Customer Reviews

The New Golden Age: The Coming Revolution against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos

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Ravi Batra is still at it, almost three decades since he penned the classic "The Downfall of Capitalism and Communism: A New Study of History". We have come a long way with this author since then and never been bored. Batra's thesis is that we have entered the era of financial capitalism, the last stage of the Age of Acquisitors, where an increasingly uneven distribution of wealth feeds into increasing financial leverage and speculation, until the system can't handle it anymore and collapses. Following the collapse is financial destitution of many and social chaos. Such an outcome is still the most potent form of criticism of Capitalism. If Batra is at some point proved right that
a) the Great Depression of the 1930s was no fluke and
b) that innovations and safeguards to our financial system adopted since then cannot prevent another meltdown,
then that is a major an indictment of our form of social organization and, ultimately, our way of life.

At the heart of Batra's writings are the ideas of his mentor P.R. Sarkar. Batra has done more than anyone to publicize the message of this giant of modern day Indian thought in the West. This book is yet another installation into that body of work. While the message may no longer be as novel or fresh as it was in the 1980s, his work now builds on three decades of experience, including a multitude of accurate predictions (although the most important one has so far been a spectacular failure - the Great Depression of 1990!). He is now more circumspect about such things, including the adoption of a fiat monetary system in the 1970s and how monetary policy has been successfully used to forestall a major crash. In one sense he is quite correct, our monetary and financial system is an ongoing social experiment. Batra's work is, if anything, a reminder that we take a lot of things for granted. It is healthy to consider the alternatives, such as if the systemic stability were to give way to catastrophe. Central banks all over the world now devote considerable resources into researching this question and government surveillance of the financial market is now commonplace with stock markets all over the world soaring. Interestingly, all of that, albeit important, is not really the key focus of his work. As the name of his new book suggests, it is the glorious new dawn of a world based on the sentient philosophy of his mentor that is his main message.

Time will tell if Batra and the ideas he promotes are the real deal. So far, he has yet to prove the worth of these ideas with his major prediction. However, he has offered many novel insights into how modern capitalism works. For instance, in the 1980s he was one of the first to talk about how the financial sector was becoming the key to social developments in the West. Today, we take such insights for granted. Overall, the ideas he is describing are more than worthy of our careful consideration. Let us also not forget that he made a prediction in the book mentioned above in 1978 that Communism would fall. It did. As is the norm for him, the book is exceedingly well written and the message as fascinating as ever. Batra tends to be a few steps ahead of the rest of us, even if it sometimes looks as if he going down the wrong path. Even if he has made a big misstep, in my opinion, he is still headed in the right direction. The ideas are serious and profound and also filled with hope. The book is highly recommended for the intellectually curious or those scoping about for a more meaningful approach to life than what the real world has on offer in the early 21th century.

In this book, Batra expains how the economic chaos and political corruption will continue to escalate and worsen over the next few years until the working class eventually rise up like warriors against the acquisitor class (capitalist - Russ Winter calls them the "pigmen") who have infiltrated all aspects of our government, the press, and our society at large. This uprising will dawn a new golden era of prosperity for the masses and the working class. A move away from "trickle down" economics where indebtedness of the masses for the fortitude of the richest has resulted in an increasingly unstable bubble-led economy with resultant record trade imbalances that leaves us (as a nation and society) in a precarious and vulnerable situation.

An exceptional economics book that tells the truth directly and in simple and completely understandable terms. Scuttles the Media and Political hype and presents what is needful and workable toward economic democracy that is now being submerged be the Global "Free Market" lies, myths and swindles.
Should be required reading for every truly patriotic citizen.

The accredited economist and Professor of Economics tells the truth about concentrated world wealth and world government corruption that has manifested turmoil to today's civilization.

In laymans terms, he explains economic principles and social infrastructure cycles which justify his hypotheis: "The Downfall of Capitalism and Communism: A New Study of History". The imbalance of resources and wealth has proliferated CEO greed and government corruption, slowly eliminating the middle-class. Dr. Batra outlines economic and social history in simple terms to bring a REAL and unavoid conclusion to our financial fate.

His book does not provide hype nor fiction, but he attempts solidify his predictions with factual data. So far, his batting avg. is 90% on predictions. If you want a bite out of the Adam and Eve "apple", buy the book. It's an eye opener.

We are now Sept, 29, 2008. I have just finished reading his book. Ravi Batra's expose of the current economic turmoil and its causes is absolutely superb. I don't need any economists' works to find some predictions neither do I expect their forecasts to be totally precise and accurate. None of us would have a crystal ball to predict the future. I simply believe he has a superbly logical approach to the facts he reveals. This is what I expect from a great economist.

Read this book and tell me that the events currently unfolding all across America could not have been predicted. So we know that at least one person of intelligence saw the economic/geopolitical mess coming. A terrific book that has proven to be all too accurate.

ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED READING FOR ALL!

Ravi Batra has proven prescient on some of his predictions in this older edition of THE NEW GOLDEN AGE.
He bases his forecasts on historical economic and political cycles.

The stated goal of this book is to answer the questions; Where is poverty headed? What is the cause?
The author answers both questions and many more in this book.

I think that Mr. Batra hits home with his assessment that "what the United States has is monopoly capitalism."
Another accurate label is that some CEOs are "today's robber barons." This indirectly reminds the reader of the Populist revolt of the 1890's.

He rails about how gas and oil prices are manipulated by oil companies, Wall Street, and hedge fund speculators under the protection of government-sponsored myths/cover stories. This is just one example of how big business in America owns politicians in both parties.

He explains why "tricklism" or trickle-down economics is a dismal failure.

A subject that I haven't read a lot about prior to this book is the elite economists that are also beholden to the wealthy corporations. He cautions the reader not to trust the theories of the "celebrity" economists.

Some of Ravi Batra's solutions that I really like are:
*Dual exchange rate as a solution for trade deficits.
*The voting strategy of abandoning any party loyalty.
*Universal health insurance for all Americans.
*A progressive income tax effectively reversing the shift of the tax burden from the middle class back to the rich.
*Return to antitrust laws and break up monopolies.

I recommend Ravi Batra as an economics author.
He explores the causes of our economic crisis and most importantly, he offers solutions.

I learnt a lot about present World economics from this book. I recommend reading it for a better understanding of the situation we are in presently.

End of October 2008 now. His predictions from two years ago are unfolding into reality quite relentlessly, on a week by week basis. I learned a lot from this book. I don't know if I can quite buy his theory of cycles, but his incredible success at predicting world events over the past 20 years give him a lot of credibility. He does bring hope that everything will turn out well eventually, but looks like there's going to be a lot of pain before that happens.

A fascinating book! With the unique perspective written about our possible coming economic cycle, it will give readers some serious data to look over to anticipate the coming age. As usual, it is chock full of data and facts that will support his arguments fully. There was nothing I didn't like about his book. I do recommend reading The Myth of Free Trade first, then Greenspan's Fraud, and finally this one third.