations or lucrative government contracts. The result is cozy politics, which involves big bucks and undercuts what government tries to do. Unlike many books concerned with such corruption, the author proposes a solution in the form of revitalized political parties. These citizen-based organizations differ dramatically from the current parties, which are obsessed with campaign technology and fundraising. The author's modern political parties combine TV, radio, and direct mail with more grassroots activity where local and state party activists listen to citizens, explain party positions, and mobilize voters at election time. This book provides stimulating ideas and solutions without requiring a lot of prior knowledge of politics.. I enjoyed Cozy Politics because it was informative, well reasoned, dealt with an important topic and was easy for me to read and understand.

Too Little Citizen Participation and Too Much Cozy Politics
Increasing numbers of apathetic American citizens have opened the way to "cozy politics" where decisions are driven primarily by who benefits along the way rather than by the purpose of a federal government program or regulation. Cozy politics is different today because far more money changes hands in politics and wealthy individuals, interest groups, and professional associations achieve access and often receive beneficial treatment in the form of softened regulations or lucrative government contracts in exchange for political contributions.
Cozy politics thereby contributes to the increasing erosion of civic confidence, the warping of political parties, the denigration of politicians, and the compromise of federal administrative agencies. Drawing on a rich body of scholarly work, public interest group data on the Internet, and the morgues of national newspapers, I have amassed evidence of a wide range of cozy political arrangements that crosses party lines. Politicians delivering for their "second constituency" are having a serious impact on Congressional decisions and on agency missions.
The answer to such political excesses and voter apathy is to reinvent political parties by strengthening their citizen base and thereby reestablish the classic democratic balance between numbers and money. These parties would combine the use of media and mailing technologies with greater organization of voters at the local and state levels. In seeking to revive politics, local and state party leaders should draw on the decentralized, participatory model found in a number of global corporations. Ironically such corporations, dedicated to developing long-term relationships are treating their customers more like citizens while politicians, too often focused solely on the next election, treat the citizens more like customers. The book concludes with three recommendations on how to jump-start the formation of such citizen-based parties.

This a fundamental book for all those who are interested either academically of personally in the history of the Reformation, specially in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries. Prof. Dr. Trevor-Hoper analyses deeply several aspects of the cultural, religious, economical and social history of that time of history. It is a key book for students, social scientists, historians and scientists of religion.

Fascinating history of the witch trials from their beginning in the hands of two monks trying to 'civilize' relatively pagan regions like the Alps and Pyrenees until their peak at the time of the deaths of Galileo, Descartes, and Kepler, and the birth of Newton. One learns that the Swedish Cristina, who attracted Descartes to Stockholm as her philosophy teacher, put the end to the witch trials there, after her father had contributed to the world the Thirty Years War. A good starter for anyone interested in the intermittent decline of the influence of religion in the west as the enlightenment caught steam.

Bello provides a clear, concise and well evidenced argument that the structural adjustment programs of the IMF and World bank have sunk the countries of the global south into deeper and deeper debt and impovereshment. Bello sets this argument in the historical frame of the northern backlash against the rising economic power of the south. He also links the economic philosophy behind adjustment to the widening prosperity gap and falling real wages in the north.

A must read for all those curios about the World Bank and IMF and why people are against them.

This short but powerful book provides the best and most concise review of the disastrous policies that have been developed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Bello traces the origins of structural adjustment programs and then follows their effects into countries around the world.

Although originally published in 1994, the material is more relavent than ever. A MUST READ.

If you are responsible for creating wealth in a non-profit environment, implementing Harold Seymour's advice will guarantee success.

Seymour offers a lifetime of experiences and down to earth approach to the art and science of fund raising. From motivations for giving, to designs for organizing a fund raising project, this book is a must for the novice as well as the experienced fund raiser

This is a book that's been around for 20 years, but still delivers a message worth considering and debating.

My caveat to this book is that represents a form of ideology that is not fully agreeable to everyone in terms of the kind of government we want or the goals we have. But we all know that our political system is showing serious signs of stress and individual liberty diminished. Why is it happening?

Unfortunately, there are those who would use talk up the best parts of this book and engage simultaneously in the worst political behavior in terms of funding their politics with government money. Talk conservative or libertarian, but buy votes by spending like radical Socialist. As a moderate, I lean toward government intervention in some areas that I consider essential for the national good. Social security is too important to be replaced by a ostensibly private system that would cause still more government interventions. LIbertarians tend not to agree witth some programs I owuld support. But federal spending to whatever level there is, should be based on the national good, not which pig can fatten itself the most.

So much pork has been thrown for so long at Alaska, mostly to secure Republican seats in Congress, that it has forgotten what self-reliance means. State residents contribute nothing while huge federal funding for its few people keeps pouring in. Unneeded roads and multi-billion dollar bridges to nowhere get plastered with the name of the porker who brought home a lot of extra bacon. Not everyone is happy -- including state auditors --, but the influential few profit enormously. Residents get the benefit of no income or sales tax - plus an annuual payment from the state for living there.

Alaska is not alone. Many of the states that complain the most about runaway federal spending benefit the most at the expense of others. This forced transfer of wealth deprives many states of funds desperately needed for its own people, already heavily taxed for what the federal government gives to states where partisan politics are in play.

Operations of the State-owned Alaska Railroad, primarily freight, was held up as a model for Amtrak, which operates in most of the lower 48 over thousands of miles on tracks it owns or shares with Freight and crowded commuter railroads. Amtrak must beg for money as its track and system deteriorate from decades of neglect. The state-owned Alaska Railroad, a federal gift to the state along with most other state assets, simply holds out its hand for federal funds and they are provided into the hundreds of millions for assets that become Railroad property and show up on P&L sheets.

Alaska RR uses its revenues to fund most operations. Federal funds pay for port terminals, passenger stations, office buildings, tourist trains, railcars or track.-- anything. Federal funds also pay for preventive maintenance of all that track and buildings and the rest. Federal money also pays for considerable pension liability for employees who once were federal employees. And all this money in effect subsidizes the salaries of ARR executives.

Google for Alaska Commuter Rail and you will discover with some work that Alaska Rail is getting multiyear funding (from 2000) for the Girdwood to Wasilla line, 80 miles from tiny town to small town. Funding from urban mass transit funds are kept at the maximum level permitted under minimum scrutiny rules. So federal funds are paying for a major track realignment and replacement -- for freight trains. And the lower 48 hasn't heard about the plan to extend the ARR into Canada to link up with Canadian railroads.

Funded the way the ARR is, Amtrak could improve its trackage, slash its fares and provide true high speed between heavily populated cities, such as the Northeast Corridor or Texas to Chicago. Whether it should is another question.

The federal government pays for the ferries of the Alaska Marine Highway and terminal facilities. Fares pay only a fraction of the cost. There is an endless stream of subsidies to rich no-tax Alaska from densly populated states which must have high state taxes to offset the transfer of wealth. While Alaska suckles itself with federal funds, each Connecticut resident pays $10,000 more in taxes than are returned in any form, direct of indirect. There are other states where federal funds are used to buy votes and others which must pay higher federal and state taxes to finance the same vote buying that robs them.

It is an American paradox that supposedly conservative states want others to pay their taxes for them. Some imbalance may be natural. But the use of government funds over the years has twisted our democracy by advancing the most partisan politics.

There has to be a better way and on that rational Americans should be able to agree. Libertarians and others can differ on the role for the government, but a good starting place would be an end to the kind of federal funding that buys votes for no national return -- and leads to boasts of stuffing billss with enough pork to stuff a giant Christmas turkey.

In the meantime, Anchorage might consider changing its name to Porkopolis. Even the Mushers dogs could boast of being fed on federal pork.

Thomas Jefferson once said something to the effect that the end of American democracy will come when people figure out they can use the system to vote themselves money out of other people's pockets. Today, that's precisely what the American political system has become, as political economists James T. Bennett and Thomas J. DiLorenzo make clear in this excellent book. The examples are, by now, somewhat out of date. But they outrages they report on have, if anything, only gotten worse.

In many ways, the State has become little more than an engine for the forced redistribution of money. People vote for politicians who will give them things, hoping what they get from picking their neighbors' pockets will be greater than what someone else, in turn, takes out of their own. Politicians flog the system for all it's worth, and are rewarded according to their ability to hand out loot they have no right to in the first place.

Of all the ways this is done, the most egregious, at least in Bennett and DiLorenzo's minds, is the pouring of tax dollars into organizations that then use that money to lobby for specific policy agendas. Again and again, Bennett and DiLorenzo give us chapter and verse (and dollar amounts) of how labor unions, environmental radicals, anti-market and pro-socialist, 'anti-poverty,' 'civil rights,' and other pressure groups pocket free money at taxpayer expense. Conservative, industry, and pro-business groups aren't spared their time in the spotlight either. Nor are the politicians (many of whom are still in office today) who receive hefty campaign cash from the same groups to whom they funneled those tax dollars.

George Will has written that anyone who wants to understand how American government works shouldn't read the Constitution, but rather open the Washington, D.C., phone book and observe all the organizations, associations, and lobbies with the word 'National' in their name. Bennett and DiLorenzo provide an invaluable service by exposing this racket fully. Even seventeen or more years after its first publication, 'Destroying Democracy' is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand what politics and the State are really all about.

This is an excellent book. I knew very little about grant writing prior to reading this book. Now I know that I can write grants and get funding. This book is great for novice grant writers. I highly recommend it!

After reading Developing Successful Grants, I feel confident in my ability to write a successful grant! This book really takes you step-by-step through the entire process. All of the concepts were explained clearly, great examples were provided, and the book provided a comprehensive overview of the whole process. I am excited about writing my next grant now that I am equipped with the necessary tools to be successful! I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in grant writing.

Despite its obscurity, this is a profound work of great historical importance to the foundations of the American Revolution as well as the perpetual struggle for liberty and justice. Algernon Sidney(1622-1683) was acclaimed by friends of liberty throughout the eighteenth century for his martyrdom in the stuggle against tyranny and arbitrary government. On December 7, 1683, he was executed by the Crown for the crime of high treason. While a conviction for this crime had long required two witnesses to testify for a defendant's guilt, the government was only able to produce one man, while the other witness was this very book, his great "Discourses," which were used against him because of the fact that they expounded subversive ideas.

Even today, at the dawn of the 21st century, it can quite accurately be said that his ideas are still subversive. Sidney, like his more famous contemporary, John Locke, was a staunch supporter of the natural rights of the individual to life, liberty, and estate(property). This work in particular, like Locke's "First Treatise," was originally undertaken as a refutation of Robert Filmer's "Patriarcha," which represented perhaps the clearest exposition of the theory of rule by "Divine Right." Sidney's work, however, is far more than a simple refutation. He engages in lengthy, erudite discussions of the relationship of liberty and slavery, liberty and power, master and slave, as well as virtue and corruption. Moreover, he presents an especially profound and radical case for the right to resist, oppose, reform, and even overthrow tyrannical government.

Indeed, it was these extreme notions that inspired generations of libertarian radicals throughout the English empire, but most profoundly, in the North American colonies. As the great historian Caroline Robbins made clear, Sidney's "Discourses" was a veritable "textbook of revolution" for the colonists in America. Along with Locke's "Two Treatises" and Trenchard & Gordon's "Cato's Letters," this volume served as pillars for the ideological foundation for the American Revolution, as well as the subsequent establishment of the American Republic.

However, despite the work's great insight and historical importance, the modern reader will certainly have a time of it when attempting to read through Sidney's lengthy and esoteric biblical references and allusions, and not to mention his in depth analysis of many other arcane topics. Thus, while this work is a rich resource on its own, I would highly recommend that any interested reader also pick up a copy of Alan Craig Houston's excellent study "Algernon Sidney and the Republican Heritage in England and America." Houston's work helps to illuminate aspects of Sidney's thought that the average reader may have misunderstood or even overlooked altogether. Nonetheless, even alone, this work stands as one of the true monuments in the history of liberty, and one can only hope that the Sidney's legacy will continue to enlighten and inspire the true friends of liberty for centuries to come.

From the interesting foreword by Thomas G. West:

"Thomas Jefferson regarded John Locke and Algernon Sidney as the two leading sources for the American understanding of the principles of political liberty and the rights of humanity. Locke's Second Treatise is readily available, but since 1805 only one major reprint of Sidney's Discourses has appeared until now. This neglect is as undeserved today as it was when John Adams wrote to Jefferson in 1823:

'I have lately undertaken to read Algernon Sidney on government.... As often as I have read it, ... it now excites fresh wonder that this work has excited so little interest in the literary world.' [Adams recommends this book,] 'as well for the intrinsic merit of the work, as for the proof it brings of the bitter sufferings of the advocates of liberty from that time to this, and to show the slow progress of moral, philosophical, and political illumination in the world...'"

That ought to be recommendation enough, but if you wonder why you should read Sidney in addition to (or instead of) Locke, West's foreword is especially enlightening:

"Sidney proves to be closer to the Greek and Roman classics than Locke is. It is characteristic that Sidney quotes frequently from the ancients while Locke hardly ever does. But the ancients were not 'classical republicans' in a Machiavelian sense. Their political thought always began or ended with the individual human being, not in the sense of an isolated unit, but as a being oriented by human nature to a life in accord with reason. [West then identifies] "particular illustrations of this broad difference between Sidney and Locke".

It is unlikely that you have heard of either Robert Filmer or his book, "Patriarcha" [published in 1680, though written in 1630], a defense of the rights of kings, as it is unlikely that you live under the rule of a king. However, as often happens in the history of ideas, the ideas themselves have not died, but are rather re-outfitted in different costumes. Sidney's point-by-point rebuttal to Filmer is therefore as relevant today as it ever was.