Customer Reviews

Brave New Wealthy World: Winning the Struggle for Global Prosperity (Financial Times (Prentice Hall))

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The argument hit me in stages. As I zipped through the stories, I found myself smiling, but then I started thinking more seriously about what this book was saying, and now I think it's cruel and triumphalist. This book may become a tool in the hands of people who want to neglect the poor and feel good about it.

People who want to make high returns on their investments and retire rich will find a lot to like here. The poor countries aren't only going to do all the dirty work for the rich countries and make all the cheap manufactured stuff we buy in Wal-Mart. The poor countries are also going to solve our retirement crisis by giving us high rates of return on our savings. This book will make people mad who want the rich countries to quit dictating to the poor countries. People who think free trade does a lot of harm don't know the really ugly side of the story, but they'll get a good look at it if they read this book.

This book outlines the working of the global financial system in a clear and concise manner. It helped me understand the global financial interconnections and provided a solid understanding of how First World nations view the rest of the world. However, I disagree with the basic principles laid out in this book. Until the wealthy first world stops sucking off the resources of the poorest nations, there will always be strife and war.

This book made me laugh, but it also bothered me. It's full of funny, pointed stories, but it's also got a pretty upsetting argument underlying it. I find myself wondering if this guy can be right? His argument is clear and I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself. But what's bothering me is it predicts that for example my country Ecuador will have to abandon its sovereignty over its financial system or fall quickly behind the countries that hand over sovereignty to international investors.

The U.S. has turned into a financial predator nation - borrowing billions every week from abroad and pissing the money away on imported luxuries, and borrowing more to pay for wars. Foreigners keep shoveling money into the U.S. and anyone who thinks they'll stop or thinks that the whole game will come to a sudden end should read this book. There's more going on than comes out in the newspapers. The really surprising message of this book is that everything could come out well - not only for the 300 million people that own financial assets, but also for the six billion that don't. I slammed this book down on the table a few times but after a few minutes I picked it up again.

The conclusions drawn by the author are very logical and thorougly researched.
**HOWEVER**
The author's entire line of argument is faulted!
He does not fully take into account the limited resources that the global economic system operates with.
Prosperity, defined as ability to consume desired goods, can NOT be reached at the same level as that in Western countries- because there aren't enough goods to meet the consumption demands of the world's population at that level.
It is very simple.