Public-finance

This book is a detailed history of the global economy during the last three decades of the 20th century, with a particular emphasis on the U.S. "boom" in the 1990s. The basic idea is that global manufacturing overcapacity has put downward pressure on profits and made it hard for the key manufacturing centers -- Europe, the U.S., Japan, and East Asia -- to prosper simultaneously. Instead, prosperity tends to shift from one center to the other in the wake of shifting exchange rates.

The U.S. had a good run after 1985, when manufacturing profitability was restored because of currency depreciation, tax cuts, stagnant wage growth, and the slaughter of high-cost producers by high interest rates and cheap imports after 1980. A dollar revaluation in 1995 squeezed American manufacturers all over again -- but consumption and investment kept booming for a few years because of a "wealth effect" caused by inflated stock prices. However, since profits were actually declining while the stock market was going into orbit, the good times couldn't last forever. The huge investment in telecom and IT turned out to be overinvestment, contributing to the problem of overcapacity and leading to the recession of 2002.

In all, Brenner's book is a fascinating, neo-Marxist view of the economy, which poses a deep challenge to the prevailing "triumphalist" view of markets. The focus on profits as the key driver of economic performance is refreshing and realistic. I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 only because the writing is unbelievably dry -- the book, basically, is a 300-page analysis of official statistics -- and because Brenner doesn't give provide much political context for his economic analysis.

Picking up a book about economics is often like checking in with an accountant: it's no fun, but it may save trouble later on. Fortunately, Brenner's is a rewarding call to make. The text is accessible to the non-professional as well as the professional, although a familiarity with market fundamentals such as exchange rates, balance of payments, and other tools of the trade, is assumed. From the text, I gathered two key points that I believe can be capsulized. First, the so-called New Economy, touted by many stock market cheerleaders, was built on little more than old-fashioned market speculation plus timely intervention by central banker Greenspan. Moreover, the process was doomed once the disconnect between share prices and profit rates became too great, as it eventually did. Against this background, extravagant projections of New Economy iconoclasts like Newt Gingrich (Brenner himself names no names) should be measured, along with a stern warning for the future. Second, are two deeper, more ominous developments: namely, international overcapacity and falling profit rates, twin trends that have plagued industrial economies since the early 1970's. Against this backdrop, which Brenner also charts, longer-term prospects should be measured, even as international bankers tinker with short-term, burden-shifting measures like exchange rates. And though Brenner acknowledges the anodyne impact of military spending, he draws no conclusions about its future amidst a sagging GDP.Yes, the book is heavy with graphs, nonertheless the author can't be expected to substantiate his case without strong evidence. Moreover, Brenner's refreshing approach places the New Economy in a broader-than-usual context that furnishes the reader with an informed historical perspective. In most every respect, this is a check-in call worth making.

Contrary to one reviewer, I found this book truly engrossing. Brenner powerfully summarizes how the rate of profit of world manufacturing fell (with its many implications). To rectify this problem, Greenspan made borrowing easier. As an aside, he notes how CEO's then used their corporations to borrow and buy the very stocks on which their options were based, thereby enriching themselves in a speculative frenzy. However, this is hardly the story: Brenner's analysis explains the crushing attacks on social spending as well as our current war drive--suggesting how this too will fail, leaving only the historic capitalist method for eliminating overcapacity, the elimination of enterprises by economic crisis.

Ready or not, nonprofits throughout North America -- indeed, much of the world -- are heading into the Great Unknown of the 21st Century.  The difference between prosperity and stagnation could well turn on whether the governing boards of these nonprofit organizations grasp the ship's wheel and steer the right course.   I am speaking, of course, of the process whereby board members establish a sound strategic plan to guide the organization.  Fisher Howe has just written The Board Member's Guide to Strategic Planning, a book for board members who take their role seriously enough to start the process of developing, or updating, their organization's strategic plan.   As a practical, down-to-earth road map for board members, nonprofit managers and staff who work with their organization's governing board would do well to provide this guide to board members at the next board meeting.   According to Mr. Howe, who also wrote The Board Member's Guide to Fund Raising (1991) and Welcome to the Board (1995), "(i)t may be time for strategic planning when conditions change; when internal or external circumstances bring into question the organization's mission; when programs are dropped or new dimensions are added; when the organization joins other organizations; when funders, such as foundations, corporations, United Ways, and regular annual supporters, show signs of lagging interest; when board members begin to raise doubts about the effectiveness of programs or personnel; when the old strategic plan begins to look a little stale; when in the passage of time, new board members and perhaps key staff have come on board; and when new involvement and a fresh outlook are needed."   The book will equip board members to conduct strategic planning sessions - with or without paid consultants.  Such sessions, says the author, have as their central purpose, "aside from stimulating the organization to think strategically, . . . to confirm or modify the organization's mission - its basic purpose and values - and to agree on a vision of what the organization wants to be and do in the coming years."  He leaves no doubt of the desired outcome of such sessions:  a strategic plan.   Most helpful are the many specific examples of various organizations that undertook the creation or revision of their strategic plan.  For example, the book describes the strategic planning process for such organizations as Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Hospice Care of D.C., Piedmont Environmental Council, Pilgrim Society, Grand Canyon Association, Alzheimer's Association, Grace Episcopal Church, National Society of Fund Raising Executives (Washington, D.C., Chapter), and Gardner and Florence Cowles Foundation (a 50-year-old grant-making organization).   Of course, the central premise of the book is that the board of directors, and not the organization's officers, are to set the strategic direction of the organization.  The author means to drum that into the minds of board members.  Indeed, since this book is a tool to empower board members to chart the course of their organization, it doesn't purport to deal with boards which might be composed of individuals ill-equipped to engage in strategic planning.  The author assumes that the diversity of the board will ensure that the strategic planning process will draw from the varied experiences of board members, and hence will benefit sufficiently from many viewpoints and varied contributions.  That sounds right, but how many times have boards seemed more a hindrance to the organization than the source of forward-thinking strategic thinking?  Sometimes boards are just not up to the challenge.  What then?  We aren't told, and for a very good reason:  This is a book for board members themselves.   It's designed to encourage and guide them, not dwell on weaknesses.   Because governing boards - even weak ones - are responsible for charting the course of the organization, there is no choice but to empower the board to meet its primary responsibility of setting strategy.  That is the underlying purpose of The Board Member's Guide to Strategic Planning.  It does the job well. 

Howe's concise (110 pages) work is valuable for the busy executive serving on a non-profit board. It is short enough to be read in one sitting, and provides concrete, practical guidance. His background and experience is shared with the reader in short, clear statements of how other nonprofits have implemented his suggestions.

Howe allows for flexibility in implementation, writing both for the large organization with a large endowment and staff, and the small group with pinched resources. His book is valuable to prepare for a strategic planning exercise or to introduce a board to the process as part of its consideration whether or not to undertake it.

The role of a new board member is not always clear. In fact, it can be darn right dark. This book helps a board and it's individual members, to understand it's role from a strategic planning standpoint. It provides a clear process for not only the most experienced board to reaffirm but for the less mature boards to follow.

The carver style of governance is a tad idealistic and perhaps overly optimistic. I have read everything Dr Carver has written concerning this field and enjoy this material at an academic level. But when it comes to operationalizing this model in boardrooms I've seen it fail time and time again. Not to say that the model is flawed because in fact the model is normative and conceptually complete. However it doesn't capture that element of reality from which, in my experience, the model requires - practicality and real-world application. Dr Carver's notion that Boards can do without Finance and Audit Committees is very naive. Most consultants from the chartered accountant genre are saying the complete opposite. In fact most government policy initiatives are moving toward more control of financial affairs of organizations for boards from charts of accounts to fiscal policy. So I don't think the elimination of Finance and Audit Committees is realistic nor is it a terribly bright suggestion. I guess my only crticism is that the carver model is far to idealistic and philosophical for a practical application in the form Dr Carver suggests. Sorry but a hybrid model of traditional Board governance and the carver model may work given the commitment required from directors to follow-though on everything suggested in that system of governance,

The world is full of experts at what is wrong with the things that we do. Dr. Carver has a rock-solid, well thought out suggestion concerning how to do it right. One reviewer complained that Dr. Carver's suggestions are not realistic. Right is not often realistic, but right is always right. It's far better to start with an ideal and compromise from that point than to capitulate from the outset. Boards that Make a Difference is well worth reading.

This book was the core piece of a radical change in our board room. It led us down the path we knew we wanted to go but didn't know how to get there. His model for board room organization could revolutionize boards of companies in transition, like those of the rural electric program in America. It's a road map for where you already know in your heart that you want to go.

This book is a compilation of letters visitors wrote in a journal to James, infant son of Jeanne and James Beggins. James was a pallative care patient. Included also, are personal journal writings in which Jeanne wrote her feelings in dealing with the impending, devastating loss. Jeanne's hope is that other parents in similar situations will know there are people who care and that one day they will all be reunited with their "angels."