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Book Reviews you may find of interest:
The Best and the Brightest by David
Halberstam
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
American Creation by Joseph J. Ellis
Engaged to Die by Carolyn Hart
An Irish Country Village by Patrick Taylor
The following are a listing of essays on
banking related topics:
Banker, Banker, Make Me a Loan
Banks Winning Again
Defining A Bank
FDIC and Your Overdraft
Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008
Outsourcing the Credit Decision
Regulating Financial Services-An Approach
Sub-prime Mortgages - A Good Idea Gone
Bad
The Credit Score is the Problem
The Excellent Adventures of Fannie and
Freddie
When Is A Bank Not A Bank
Where the Banks Went Wrong - The Beginning
The following are a listing of essays on
general business related topics:
A Ponzi Scheme for the Rest of Us
America on Sale
Auto Industry Seeking Tow Truck
Autos and the Three Pigs
Cars and Gas
Caveat Emptor
Compensating the CEO
Do US Companies Own Anything Anymore?
Going Public - Acting Private
Pharmaceutical Ads - Why?
The Corporate Jack of All Trades
The Ideal Corporation
Too Big to Fail
Too Big to Survive
Utilities-Regulate or Deregulate?
Wal-Mart: Retail's Evil Empire
The following are a listing of essays on the
economy and economic related topics:
1928 vs 2008
A Recession of Excesses
About That Surplus
Bernanke Sees Light in the Darkness
Capitalist Socialism
Extending the Downturn
Governments Operated Like Corporations
Hold the Mergers
Hoover Didn't Do It
Is the Recession Over?
Paulson the Hammer - Looking for a Nail
Paulson to US - Trust Me
Politics and Job Creation
Recession of 2008
Regulating Financial Services - An Approach
The Bailout That Wasn't
The New Hoovervilles
Too Big to Fail
Too Big to Survive
What Kind of Recession is it?
What Next: The Economy and the Fed
The FED's New Stimulus: Risk Versus
Reward
Why Tax Cuts Won't Work
The following are a listing of essays on
General Interest topics:
Be Nice
Feeling Anxious/Depressed?
Has Europe Really Gone Secular?
Infracture and the War
Lunch at Vincent's Place
Medical Records Need Updating
New Use for an Old Joke
Old, Young, Man, Woman
Performance Enhancement Nation
Running From Gustav
Two Hateful Words
The Ugliest Christmas Tree
The following are a listing of essays that have
a History theme:
A Change for the Electorial System
Cal and the Tea Party
I'm a Federalist
The following are a listing of essays that have
a Political theme:
2008 - A Woman President?
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BOOK REVIEW:
The Best and the Brightest
By David Halberstam
Couldn't resist picking this up when I saw it even though it
was written in 1972. I remember reading portions of the
book almost forty years ago and wondered how it would all
sound in the twenty-first century, especially with our
current plan for exiting Iraq. For those not familiar with
The Best and the Brightest, it is an historical chronicle and
analysis of the United States' foreign policy leading up to
and through the Vietnam War.
Halberstam, an author of more than twenty books (many
with war as its topic), who died in an automobile accident in
2007, was a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who covered
the Vietnam War as a foreign correspondent beginning in
1962 and was considered one of the most respected analysts
of the reasons for United States involvement in the conflict.
In The Best and the Brightest he chronicles the basis for the
cold war era foreign policy that led to the U.S. involvement
in Southeast Asia by sifting through the leavings of five
previous presidential administrations to demonstrate how
the finest minds in the country came to be led down a path
that now seems so obviously marked with warning signs. It
surely reconfirms the historian's lament of "…those who do
not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." or words to
that effect.
The arguments used to justify entering Iraq, Afghanistan
and the current saber rattling over Iran are eerily identical
to arguments presented in the late 1950's with regard to
Southeast Asia. And yes, it would appear the same poor
decisions have been made.
The Best and the Brightest is a fascinating re-read and
highly recommended for anyone who would like to learn
how good intentions by the best and brightest minds advising
the country's leaders from the 1930's through the Vietnam
War could so easily be led astray and it is especially chilling
to see it being repeated.
Some quotes I found interesting.
Westerners always learn the hard way. Respect for the
enemy always came when it was too late.
No-one likes government interference in daily life - even
Adam and Eve thought God a bit intrusive and heavy handed.
They believed in the capacity of rational men to control
irrational commitments.
…the best way for civilians to harness generals was to stay
out of war.
Loyalty trumps reason and intelligence.
Vietnam was an example of business methods applied to war.
Government, on both sides of the aisle, has lost the business
man, as they no longer see it as a place for them and their
sons and daughters to give back to the country.
Each dead American became one more rational for more
dead Americans.
Problems always develop when one tries to sense which way
the wind is blowing so as not to be caught going against it.
The art of arguing with your mother-in-law: "You win the
first point and move on to the next only to find out you are
back at the first."
Some other thoughts:
Never underestimate the power of religious conviction. In a
world dominated by "Relativism" it is a bastian of
"Absolutism."
There is a difference between being brilliant and being wise.
Should elected officials defer to military leaders on matters
of military policy? And if they do is that a violation of the
spirit of the constitution which clearly calls for civilian
control of the military?
Tim Holland
The Best and the Brightest
By David Halberstam
Couldn't resist picking this up when I saw it even though it
was written in 1972. I remember reading portions of the
book almost forty years ago and wondered how it would all
sound in the twenty-first century, especially with our
current plan for exiting Iraq. For those not familiar with
The Best and the Brightest, it is an historical chronicle and
analysis of the United States' foreign policy leading up to
and through the Vietnam War.
Halberstam, an author of more than twenty books (many
with war as its topic), who died in an automobile accident in
2007, was a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who covered
the Vietnam War as a foreign correspondent beginning in
1962 and was considered one of the most respected analysts
of the reasons for United States involvement in the conflict.
In The Best and the Brightest he chronicles the basis for the
cold war era foreign policy that led to the U.S. involvement
in Southeast Asia by sifting through the leavings of five
previous presidential administrations to demonstrate how
the finest minds in the country came to be led down a path
that now seems so obviously marked with warning signs. It
surely reconfirms the historian's lament of "…those who do
not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." or words to
that effect.
The arguments used to justify entering Iraq, Afghanistan
and the current saber rattling over Iran are eerily identical
to arguments presented in the late 1950's with regard to
Southeast Asia. And yes, it would appear the same poor
decisions have been made.
The Best and the Brightest is a fascinating re-read and
highly recommended for anyone who would like to learn
how good intentions by the best and brightest minds advising
the country's leaders from the 1930's through the Vietnam
War could so easily be led astray and it is especially chilling
to see it being repeated.
Some quotes I found interesting.
Westerners always learn the hard way. Respect for the
enemy always came when it was too late.
No-one likes government interference in daily life - even
Adam and Eve thought God a bit intrusive and heavy handed.
They believed in the capacity of rational men to control
irrational commitments.
…the best way for civilians to harness generals was to stay
out of war.
Loyalty trumps reason and intelligence.
Vietnam was an example of business methods applied to war.
Government, on both sides of the aisle, has lost the business
man, as they no longer see it as a place for them and their
sons and daughters to give back to the country.
Each dead American became one more rational for more
dead Americans.
Problems always develop when one tries to sense which way
the wind is blowing so as not to be caught going against it.
The art of arguing with your mother-in-law: "You win the
first point and move on to the next only to find out you are
back at the first."
Some other thoughts:
Never underestimate the power of religious conviction. In a
world dominated by "Relativism" it is a bastian of
"Absolutism."
There is a difference between being brilliant and being wise.
Should elected officials defer to military leaders on matters
of military policy? And if they do is that a violation of the
spirit of the constitution which clearly calls for civilian
control of the military?
Tim Holland