» Posted by Martin Weil on February 07, 2010

The Lords of Finance is an extremely well-written narrative of the financial urgencies that drove the western world from WWI to the Great Depression and ultimately WWII. This fascinating and gripping tale tells the personal and professional stories of four men - Ben Strong, Montagu Norman, Hjalmer Schacht, Emile Moreau - who headed the central banks of the four great powers through the great financial crisis of the 20th century. The parallels to our present situation are inescapable. Economics students, history buffs and biography fans should find much worthwhile.

» Posted by Martin Weil on February 04, 2010

Demand question time is a bi-partisan grassroots effort to encourage this and future Presidents to engage in the sort of civilized public dialogue with members of the opposite party that occurred last week. Follow the link and you can add your name to the petition. It is overdue time to restore an informed democracy and drive out the demagogues, panderers, lobbyists and political hatchet men from the temple.

» Posted by Martin Weil on December 30, 2009

Financial regulation's long slog through Congress has left it riddled with loopholes, carved out at the request of the same industries that caused the mess in the first place. An outraged American public is proving no match for the mix of corporate money and influence that has been marshaled on behalf of the financial sector.

The Huffington Post has undertaken a remarkable piece of financial journalism, the sort one once expected of the NY Times or other print media. Entitled The Cash Committee, the article explains the hows and whys of the stranglehold financial services interests have on Congress. It is a must-read for anyone hoping to understand the realities of our contemporary political system.

Where, oh where, is our modern-day Ferdinand Pecora?

» Posted by Martin Weil on December 15, 2009

If you are looking for a great blog on almost any business-related topic (Green Business, Gen X, Gen Y, Sports Business and much much more), Business Pundit has complied a terrific list of the best blog sites for 2009. I frequent a bunch of these selections (Marginal Revolution,The Big Picture, Penelope's Trunk) and have recommended them highly in the past.

» Posted by Martin Weil on November 16, 2009

I somehow managed to miss reading Peter Bernstein's seminal Against The Gods when it first came out in the 1990s. My loss. For the lay person or even the professional interested in understanding risk and the capital markets, this book is an absolute must-read.

» Posted by Martin Weil on September 28, 2009

Today's increasingly bewildering financial and economic problems explained in layman's terms. Planet Money podcasts are an excellent way to spend 30 minutes a week while commuting. Do not be put off by the "gee whiz" folksy approach. These guys know their stuff.

» Posted by Martin Weil on June 30, 2009

Three Cups of Tea - an astonishing story of one person making a difference in a very dangerous, and important, region of the world. After finishing the book, you can support Greg Mortenson's heroic efforts here.

» Posted by Martin Weil on March 07, 2009

Are We Rome? by historian Cullen Murphy examines the founding of the USA as the "New Rome" and traces our ascent as a world power and possible current decline from that position, paralelling at times closely, at times not, the rise and fall of the Roman Republic. It is a great read of history and my favorite book hands-down of 2008.

Animal Spirits by UC Berkeley economist George Akerlof and Yale economist Robert Shiller is no less than an attempt to wholly reformulate our understanding of economics through the lens of behavioral economics. More than a little cumbersome in its writing (as with prior Shiller books), it offers so far (I am on Chapter Three) fascinating and even groundbreaking insights into the likely role of consumer confidence and fear in the rise and fall of economic cycles. Written in the heat of the current economic crisis, the book promises to address remedies for how to get us out of this mess. Shiller is one of our best contemporary economists (as is Akerlof) and strikes a very reasoned balance between the competing pulls of the Chicago Classical and neo-liberal Keynesian schools of economic thought.

» Posted by Martin Weil on February 17, 2009

Advice from Clyde and Clark. Check it out.

» Posted by Martin Weil on January 05, 2009

Americans enter the New Year in a strange new role: financial lunatics. We've been viewed by the wider world with mistrust and suspicion on other matters, but on the subject of money even our harshest critics have been inclined to believe that we knew what we were doing. They watched our investment bankers and emulated them: for a long time now half the planet's college graduates seemed to want nothing more out of life than a job on Wall Street.

This is one reason the collapse of our financial system has inspired not merely a national but a global crisis of confidence. Good God, the world seems to be saying, if they don't know what they are doing with money, who does?

Michael Lewis, one of the better financial newswriters, along with hedge fund manager David Einhorn, writes a lengthy two-part OpEd on what went wrong and how to fix it in the Sunday NY Times (registration required). Highly recommended.