Fund-of-funds Books

"Profits from Natural Resources" appeared in the book stores in November 1998, when nobody paid attention to commodities and oil was trading at $ 10 a barrel. Now oil has doubled in price and natural resources as an investment sector has been sofar one of the hottest and best performing sectors of 1999. Say no more !

This book is a wonderful primer for any foundation considering making program-related investments.

Progress & Poverty is the missing puzzle piece for those of us who look around at the combination of magnificent and accelerating technological progress and the increasingly distorted distribution of income and wealth in America, with many people lacking sufficient income to meet their most basic needs, and wonder what went wrong in a country which professes to be dedicated to the proposition that we're all created equal.

The book's subtitle -- An Inquiry in the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth... The Remedy -- describes it beautifully: why we have the ups and downs of our economy, which cause incredible human misery, and why we have increasing poverty at the same time that there is hugely increasing wealth.

And Henry George provides a logical and workable -- even elegant -- remedy, one which will untangle many of the perverse incentives we cope with today: we say we value work, but we tax it. We say we want to promote sales, but we tax them. We say we want to encourage entrepreneurial effort, but we allow huge barriers designed to discourage the person with an idea from being able to execute it. We say we want a society that naturally creates more jobs, but we allow a relative few of us to pocket the funds which would create those jobs. We say we value initiative, but we reward the "dog in the manger" far more than we reward the laborer. We say that urban blight is a bad thing, but our tax code encourages it. We say we dislike urban sprawl, and long commutes, and low wages -- but we've failed to implement the simple tax reform that will correct these ills. We work longer hours than our counterparts in other countries, and have less to show for it. We allow a relative few to own our airwaves, and resell them at higher and higher prices, collecting advertising revenues from all who would run for public office or advertise their products.

If we truly mean to end poverty, to reward initiative, to ensure that the next child born in America is truly the equal of all who are here today, to ensure that our environment is protected for the common good, George's framework for understanding provides the missing puzzle piece.

And as we consider what sort of country we'd like Iraq to be, it is worth considering that if we only give them a constitution without giving them an economic system that considers all people equal, truly equal, we've not accomplished much with the American lives we've lost there.

If we can figure it out for Iraq, with all its oil wealth, maybe we can figure out how to share America justly among Americans, too.

George lays out simply and elegantly what the underlying problem is and how to solve it.

He dedicates the book "To those who, seeing the vice and misery that spring from the unequal distribution of wealth and privilege, feel the possibility of a higher social state and would strive for its attainment." Might you be among those who see and feel, and would strive, if only you could see the source of the problem?

Churchill, Twain, Huxley, Shaw and many others came to see what George was pointing out. Will you?

This one is worth your time!

Get a copy for yourself, and send one to your favorite legislator, be he/she local, state or federal. Then start looking for other Georgists, also known as Geoists. You'll find them a lively group with a vision that might inspire you, too. And it is refreshing to be with people who seek a finer society, not more advantage or privilege -- "private law" -- for their own benefit! --

Promises, Performance, And Prospects: Essays On Political Economy, 1980-1998 collects key writings of Antonio Martino, Italian statesman and political economics professor. Motivated by classical liberal thought yet also concerned with issues of political economy as fiscal responsibility, the threat of statism to individual liberty, and the migration of overtaxed citizens to the underground economy, Martino's essays may focus particularly on Italy's circumstances yet involve extensive analysis of problems that are germane to all advanced democratic societies. Essays include "Budget Deficits and Constitutional Constraints", "Is Social Justice a Myth?", "Was Keynes a Keynesian?", "European Monetary Union: A Fatal Mistake?", "A Comment on 'Nineteen Eighty-four: A False Alarm?'" and many more. Especially recommended for college library and economics studies shelves.

This is an excellent book in the scientific development of the blood coagulation pathway. There are numerous footnotes on the personal contacts of Walter Seegers with his coworkers. One has to bear in mind that the current coagulation pathways is quite different than the schematics developed by the author. Nevertheless, it is an excellent book in the historical point of view.

This is Buchanan's earliest book. Its main contribution is the debunking of the notion, prevalent at the time of publication and perhaps still, that government debt does not constitute a burden on taxpayers. Buchanan demonstrates that it is not the bondholders but future taxpayers who bear the cost of today's public expenditures. Bondholders are eventually repaid their invested principal plus interest, and they bought the bonds voluntarily because in their opinion it was the most appropriate investment from the entire range of investments available to them. The voluntary nature of their lending suggests they are better off not worse off, and thus they could hardly be deemed to be bearing a burden. Since bondholders will eventually be repaid from the proceeds of future taxes, it is future taxpayers who pay for today's public expenditures insofar as they are debt-financed. It makes no difference whether the debt is held internally (domestically) or externally (by foreign entities). Buchanan was not the first to make this argument (he credits classical economists such as Henry C. Adams, Charles F. Bastable, and particularly the Frenchman Paul Leroy-Beaulieu), but considering the "we owe it to ourselves" nonsense that was fashionable at the time, Buchanan's exposition was clearly warranted.

Although Buchanan is a libertarian thinker, his rationale here is not one of small government being superior to big government. He argues that not having to face the financial consequences of our spending decisions leads to distorted cost/benefit analyses: "[T]he real cost of public expenditure which is debt financed must rest on individuals other than those who participate in the social decisions made at the time of the approval or rejection of any proposed expenditure...This destroys the individual comparison of benefits from public expenditures and the costs of these expenditures which is possible in the case of taxes...If any individual benefits at all are expected to accrue currently from a proposed public expenditure, the individual when making his choice between the public debt-public expenditure and the no debt-no expenditure alternatives will always tend to favor the former over the latter. In such cases, the choice processes usually embodied in democratic institutions cannot be expected to provide correct decisions, upon any criterion of correctness. The individual chooser cannot fairly compare benefits and costs" (pp. 119-120).

All in all this is a terrific slim volume that makes for an indispensable first read in the study of the topic of public debt finance, along with Democracy in Deficit, volume 8 in the Buchanan Collected Works series, and, better yet, Debt and Taxes, volume 14 in the series.

As treasurer of a small obesity support group with charitable status I am always looking for ways to raise funds, and at times it's a real drag. But this book really does put the "fun" back into fund raising. Financially we're having the best year ever, and that's not even counting this Autumn's Butter-Chug, which should be good for £1000 after expenses.

The book had wonderfully simple, step by step directions on how to raise a lot of money through events, including how to create a budget, how to recruit participants,and how to make your cause compelling. The information in the book could apply to almost any event. Very practical, yet powerful information. I would recommend it without reservation to anyone interested in raising a lot of money...from a small school to a large nonprofit.

Raising Funds With Friends Groups: A How-To-Do-It Manual For Librarians by Mark Y. Herring (Dean of Library Services, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina) provides a very highly recommended survey and presentation of the basic tools and techniques required for librarians (especially of small and medium sized libraries) to transform their Friends Of The Library organizations into an effective and reliable economic support group. Some of the fundamentals covered include expanding membership rosters; using e-mail, list serves, blogs, and e-zines; and planning programs that will continue to bring public attention and financial support to the library. No college or university Library Sciences collection can be considered complete or up-to-date without the inclusion of Mark Herring's Raising Funds With Friends Groups!

the thirteen chapers include:
1) in the beginning.
2) we believe in ourselves.
3) making believers of others.
4) setting up the office.
5) the "people helping people" campaign.
6) developing our resources.
7) the "ask".
8) in the news.
9) managing our finances.
10) the fine art of writing.
11) when opportunity knocks.
12) expressing our appreciation.
13) what experience has taught us.

this is a great book with which to introduce people, unfamiliar and uncomfortable with the idea of fundraising, to the ins and outs of basic funraising ideas. 121 over sized pages, with a bibliography.