It's Not as Bad as You Think: Why Capitalism Trumps Fear and the Economy Will Thrive

by Brian S. Wesbury, Amity Shlaes (Foreword by), Sean Pratt (Reading)

An upbeat antidote to the gloom and doom forecasts of the financial futureJust about everyone is worried about the economy and markets. And the fear is that they will stay down for a long time. But a few brave voices say that the gloom and doom forecasts are just too pessimistic. Reality is that entrepreneurs don't give up. History is pretty clear, every time the economy is thought to be done, worn out, finished, it bounces back and heads to new highs. In fact, the economy and the markets-counter to conventional wisdom-have started to improve in the first half of 2009. Even housing is showing some signs of life.With It's Not as Bad as You Think, Brian Wesbury, ranked as one of the top economic forecasters by the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, shows you that while the financial future may be hard to predict, it will ultimately be profitable over the long haul. In this easy-to-follow and engaging forecast of the future, Wesbury takes a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly-and debunks the pouting pundits of pessimism to show you how to prosper now and in the future.An optimistic look at the economy and the markets written by one of today's foremost financial forecasters Presents a roadmap to seek opportunities in all the panic Shows you how to analyze economic indicators and government policy to grow your wealth so you don't lose by hiding under the bed A breath of fresh air, Wesbury's objectivity and optimism provide welcome relief to the daily bad news stories, as he sets us all up to capitalize on tomorrow's great possibilities.

Genres: Business, Economics, Nonfiction

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 8, 2008

Reviews

[The Angry Lawn Gnome]

Quite simply, life is too short to waste it listening to an idiot babbling on about what boils down to Tinkerbell Economics ("If you just believe in her, she'll come back to life!"). To say nothing of the fact that he incorrectly attributes a quote of Milton Friedman to Richard Nixon and couldn't bring himself to mention by name Warren Buffett regarding another quote. FTR, the first was the "We're all Keynesians now" quote, the second "When the tide goes out, you see who's swimming naked."

I think what truly left me agog is his claim that the problems of 2008 were caused primarily by...the media writing mean 'n nasty things. As if from 2002 to 2006 (perhaps even 2007) the media had done anything but laud every element of the bubble from mortgage originators like CountrySlime to Alan Greenspan to all the Investment Banks that went kaboom? And quote whoever the pet economist du jour of the National Association of Realtors not only uncritically, but glowingly?

And please note that I am not taking a swing at his "supply-side" ideology here, simply because he either never described how it is supposed to work, or I shut this insane gibberish off before he got there. Rather, I could simply only take so much BS. Sorry.

And although not precisely supply-side, there IS a superb free-market critique of the housing bubble already out there I offer as an alternative: Thomas Sowell's The Housing Boom and Bust. Even where and when I disagreed with Sowell's analysis, at least he sticks to the facts, writes without bombastic hyperbole, and leaves Tinkerbell in the fairy tale aisle. Check that one out, and do yourself a huge favor and pass this one by.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is like candy: has value because it tastes good and provides some energy. You have to look elsewhere for a meal. Look at that title. Obviously propoganda from a prominent supply-sider adding to the mountain of analyses that have been written on the 2008 housing crisis. The arguments are ok, just a lot of froof.

He offers a pretty standard explanation for the housing crisis: government distorted the market (Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, ratings agencies with congressional approval, easy money from Fed...). He harps on the idea that mark-to-market accounting was a major factor in producing the full panic. His assertion: the reason the private sector takes the blame is because journalists don't want to lose the privilege of getting the government scoop.

Worth reading? For me, the jury never came back.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

[Mason Charlez · Rating 4 out of 5]

JP Morgan would have loved Doge Coin

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good, but it does assume a certain level of economic knowledge coming in. He does a very good job counteracting the various fear-mongers (on both sides) using actual data instead of arbitrary projections. As expected, he has harsh words for the politicians who try to stir up fear to grow the government (think of Bush scaring everyone into the first "stimulus" vote in 2008, or Obama behaving similarly in 09). But he has equally harsh words for the conservative crowd's intense overreaction to what's gone on in the last several years. And the best part is that he backs it all up with good, historical data. Not guesswork or irresponsible extrapolations into the future. All said, though, this book would probably be a tough slog for someone who doesn't have some grasp of economics already (hence 3 Stars).

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it three stars because it gets a little technical in the middle, but really this is good book. Explains how government policies, not capitalism, causes the problems with the economy. I also learned how mark-to-market account undervalued the assets of companies and contributed to the problems in 2008.

[Gerhard Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! It is really not as bad as most people think!! Read it and find out for yourself...