February 25, 2006

Thanks to all who participated in our meeting on "The  New Pearl Harbor". It was a very lively discussion. Some  people have 
indicated an interest in having a follow up  meeting at some future date, so stay tuned for more on  that.    
MEETING: The Book Discussion Group will meet February 25,  the fourth Saturday, at 10am. Mark your calendar.    
BOOK: The Commanding Heights : The Battle for the World  Economy (Paperback)  by Daniel Yergin, Joseph Stanislaw    
My thanks to Marti for suggesting this book. 

FUTURE BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:

I am attaching information on  a book recommendation for March titled 
"Misquoting Jesus:  The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why" by Scholar Bart Ehrman    
Ehrman says the modern Bible was shaped by mistakes and  intentional alterations that were made by early scribes who 
copied the texts. In the introduction to Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman writes that when he came to understand this process  
30 years ago, it shifted his way of thinking about the  Bible. He had been raised as an Evangelical Christian but now 
is an agnostic. Ehrman was interviewed by Terry Gross  on Fresh Air on NPR, December 14, 2005.    

Send your book recommendations to me and I will forward  them to our group in my next e-mail.    

 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com The "commanding heights,"  according to Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Yergin and international 
business advisor Joseph Stanislaw, are those  dominant enterprises and industries that form the high  economic ground in 
nations around the globe. In their  analysis of the new world economy, The Commanding Heights: The Battle Between Government 
and the Marketplace That Is  Remaking the Modern World, they examine "the individuals,  the ideas, the conflicts, and the 
turning points" that are  responsible. And by considering events such as the ongoing  Asian monetary crisis, they suggest 
what the ultimate  interconnection of financial markets might mean in the  future.  
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Key Themes Articulated in the Series:

The current global economy is the outgrowth of a century of  trial-and-error experimentation with different political and economic ideologies. 


The core battle of ideas is an argument about the best way  to promote the economic welfare of society as a whole. 


For most of the last century the argument has centered on the role that central governments should or should not play in economic activity. 


For much of the last century the argument appeared to swing  in favor of central planning and government control. 


More recently, the pendulum has swung the other way, toward  greater reliance on market forces to determine the allocation of resources.


The transition away from central control has increased productivity and expanded wealth, but has also been  societally wrenching for the peoples of many nations.    


In recent decades, technology has also fundamentally  changed the way economies behave and interrelate. We are  just beginning to understand how to reap the benefits and  manage the risks these changes have introduced.    


While the growth of globally integrated markets has expanded wealth and raised living standards in many parts of the world, there have also been destructive effects. The  Asian economic contagion of 1997-8 is one example.    


Because the benefits of globalization have not been distributed equitably, the gulf between rich and poor continues to threaten the stability of the system as a whole.    


Equipping dispossessed populations to benefit from open  global markets and entrepreneurial capitalism constitutes one of the major challenges of the 21st century.

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You can also find valuable information about this subject  at:
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/story/ch_menu.html    

Key Questions and Issues That Can Be Explored Using the  Site:    

What happens when governments control or dominate a  national economy?    

Why have most countries in the world turned back toward free-market capitalism after 80 years of experimentation with socialism and communism?    

Why did so many socialist economies fail?    

What are the benefits and drawbacks of the capitalist economic system?    

What happens when command economies transform into market economies? 

How is the transition best undertaken?    

Is there a relationship between open markets and political freedom?    

What happens when national governments restrict their domestic economies from open participation in (and  dependence on) foreign trade?    


What are the benefits and dangers of open flows of capital  and trade in goods across all national borders?    

What caused the collapse of the first age of the global  free market (in 1914)?    

What has a century taught us about the specific problems of  market economies -- speculative "bubbles," crashes, underemployment, and unequal distribution of wealth?    

What have we learned about the effects of imposing price and wage controls, of deficit spending, trade tariffs, and subsidies?    

What have we learned about the effects of government  regulation of markets and privately owned industries?    

What have we learned about government use of fiscal vs.  monetary policy in promoting economic growth?    

Compare the benefits and liabilities in nationalizing  private enterprises and turning them into state-owned  industries.    

Compare the benefits and risks in re-privatizing  state-owned industries.    

In designing new rules for the evolving global economy, how should we address the risks of economic contagion, currency  and debt crises, and other dangers to peace and stability?  

As global capital markets have opened up and investors can invest or withdraw support from entire national economies at will, what has been the impact of "market discipline" on  national economic and political autonomy?    

Is the open market, capitalist economic philosophy now the  only viable model for fostering economic development and  prosperity?    

What have the experiences of Asia, Latin America, and  Africa to tell us about the advantages and limitations of  our own economic viewpoint?