Investment-management

I spent many years living in China and found too many flaws with this book.

Shapiro obviously has had years of experience negotiating. He writes clearly and it would be a beneficial book for anyone, students or those already in the field, to read. If I were to teach a course on joint ventures, this would be the text of choice.

Anyone considering negotiating any joint venture would benefit from the checklists and other considerations raised by Shapiro who actually negotiated the showcase Xerox-Shanghai joint venture

Consider, the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers is below 2% and the current Fed Funds rate is 1%. Mr. Tanuka suggests that inflation is mismeasured and should be lower, thus the corrected CPI would be -1 to -2%. Of course the fed would counter by decreasing rates putting our economy solidly in a deflationary period. An awful state Japan has endured for years.

Would that mean the bank would pay me to borrow their money? Would I have to pay the bank to hold my money? This is left unaddressed.

The Europeans have argued for years that the U.S. government has not overstated but, "understated" inflation by using the same fancy tricks that Tanuka wants to use more of. This argument is left unaddressed.

Further, he says that as a result of this digital deflation, stocks should have higher multiples than they have now based on the inverse relationship between inflation and stock prices. But any 1st year math student will tell you that as inflation approaches zero (or negative in this case) the model breaks down.

This silliness and oversimplification I suppose is reflective of what our society has become. Fad based. Everyone wants to try the new diet, everyone wants to get rich quick, and every hack wants to write a book, but unfortunately does not want (or has not the capacity) to do any real thinking. My father always told me that if you don't understand something, then you shouldn't show people how dumb you are by talking. Sage advice Mr. Tanuka.

Imagine that companies throughout the economy had access to new, better technology every year, and made better products without raising prices - in fact, while cutting prices. Now imagine that the regulators and policymakers used outmoded measurements and models that ignored these quality improvements and this downward price trend. Imagine that the Federal Reserve saw a risk of rising prices even when prices were falling. Imagine that the Fed kept tightening the economy unnecessarily, sending interest rates up, slowing growth, inducing stock market crashes and recessions, and doing the opposite of what it should. If you can imagine all this, you have a picture of U.S. economic reality as seen by author Graham Tanaka. It's a picture no one, especially investors, should disregard. We found his book immensely interesting - too long by half, with too many repetitious references to his previous publications (perhaps just his way of saying, "I told you so"), often tendentious and labored, but not to be ignored. Just be cautioned: this sounds somewhat like the bubble speak we heard at the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000 - other times of strong growth without inflation.

His theory points out the government measurement of the state of economy was done with missing key components which are the sources of new economy drivers: digialization. The monetary policy derived from the missing measurement, digital deflation effects, would lead to a bad policy. Indication of low inflation was actually "deflation". Graham Tanaka has an excellent insight!

Everyone should read this book.

Provided as a foundation to my employer's internal training programs, this is a fantastic book. Often arcane financial terms made accessible and understandible, even to the uninitiated. I highly recommend it to anyone working in the financial sector, or with a keen interest in their own financial matters.