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Find books about Political
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Where Does the
Money Go?: Your Guided Tour to the
Federal Budget Crisis
by Scott Bittle and Jean
Johnson
From the editors of the award-winning
nonpartisan Web site Public Agenda Online
comes this irreverent and candid guide to
the federal budget crisis that breaks down
into plain English exactly what the fat
cats in Washington are arguing about
Federal debt will affect your savings,
your retirement, your mortgage, your
health care, and your children. How well
do you understand the government decisions
that will end up coming out of your
pocket?
Here is essential information that
every American citizen needs -- and has
the right -- to know. This guide to
deciphering the jargon of the country's
budget problem covers everything from the
country's $9 trillion and growing debt to
the fact that, for thirty-one out of the
last thirty-five years, the country has
spent more on government programs and
services than it has collected in taxes.
It also explores why elected leaders on
every side of the fence have so far failed
to effectively address this issue and
explains what you can do to protect your
future.
Read
Dr. Dolhenty's Review of this
Book
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at Amazon.com - Order
at Powell's Books
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Declaring
Independence: The Beginning of the End
of the Two-Party System
by Douglas E. Schoen
America is at a political crossroads.
We are growing alienated from the two
major parties, which are dominated by
ideologues and offer simplistic solutions,
with candidates who think only in terms of
how to frame issues -- often irrelevant
"hot-button" issues -- in order to get
elected. Meanwhile, voters tend to crave
real solutions to the real problems we
face -- energy independence, affordable
health care, the environment, jobs,
sustainable national security. And
increasingly those voters want change and
they want it now, yearning for leaders who
understand the tough problems, confront
them head-on, and can offer practical
solutions without kowtowing to lockstep
partisan interests.
In Declaring Independence,
Schoen discusses major trends&endash;voter
dissatisfaction, lengthening campaign
seasons, networking and fund-raising on
the Internet, demographic shifts,
fundamental changes in how Americans view
their leaders&endash;that are opening the
door to more independent candidates and
radically transforming how all candidates
present themselves to the electorate and
citizenry.
Read
an Essay by this Author in The Radical
Academy
Read
Dr. Dolhenty's Review of this
Book
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at Amazon.com - Order
at Powell's Books
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Mobs,
Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the
Public Spectacle in Finance and
Politics
by William Bonner and Lila
Rajiva
Collectively, people think and act in
ways that are different from how they
think and act as individuals.
Understanding these differences is vital
to preserving your wealth and personal
dignity. From the witch hunts of the early
modern world to the war on terror, from
the dot-com mania to the real estate
bubble, people have always been caught up
in frauds, conceits, and wild guesses --
often with devastating results. In this
book, Bonner and coauthor Lila Rajiva show
groupthink at work in an improbably array
of instances throughout history and reveal
why swimming against the current pays.
They explain why people so often abandon
good sense and good behavior to "follow
the crowd" and show you how to avoid
getting caught up in the public spectacles
around you.
Read
Dr. Dolhenty's Review of this
Book
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at Amazon.com - Order
at Powell's Books
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BIG FAT
LIARS: How Politicians, Corporations, and
the Media Use Science and Statistics to
Manipulate the Public
by Morris E.
Chafetz, M.D.
These days, you can't turn on a
television without hearing that you're
probably fat, engaged in unhealthy
behavior, failing to get sufficient
exercise, destroying the environment
through the use of practically every
product that makes your life more
convenient, and likely to fall victim to
just about everything and everyone around
you. But not only are the statistics that
prove these points based on false
information, much of our national dialogue
is dictated by this patently bad
science-encouraged solely by public and
private organizations that leverage these
demonstrably untrue facts to bolster their
own philosophies and fatten their own
pocketbooks. With mounds of solid evidence
that contradicts common thought, Morris
Chafetz shows the lies behind the facts
about today's big issues (for instance,
the "obesity epidemic" we hear so much
about is the result not of a fatter
population but instead a change in
bookkeeping in a federal agency, and the
evidence used now to frighten us about
"global warming" was used a generation ago
to frighten us about "global cooling") and
encourages readers to look through the
money-motivated façade of
statistics and government controls and
return to a strong attitude of personal
responsibility.
Read
An Excerpt From This Book
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at Laissez Faire Books
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at Amazon.com - Buy
at Powell's Books
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Damned Lies
and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from
the Media, Politicians, and
Activists
When it comes to thinking about
statistics, according to Joel Best, there
are four kinds of people: awestruck,
naive, cynical, and critical. Most folks
are in the naive camp, resulting in mutant
statistics, guesswork, and poor policy
decisions. In this fascinating book, Best
presents the three questions to ask about
all statistics and the four basic sources
of bad ones, and explains why random
samples are rarely random enough. Learn it
all here before you rush to judgment over
the next nugget of statistics-based truth
you read.
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