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| Author: Kevin Phillips
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $9.44
You Save: $16.51 (64%)
New (45) Used (22) Collectible (2) from $8.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 414
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.1
ISBN: 0670019070
Dewey Decimal Number: 330.973
EAN: 9780670019076
ASIN: 0670019070
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! NEW Book! May have remainder mark. Most orders ship within 1 BUSINESS DAY with ORDER CONFIRMATION.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Bad Money, Great Writing, Great Information June 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you love words and sentence construction then you will really appreciate Mr. Phillips' writing style. It's a pleasure to read popular nonfiction written above the ususal boring high school level. Yes, his style takes active reading at first, but then your brain becomes used to it and savors each passage as a refreshingly delightful and active experience.
I am SO glad to have read this book. I feel much better prepared for the future.
Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism June 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book is excellent, the research appears unbiased and objective, and the delivery of the information is direct without being dogmatic. The mainstream media should be so honest about the mess we're in!
 Phillips Loses Sight of an Essential American Trait June 24, 2008
6 out of 13 found this review helpful
I have spent four decades reading Kevin Phillips' books. In other forums, I have identified him as one of my favorite authors and analysts.
In my mind he has authored at least brilliant books: The emerging Republican majority, The Politics of Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath and Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich. It is difficult for me to say, this book does not measure up to his early high analytic standards
He is not known as a flamethrower. In the past he offered clarity where there was confusion. These books provided my first exposure to emerging national trends. He was trained as a lawyer. His research is meticulous; his arguments convincing.
But he is wrong.
His argument ignores an essential trait of the American people: we are practical; we pride ourselves in being problem-solvers. Each day at work, we are asked to place a size 13 foot into a size 10 shoe. Not only are we good at the "impossible," we love the challenge.
In his latest book, Phillips argues what he terms "megafinance"-- the perilous interaction of debt and financial recklessness coupled with cost of oil dooms us to a crisis. Readers familiar with his work, already recognize he has lost one evil leg of his previous argument in American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury - the danger of what he termed "Patriot Pastors." Those of us who are not quite so alliterative know them as right-wing evangelicals. The American voter dispatched them during the last mid-term elections.
I am not positing everything is rosy. It is not. As a country we face serious problems. What I am saying, however, is that anytime during the past 40 years Phillips has been analyzing the American scene he could have seized on any number of problems at the time those books were published and come to the same this book's conclusion.
But it did not happen.
The American people rose to the occasion and conquered the problems they faced. I have no doubt they do the same this time.
Phillips, as he always does, delivers a skillful and thought-provoking argument against dynastic leadership. The book is worth reading. According to Phillips, Americans will knuckle under. I believe they will rise to the occasion.
Great June 23, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Reading this book requires some background knowledge in economics and finances, but it's great. It's packed with statistics (hence the subject matter) and it has a kind of academic vibe, so it's not for everybody. But it's very insightful and a great critique of what American capitalism has become. A supplemental read for those interested in solutions to our environmental and economic woes, should read "Natural Capitalism: Creating The Next Industrial Revolution."
 Irritating CD June 16, 2008
Bad Money on CD is read by Scott Brick. He has a somewhat intense and annoying delivery which soon becomes intolerable since he uses the same level of emphasis in every sentence - even those which merely reference material in later chapters. It makes him sound like he lacks any comprehension of the material he's reciting. I kept thinking he must be under time pressure because he's just reading this, not trying to convey what it means. I couldn't make it past the second CD in the set but I'll get the book because it sounds worth reading.
I just finished The Revolution by Ron Paul on CD read by Bob Craig. It was wonderful! Craig has a great voice and I was convinced he empathized with the material he was reading. I would be tempted to get anything read by Bob Craig.
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