Starving the Monkeys: Fight Back Smarter [Paperback]

Tom Baugh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2009

New Expanded Edition!

Are you prepared for the greatest crisis in America's history? Not if you haven't read Starving The Monkeys.

You're being lied to. By everyone on both sides of the political aisle. Liberals tell us that Obama's socialism will bring a glorious new era. Conservatives tell us that it won't, but we just need to vote Republican to solve the problem. And they all claim to believe that the current system can be salvaged. Don't kid yourself. The system can't go on much longer. But by reading this book, you can be prepared. In it, you'll learn:

- Why voting shouldn't be your primary tool, and how voting for even reformed incumbents only makes things worse.
- How protest movements can become a dead-end without a plan for individual action.
- How and why the system seeks to destroy anyone who thinks for himself.
- Why you need much more preparation than gold and guns, or heading for the hills.
- How to carve out personal and financial independence without attracting attention, while you prepare for the coming crisis.
- How to be worthy of assistance during and after a collapse.

All this, and much, much more is in Starving The Monkeys. Some call it a 21st century version of Atlas Shrugged. Others find it chilling. But for those who are ready to face the greatest crisis in our history, Starving The Monkeys is a book full of promise and real hope.

About the Author

Tom Baugh is a former Marine, patented inventor, entrepreneur and professional irritant.

Product Details

• Paperback: 430 pages
• Publisher: Starve Monkey Press (October 30, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0982543107
• ISBN-13: 978-0982543108
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,346 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding a productive path January 5, 2010

By Alan Wolfe

Format:Paperback

This book is not an easy read. You won't polish this off in a relaxed evening. And I found a few bits infuriating.

So what makes it compelling?

Baugh delivers an unflinching look at the ills of today's society. He develops his narrative from the ground up, drawing on many colorful stories from his days as a Naval Academy midshipman, as a Marine Corps officer, and as a successful business entrepreneur to illustrate his points.

Baugh makes you think hard about how the world works. He delivers a roadmap and comprehensive building blocks for a solid education in math and the physical sciences -- as well as what used to be known as the practical trades -- to anyone willing to put in the work.

Baugh devotes considerable attention to contrasting the economic advantages of individual liberty against the ills of collective tyranny.

No magic bullets here. Baugh offers concrete solutions you can start working on today to make yourself more productive. History abundantly demonstrates that societies only prosper through productive individual action. Might as well divest yourself now of any notions of victimhood or arbitrary ideas of achieving 'fairness' through government coercion.

Agree or disagree with his philosophies, you should at least consider doing the homework. It's worth the effort. You can improve your life considerably with a bit of self-discipline. "Starving the Monkeys" is a great starting point.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! December 23, 2009

By R. Winters

Format:Paperback

This is the best book I have read in a long time. Lots of excellent advice, and insightful analysis of history, politics, and why the coming crisis is inevitable. Beware, if you are of the monkey mind set, you will be offended. If you think individualism is a good thing you will love it, maybe even be reassured that you are not alone. Can't recommend it highly enough.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for the faint of heart, but essential reading... May 9, 2010

By Rob Ryley VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Tom Baugh's book Starving the Monkeys is not easy to categorize. It cuts across genres, in that it is part economic treatise, part military autobiography, part small business instruction manual, and part modern military history and strategy guide.

The first third of the book lays the foundation for the study of the creation of wealth -- voluntary trade. Baugh starts fictional cave man account of capital formation, the division of labor, and ultimately -- the evolution of a parasitic class called politicians, that cause the decline, and ultimate collapse, of a prosperous society.

If you have already read Ludwig von Mises, or F.A. Hayek, much of this will be familiar to you. If you believe that "free trade" is a myth, and that in market there are only those who cheat, and those who are cheated, nothing in this section will be persuasive to you.

The second third describes how the parasitic political classes use regulation to suppress competition, and drastically reduce the option of self-employment of potential employees, in order to maintain excessive, oligopoly profit, and political power. The end result of incessant government regulation and protection of what Baugh would call the "monkey interest groups" is economic decline, decay, and death. Given these causes, and the inevitable result, Baugh describes the incentives this gives to employers, politicians, and the other monkey interests.

When he described the fictional scenario of an engineer pressured to design an item with inferior materials, his options, and his behavior after recognizing how management is trying to take credit if things go well, but
push blame onto him if things go bad -- I could have sworn he had been reading my mind. The exact same scenarios occur in virtually every industry in America. Those who take pride in producting value for customers are chronically frustrated. Given the constraints, he provides hints for those value generators to set out on their own, and survive until the time comes when providing useful goods and services is more appreciated.

The third section of the book describes the history and political choices our country has made over the last 100 years, that have brought us to the brink of collapse. He describes how the "Tyrany of the Nice" have used subtle manipulation techniques, backed up by government force, to profit from the labor of productive, while generating nothing of their own. He describes how these tyrants infest all levels of government, including the military, and how they profit from the creation of conflict, not its prevention. His treatment as a Marine fighting in Desert Storm, and his later treatment by Virginia tech--are shocking, but ultimately not surprising.

His conclusions: 1. hard work and investment make no sense in the current environment. Any risk you bear is your own, any reward will be taxed away, or stolen from you by financial con artists, or regulated away by bigger competitors. 2. Our government is corrupt to the core, and expecting political "solutions" are delusional.
3. When the Federal government ultimately collapses, there will be a dire need for people who know how to create truly valuable things -- energy, food, and fuel, along with "life quality" factors. Knowledge of math and science -- subjects where Americans are woefully unprepared, will be crucial tools that can neither be taxed nor stolen.

As a self-described "professional irritant", Tom does his best to get you to throw his book across the room. I'm sure he enrages feminists and God fearing, bible thumping Christians alike. But if you make it to the end of the book, you will have been educated in a way that is virtually impossible to do in schools, or through the mass media.

If you have any doubts about his book, check out his recent speech at the New Hampshire Liberty forum, found on the Starving the Monkeys website, or on Youtube.