market folly

Is it just us, or are book titles getting longer and longer these days? That point aside, we're here today to review John Perkins' latest book, Hoodwinked: An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded--and What We Need to Do to Remake Them. In short, Hoodwinked details exactly what its title describes. It is really that plain and simple. Some of you may already be familiar with John Perkins because he is the author of the noteworthy book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, a title that graced the NY Times bestseller list for a very long time. Perkins is back with his 'Economic Hitman' persona in tact, this time tackling how America has now fallen victim to an economic plague that has already swept the third world.

Let's face it, there have been many great books detailing episodes of the crisis. Some of them have focused on things on a macro level while others have detailed downfalls of specific institutions. We've even read and reviewed a few of them including Lawrence McDonald's NY Times bestselling book A Colossal Failure of Common Sense, as well as The Murder of Lehman Brothers. While many of the books centering on the crisis have done a great job of outlining what has happened and the reasons behind it, John Perkins' Hoodwinked takes things a step further and actually outlines what we can do to recover and rebuild. This is a refreshing and welcome change from other books on the great recession because it takes aim at learning from our mistakes and discussing just how we can turn things back around.

Perkins affixes much of the blame to corporations not for their poor risk management or bubble-creating tendencies, but rather for the fact that they possess all the power and control all the capital. The author uses the intriguing phrase, "predatory capitalism" to help describe all that is wrong with America. For a solution, Perkins centers his plan around responsible business actions and corporate leadership that acts in the best interests of their shareholders rather than for their personal pockets. Not to mention, he argues that the focus should be shifted in favor of what's right for society as a whole. While some may label his ideas a pipe dream and while he often writes in hopeful generalities, we applaud Perkins for passionately laying out a premise by which to change for the better. His work keeps you engaged, but we couldn't help but crave more detail and depth in regards to a concrete solution. Overall though, Hoodwinked is a very different take on what has passed and what is yet to come.

Below, we also wanted to highlight an interview with author John Perkins. Our buddy Misstrade has been cranking out some great videos with authors of noteworthy books and he recently sat down with the Hoodwinked author. (Email readers come to the blog to view the video):



Check out Hoodwinked: An Economic Hit Man Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded--and What We Need to Do to Remake Them.


---

This joins our ever-growing list of book reviews & here are our thoughts on other compelling reads:

- Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition by Michael Mauboussin
- Riches Among The Ruins by Robert P. Smith
- The Greatest Trade Ever by Gregory Zuckerman
- The Murder of Lehman Brothers by Joseph Tibman
- Street Fighters: The Last 72 Hours of Bear Stearns by Kate Kelly
- The Ivy Portfolio: How To Invest Like the Top Endowments by Mebane Faber

For more great books check out our various recommended reading lists too.