Free-market

Why is Paul Volcker writing books with convicted inside traders?
Volcker supposedly had a good reputation.

Soros was convicted of inside trading in December 2002. There should be a section in this book on how to make piles of money by trading with non-public information.

Anyone who has had as much success as Soros must be doing something right, so I respect his mind. Unfortunately, he is a terrible writer. He could take ten pages explaining why 2 + 2 = 4.

Here's an example:
"[the shoelace theory]...can be interpreted as a synthesis of Hegel's dialectic of ideas and Marx's dialectical materialism. Instead of either thoughts or material conditions evolving in a dialectic fashion on their own, it is the interplay between the two that produces a dialectic process."

This passage is a microcosm of the entire book: he makes a valid point, but it's not a particularly significant or difficult point. The only difficulty is in parsing his turgid language. I sense he is a great investor who wants to be considered a great thinker, and he believes that in order to accomplish this he has to use big words to express his theories.

Soros's widely praised theory of reflexivity is a valuable contribution, but he doesn't need 400 pages to convey it. I didn't read this book expecting a "how to make money in the stock market" tutorial, but I did expect to gain a better insight into how the markets function. I did not get that.

Don't waste your time.

Soros wrote this book several years ago as a self proclaimed "life's work" about his techniques for trading in the currencies and commodities markets. He became famous for making a billion dollars in one day by shorting the British pound against the dollar and other currencies. More recently, Soros has become famous for his financial backing of neo-communist media-hit organizations, like moveon.com and international A.N.S.W.E.R., due to his pathological and self-acknowledged hatred of G.W. Bush. This seems at odds with the cooler countenance of a financial markets trader such that he is, and a successful one at that, but, it's a funny and inconsistent world, is it not?

Soros demonstrates throughout this somewhat turgid tome a masterful knowledge of the seemingly ceaseless elements of the fundamentals underlying the trading decisions of a fin-mkt operator. His theory of reflexivity, a play on Einsteins theory of relativity, is a commentary on the human capacity to change events by taking actions ahead of perceived expections only to distort the outcomes expected in the first place. Put simply, it's an understanding of how markets actually work in real life, not in the void of an academic lab setting.

When you're capable of making a billion in a day it's easy to gain a messianic complex and there's a bit of that on display in this book. Couple that with Soros' having escaped totalitarianism as a young Jewish boy in Hungary, and you can only marvel at his skill, talent and tenacity.

Being a creature of the fin-mkts myself I thoroughly enjoyed this book, however it would be tedious for almost anyone not consumed by the prospects of i.e. shorting palm oil in Asia while going long soybeans in the west, or someone bent on knowing the open interest represented in the oil tanks of Rotterdam; not something one hears discussed nightly on the news.

For a look into the mind of the money behind the Kerry campaign of 2004, read this book. But, read it dlowly and take copious notes. And, good luck on your foray into currency trading, you'll need it.

I took economics this past summer with Mr. Schoolland. Very cool teacher and his book definitely supplemented the class. It really helped me to understand the economic theories because he presents them in a comprehensible fashion. Good book to have!

As a retired history teacher of 32 years at the secondary level, I beleive not only that this little book should be read by all children, it should be mandated that every home have a copy permanently on file. For those familiar with the Founding Fathers and their intent, you will be surprised at how far we have strayed. We intend to use this as part of the home study course for our two granddaughters ages 10 and 9.

Schoolland does a wonderful job of exposing the foibles and hypocrisy that permeate government programs and policies, making a highly effective case for the free market and the libertarian principle of self-ownership.

The book is written as an easy-to-read children's story, but since it also operates on a deeper level, it is a compelling read for adults as well. I would recommend this as a "must read" for everyone above the age of ten, and would not hesitate to recommend it to an adult of any age. In fact, when friends and family ask me to explain my political philosophy, I get them a copy of "Jonathan Gullible."

An interesting side note, is that although the book has been published in at least 22 languages world-wide, significant difficulty is encountered getting the book carried by the Hawaii State and Public School Library systems, here in the author's state of residence. Recently, several such institutions have been asked to carry the book, and upon their failure to acquire it on their own, copies were donated. The donated copies are currently undergoing a review for "balance" before placement can be approved. Ironically, this fits in rather well with the message Schoolland has presented in "Jonathan Gullible."