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Gary Petersen

Reading Recommendation About Current Economic Conditions

I've seen the deck from a presentation recently that included some comparisons in financial activity between current times and 1929. The general, way too simplistic, takeaway I get from discussion like this is:

1. We don't know bad things will get before the start getting better.
2. We don't know how long it will take before that happens.

I'd like to become more informed about current economic conditions and decisions and about how they relate to conditions and decisions from the history of the United States. Does any one have suggestions on who is good at writing about this? What should I be reading to be better informed?

Thanks for any suggestions. Gary Petersen

Tags: conditions, depression, economic, economy, great, reading

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Replies to This Discussion

Marcin Wozniak Permalink Reply by Marcin Wozniak on March 25, 2009 at 6:36am
What I find really surprising, is that the best article about the ins and outs of current financial crisis was published in The Rolling Stone.

Highly recommended: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover

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Vaughn Permalink Reply by Vaughn on March 30, 2009 at 9:51am
I have found the resources aggregated by Paul Kedrosky very broad and deep, and even entertaining. I highly recommend this link:

http://paul.kedrosky.com/

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Dmitriy Permalink Reply by Dmitriy on April 12, 2009 at 12:41am
I liked New York Times 4 page exposes published as the crisis unfolded. They covered the machinations at AIG, Merryl Lynch, Citigroup and Lehman. In my opinion, they underscored the remaining value that good solid newspaper reporting still offered.

As for the historical background, PMBA's "The money and the power" book, had a chapter on Dutch tulip mania. Strangely, the bubble in tulip bulbs looks strikingly similar to the Emerging markets hysteria. Whether it's called Admirael van der Eijck or BRIC, caveat emptor. Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

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Kevin McC. Permalink Reply by Kevin McC. on March 9, 2010 at 11:24pm
The Mises Institute's "Bailout Reader" outlines several articles on various aspects of and contributing factors to the situation. If you want to dig deeper, there are some free e-books linked at the bottom of the list, many pertaining to the Great Depression but very relevant to events of the past year or so and the still-current situation. The Mises Austrian Theory and Rothbard on the Fed written more for the lay person; some of the other titles are lengthier/more academic in nature.

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