On-the-money

So...you want to get out of debt? How about buy a used car or be shown how to shop for groceries, or even how to cook for maximum nutrition at minimum cost? You say you know how to do this. Well, have I got some news for you. Check out this book, and you'll be surprised at some of the areas you can impact your budget,...

Practical and useful. And recommended!!

This comprehensive, handy reference is chock full of ideas for reducing life's major and minor expenses. It gives great leads on where to find pretty much anything ... cheap ... including a lawyer. (Believe it or not!)

"Inflation, Unemployment, and Monetary Policy" is one of the most serious problem in the developed countries, especially my country Japan, which is suffering a severe unemployment problem for a long recession. Because of the continuous Government's spending policy. Japanese fiscal situation is deteriorated, so japanese economy's last hope is a monetary poicy. At that time, reading this exciting book and studying excellent opinions of 6 notable economists are truly fruitful. In this book, 6 economists make a poweful and exciting discussion...of course, there is no perfect solution...But, I believe that I can make a firm basis for thinking this severe problem.

Katherine Gleason has been the writing voice behind several excellent books on esoteric subjects, including the bestselling Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft. She has a talent for taking subjects that could easily turn into fluffy New Age nonsense and making them practical for the everyday reader. This book is no exception. Rather that prattle on about how to make money through magic, the book encourages readers to view their financial situations in a realistic way and to use the intuitive arts as tools to help them increase their awareness of the role money plays in their lives and to improve their relationships with money.

In many ways THE KABBALAH OF MONEY is more about time management than it is about money. A theme that weaves its way through the book is that the optimal use of one's time is to devote it to study and learning - not just any studying, however, but the study of the Torah. In Jewish tradition, time is to be divided between study, work, and physiological needs (eating, sleeping, elimination, and leisure). All of our free time, once our work and physiological needs have been met should be devoted to study.

In this book, Rabbi Bonder brings together his knowledge of the working of the "marketplace" with Jewish ethical teachings, Talmudic Interpretations, teachings of the Hasidic Masters, Jewish Mysticism, and logical analysis. Here, marketplace is variously described as: a market of exchanges and interactions which represents "the infinite quantity of small and great businesses that take place in the universe at any given minute" and as a place where "each individual's fitness to survive is in accordance with his or her own perception of what survival is."

In keeping with the time theme, one of the problems to be faced has to do with devoting one's time to amassing wealth. In other words, how much is too much? Time that is spent with the objective of accumulating wealth (beyond that which meets our own needs and is beneficial to others) represents a two pronged loss. First of all, the creation of this type of wealth creates an offsetting scarcity. Secondly it involves wasting time that could, and should, be better spent in study. In contemporary terms, the accumulation of excess wealth is not ecologically sound.

Another area of discussion is the relationship of God to the marketplace. Rabbi Bonder states that "when a person prays only for material gains his pleas and efforts are wasted. This is because a curtain is brought down between himself and God as a result of material things having been brought into the domain of the spirit.

This book has had an impact on the way I conduct my life. Before reading it, my standard reaction to anyone asking for a handout was a knee-jerk reaction that he'll probably just use it to get drunk. After reading Bonder's section on dealing with beggars and how these dealings affect the marketplace, I came to 2 realizations:

1. So what if he does use it for drink. He probably needs the drink more than I need the dollar.

and

2. Who am I to judge anyway.

I highly recommend this book. In spite of its brevity it's not an easy read. I have barely touched the surface of a few of the concepts of what the dust jacket refers to as "a broad and ethical view of economic behavior including all forms of exchange and human interaction, from how we spend our money to how we fulfill our role as responsible human beings in a global ecological framework."

Compiled, edited, and with an informative commentary by Michael Watts (Director of the Center for Economic Education and Professor of Economics at Purdue University), The Literary Book Of Economics is comprised of seventy-eight selections from classic drama, poetry, and prose written by thinking men and women through centuries of history, all chosen for the particular vibrancy of expression that they give to twenty crucial economic concepts and themes. The citations range from William Shakespeare and Benjamin Franklin, to Ayn Rand, Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut and much others, each of whom contribute to a deeper understanding of market principles through literature. The Literary Book Of Economics is a unique and highly recommended addition to Economic Studies reading lists and library reference collections.

A visit to www.georgewbush.com in January of 2001 indicated that the newly elected President believes that the reform of K-12 public education is the number one issue that confronts the United States as it enters the 21st Century. As noted at his web site, the reforms that the President intends to pursue will be designed to: (1) achieve equality in performance of disadvantaged students, (2) promote excellence through the pursuit of measurable goals, (3) stop funding failures, (4) restore local control, (5) provide parents with greater information and options, and (6) ensure that every child can read. Readers of this journal, as well as most of the public, would not quibble with these desired goals. The difficulty, of course, is in choosing the appropriate public policy path to achieve them. Well, Mr. President (as well as state-based policymakers interested in public school reform), in your quest to find this path, I have just the book for you.

As part of Goals 2000, passed in 1994, the U.S. Congress declared that "all students can learn and achieve to high standards and must realize their full potential if the United States is to prosper." As a follow up to this declaration, a later appropriations bill called for a study of K-12 public school finance by the National Academy of Sciences. A committee on education finance was established (which consisted of the top education and economic researchers in the field) and the key question posed to them was "How can education finance systems be designed to ensure that all students achieve high levels of learning and that education funds are raised and used in the most efficient and effective manner possible?" The not so simple answers are in the committee's report.

Since the 1966 publication of the Coleman Report, researchers have continually reexamined the report's controversial finding that after controlling for socioeconomic factors, variation in school resources does little to explain differences in student achievement. After examining the over 30 years of research that has followed this report, the committee on education finance that authored this study argues that money can and must be made to matter if the United States is to improve achievement in public schools for all students. A theme that emerges early in this work, and continues throughout, is the concept of funding adequacy. Adequacy in public school finance focuses not on the equality of per-capita expenditure, but on the sufficiency of funding for desired outcomes. Though the committee admits that applying an adequacy standard to school finance is an art, they argue forcefully throughout their report that it is part of the policy path that will yield the public education outcomes desired by the U.S. Congress in 1994 and by the President in 2001.

But, also in tune with popular perceptions, much of the book is devoted to documenting that making money matter requires more than just adequate funding. Explored are the often-suggested reforms of investing in the capacity of the education system, altering incentives, and empowering parents and schools to ensure that performance matters when officials make decisions about the use of adequate public school funds. Unfortunately, like many observers, the committee concludes that the challenges facing schools with a large percentage of disadvantages are particularly troubling and research offers few answers about how to improve educational opportunities for these youngsters.

Making Money Matter is written in a manner that makes it accessible and interesting to both policymakers and seasoned researchers. In Part I, the book begins with a brief overview of the charge to the committee, the shifting expectations placed upon public schools in the last half-century, and the real diversity that characterizes the existing system of governance and finance for public education in the United States. Given this backdrop, the committee lists the three goals they settled upon as a basis for their study: (1) a higher level of achievement in a cost-efficient manner, (2) breaking the nexus between student background and achievement, (3) raising revenue fairly and efficiently.

To better craft policy strategies to reach these goals, Part II of the book looks at fairness and productivity in school finance. Equity is first examined in terms of the struggle to reduce per-pupil-spending disparities through the courts. Next, they devote a chapter to examining the recent shift toward adequacy as the more desired goal of school finance reform, the technical challenges of implementing it, and the lukewarm response that state finance systems have given it. This study then examines the body of evidence on what improves the academic achievement of students. Concise, but thorough literature reviews are offered on the findings of regression based input-output studies, effective educational practice studies, and the institutional perspective.

In Part III, the committee assembled by the National Academy of Sciences offers specific strategies to achieve each of the three goals identified earlier. Better than just proposing a grand vision of overall reform, the committee chooses to summarize many feasible strategies, sites the relevant academic evidence on their viability, and then offers consensus opinions on the "best" strategies to pursue. Researchers should be interested in these consensus opinions because of the insight they offer regarding what a renowned group of economists, education specialists, psychologists, lawyers, and administrators jointly evaluate as the policy relevant implications that flow from the extensive body of research on this topic. Policymakers should pay particular attention to the suggested strategies because the consensus that formed them would also assist in building the political coalitions necessary to implement them.

Examples of a few of the suggested strategies to emerge from this book are that investing in the capacity of teachers is necessary and will be more effective if it is combined with a change in incentives that make performance count; charter schools and vouchers, rather than interdistrict or intradistrict choice programs, are the options most worthy of exploring for poor-performing city schools; and increasing adequacy and fairness in public school finance will require a greater revenue raising role for states and the federal government. On an optimistic note, the book concludes that most of the current challenges in public education can be met if the wealth of knowledge produced in this area is drawn upon. My hope is the appropriate people know of this valuable book and do exactly that.

Marrianne Williamson's work is both real and honest. Rather than couch things in a concepts that are alien or extremely religious, she talks to you about the realities of existing. Of how things will not always be easy, about how you will lose your way, and honestly how to see people clearly. Growth is messy, it's not neat, maturity is not easy, nor is spirtiuality delicate work, but with assistance from a tape like this you can see yourself clearly and how to bridge yourself from concept to human to spiritual being.

Ringrazio Bellofiore per avermi dato la possibilità, con l'organizzazione del convegno da cui trae origine la pubblicazione, di conoscere autori rigorosamente censurati nel panorama editoriale italiano. A proposito: quant'è vera la considerazione marxiana che i proprietari dei mezzi di produzione determinano anche la produzione delle coscienze! E' sorprendente per un Italiano, che nel proprio paese può al massimo arrivare fino ai neoricardiani, scoprire che c'è una puntuale ricostruzione del pernsiero di Marx ed una piena rivalutazione della teoria del valore lavoro, della teoria della moneta, della leggge sulla caduta tendenziale del saggio del profitto ecc. Nel libro viene evidenziato che il dibattito sul problema della trasformazione è stato la conseguenza di un'assurdo equivoco durato più di mezzo secolo. In particolare emerge con la massima evidenza che il modello di Sraffa a) ponendo uguali tra loro i prezzi degli input (risultato del periodo di produzione precedente) e quelli degli output, elimina il tempo dal discorso economico; b) ponendo una merce come numerario, non risolve il problema della determinazione dei valori assoluti e non ha una teoria della moneta; c) ponendo i salari come paniere di beni, tratta gli stessi come il foraggio per il bestime e giunge a determinare i salari reali prima di quelli monetari, proprio al contrario di come avviene nell'economia reale. Al contrario "l'errore" di Marx scompare semplicemente presupponendo che il valore del capitale costante trasferito in quello della merce prodotta è esattamente, com'è naturale, il costo effettivamente sostenuto dal capitalista, cioè un valore già "trasformato". Da qui vengono recuperate tutta una serie di intuizioni di Marx mandate frettolosamente al macero dai "marxisti" alla Ricardo. Credo che, partendo da questa ricostruzione, sia possibile spiegare anche molte delle recenti evoluzioni del sistema economico mondiale e molte delle "nuove" contraddizioni.

Pressochè tutti i contributi del volume, riferiti agli argomenti più vari affrontati nel terzo libro del Capitale, sono di eccezionale interesse. A quando una edizione per il pubblico italiano?

Of the slew of personal finance books for women the past few years, this is the only one that sounds like it was written by a woman who didn't already have a fat, profitable investment portfolio, her dream house, and Prince Charming as her mate. Nearly all of the other books were written by people promoting their financial consulting businesses (until they got too rich to bother with that, like Suze Orman, although she's good, too). Leonard is a lawyer, and the legal counsel for the Older Women's League (OWL), a terrific organization.

Leonard writes in a down-to-earth, no-nonsense, but friendly voice, and gives specific, useful guidance about things most of would never know even to investigate -- much of it about Social Security benefits for widows and divorced women. If you're either of those, worried about becoming one, or just want to be proactive about protecting your own future and security, this book mandatory reading.

It was reissued the year after it came out, but is apparently out of print now. It deserves to be updated and republished.