The Great Money Binge

Spending Our Way to Socialism

By: George Melloan

Narrated by: Johnny Heller

Prestigious newspaper editor George Melloan, who worked for the Wall Street Journal for more than half a century, is no stranger to the wild ups and downs of the American and world economies. Using detailed examples from the Crash of 1929 and from the Carter era, this brilliantly argued book explains how government intervention actually prevents the economy from recovering its natural balance.

Unless lawmakers realize the true importance of using supply-side economics in our current crisis, warns Melloan, nothing will save us from a new era of disastrous inflation and widespread global depression. Citing the importance of historical example, Melloan explains how the world of economics was completely changed in the 1930s under the influence of English economist John Maynard Keynes. His theories advocating government interventionist policies were wholeheartedly adopted as a response to the Great Depression and remained unquestioned until the "supply-side revolution" of 1980, after the stagflation of the 1970s showed the inherent weaknesses of neo-Keynesian economics.

By employing what is sometimes called "Reaganomics," President Ronald Reagan and his economic advisers sparked a quarter century of unparalleled prosperity. Unfortunately, as Melloan demonstrates, government policy soon began to revert to Keynesian theories, even though they are widely misunderstood and misapplied. Now, with the Crash of 2008, our new president and government appear committed to ignoring the lessons of the past. With multibillion-dollar "stimulus packages" becoming the norm, and a multitrillion-dollar national debt that will keep growing so long as present policies are continued, America can look forward to a very grim future indeed. There is only one solution: we must return to our eroded supply-side principles.

©2010 George Melloan (P)2009 Tantor

Genuine Contribution to the Body of Knowledge

One of the best books I've ever read. With probing intelligence and a lifetime of economics experience discriminating between economists truth and lies, Melloan offers a clear and panoramic view of the peril our country has been placed in by Obama et al.
This is not another emotional regurgitation of well known cliches in the manner of Glenn Beck and Dick Morris. This is an honest to goodness presentation of new ideas and insights. I have read it twice. I am knocked over by the depth of experience that over a half century of being on the economic front lines brings.
The reader was very good but the production company did one of those compressions thinking we didn't need as much time between words. That practice should be abandoned. Even still, the reader himself was very good.