Obamanomics: How Bottom-Up Economic Prosperity Will Replace Trickle-Down Economics [Paperback]

John R. Talbott (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1583228659 | ISBN-13: 978-1583228654 | Publication Date: July 1, 2008 | Edition: 1

Bestselling author John R. Talbott, who predicted the housing and mortgage crisis, pictures in Obamanomics--written well in advance of the historic 2008 elections--a Barack Obama presidency based on justice and cooperation—principles that have not held sway in Washington, DC, for quite some time. Talbott's powerful grasp of finance allows him to connect the issue of financial inequality in America with our need as a people to embrace change.
Obama has shown he knows that divisions among races, religions, and political views have prevented Americans from coming together to solve the most important problems of our age. Obamanomics, infused with Obama's speeches, campaign policy statements, and other writings, describes a government acting according to democratic principles to enact lobbying reform, get our economy moving again, fix our healthcare system, slow global warming, prevent unnecessary wars, improve education, address the aging of our population, find alternative energy sources, and bring about housing, mortgage, and banking reform.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Author, media commentator and former investment banker Talbott (The Coming Crash in the Housing Market) gives fiscal politics a shot of excitement and, yes, hope as he explores presidential nominee Barack Obama's proposed bag of economic tricks. With reasoned but brutally blunt arguments, topics like corporate lobbying turn improbably fascinating; Talbott explains the system and its problems, and provides simple charts that will make average Americans blanch. Talbott delineates the differences between top-down and bottom-up economics, explaining the latter's advantages and how Obama's proposed policies will take us in the direction of greater economic justice and opportunity for average citizens. Quoting Obama at length, Talbott gives the impression of a man with the wisdom and will to reform many areas: healthcare, social security, housing and labor. Talbott does warn, however, that "if Obama goes after the special interests, he will be taking on almost all of corporate America... and the most powerful political organizations," and that "common sense would dictate that you would have to bet against him"-but only if "you had not heard Obama speak." Even if one disagrees with the solutions, Talbott will illuminate in quick order some vital issues for voters and taxpayers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

A former investment banker for Goldman Sachs, JOHN R. TALBOTT is the author of seven books on economics and politics, including The Coming Crash of the Housing Market, Obamanomics, Contagion, and The 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street. He has appeared on CNN, Fox News, CNBC, CBS Marketwatch and written for the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the Boston Globe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press; 1 edition (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583228659
• ISBN-13: 978-1583228654
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #940,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John offers financial consulting advice on a very personal and confidential basis to individuals and families. You can learn more about his One on One consulting activities at www.StopTheLying.com

John R. Talbott is the bestselling author of nine books on economics and politics that have accurately detailed and predicted the causes and devastating effects of this entire financial crisis including, in 2003, The Coming Crash in the Housing Market. In 2004, he correctly identified corporate and banking lobbyists and big corporate money in politics as the major underlying cause of the current crisis with, Where America Went Wrong. In January 2006, he called the absolute peak month of home prices in the US by releasing, Sell Now! The End of the Housing Bubble and warned that the problem was not local, or even national, but international. In 2008, his book, Contagion: The Financial Epidemic That Is Sweeping the Global Economy predicted the subprime mortgage problem developing in the US would mutate and grow and infect not only prime mortgages, but other markets such as the stock market, commercial real estate, the municipal bond market, as well as threaten the solvency of banks and governments around the globe leading to a very long, deep and painful global recession. In 2009, The 86 Biggest Lies on Wall Street exposed the ineptness of the government's response to the crisis and the futility of enacting real reform of Wall Street when Wall Street itself is the biggest lobbyist of our congress.

Formerly, an investment banker for Goldman Sachs and a Visiting Scholar at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, Talbott has written peer reviewed academic research on democracy, inequality, AIDS prevention and developing country economics and has acted as an economic adviser to Jordan and Russia. He has made presentations on economics and politics throughout the United States and in Italy and Australia. He graduated from Cornell's School of Engineering and received an MBA from UCLA. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Herald Tribune, the New Republic, the Huffington Post and salon.com. He has appeared as a financial expert on television for CNN, CBS, Fox News, CNBC, FBN, CSPAN and MSNBC as well as on hundreds of radio programs. Talbott, whose family has lived in Kentucky for 230 years is the son of a career Army officer, is 57 years old, single, an avid college football and basketball fan and lives on the left coast with his faithful companion, Boca Jr., who rarely objects to any of Talbott's writings or politics except when it is time to go for a walk.

The media can contact Talbott at [e-mail] as well as anyone who might be interested in discussing possible speaking engagements. Those interested in learning more about Talbott's one on one consulting service can find information here www.StopTheLying.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Clear, but disappointing, August 16, 2008

By 

CJ (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Obamanomics: How Bottom-Up Economic Prosperity Will Replace Trickle-Down Economics (Paperback)

Please don't get thrown off with an impression of a three star rating. This book has its strong points - it has clear and crisp prose, the section on home ownership is great (not surprising given the author's reputation), he avoids getting bogged down in statistics, and he goes to painful lengths explaining a few areas where he disagrees with what Obama presents in his speeches. Unfortunately, as a complete volume, I walked away with the impression that this is a summary of Obama's policy views, with a little bit of the author's opinion sprinkled in. Starting every chapter with an excerpt of an Obama speech is good propaganda, but lacks policy analysis depth. With a title of Obamanomics, I was hoping for a better explanation of why bottom-up economics is better than trickle-down, but instead I bought 200 pages of policy summary, a lot I could have gotten free off a website. Perhaps in this election year, this book will convince some swing voters who want a brief summary of how Obama will possibly be different, but explanations of why he will be different are lacking.

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrid, July 19, 2009

By 

C. James "C. James" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Obamanomics: How Bottom-Up Economic Prosperity Will Replace Trickle-Down Economics (Paperback)

I cannot believe that this horrid excuse for a book was ever published. I only got 1/2 way through before I literally threw it in the garbage. Not only due to the shoddy writing style...but for god sakes, look at the end notes that he incessantly refers to. After the first mention of statistics I thought something seemed a little fishy. This buffoon of a writer actually (and repeatedly) cites his own previous publications, disreputable sources...and Wikipedia. You would be far better off having a discussion on the subject with your waitress at Denny's.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting, December 14, 2008

By 

Bloose - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Obamanomics: How Bottom-Up Economic Prosperity Will Replace Trickle-Down Economics (Paperback)

I found this book very interesting but not quite what I expected. I was expecting a more detailed explanation of exactly why bottom up economics will work much better than trickle down has. With historical data or accepted financial theory to back it up. This is an argument I have been making for years and was hoping this would give me some concrete facts and statistics to support this idea. A lot of the book instead were suggestions by the author of how Obama should run his administration. I agree with much of it, though not all, but am still left with little historic proof of the concept.

I definitely recommend the book because as I said there are some very interesting ideas in it.