Book Question, "Juggernaut: Why the System Crushes the Only People Who Can Save It"

Bookstores or Amazon ^ | Eric Robert Morse

[RicocheT]

From Amazon's title summary,

"In this stunning new story of political economy, author Eric Robert Morse examines why the modern system has become so unwieldy and explains what must be done to correct it. His astute analysis and fascinating storytelling take readers on an epic journey, from the dawn of Free-Market Capitalism during the Age of Exploration, through the Industrial Revolution and Adam Smith, to the rise of Keynesianism and the dominance of the Welfare State."

[RicocheT]

Have any of you read the book? What was your opinion on the author's thesis and is it worth buying and reading? Is it conservative in focus or what?

[Aria]

It does look like a good book but doubt I’ll buy it...still haven’t gotten around to reading Horse Soldiers yet.

Seems like it leans conservative - I can’t imagine that the economic trajectory of a country is a mystery to any honest observers - independence to comfort to servitude. Repeat.

What fools most people are.

[culpeper]

It seems the higher a person scores on tests the more politically inept people are in general, erring on the rat side. I think it has to do with an incredible lack of common sense as the conditioning for scoring high on tests takes over the brain.

[RicocheT]

Fools or leaches as the mob follows the loudest guy who promises free stuff that will be paid for by those the mob loathes (bosses and the rich). Of course the party has an ending as socialism is trickle up poverty in the long run. Already those of us earning about $130,000 and up and paying taxes support 70+% of the cost of these false promises and the other 30% is being borrowed every year on the USA credit card issued by China Inc.

[Aria]

Yes, there is a lot of truth to idea that modern education dumbs down the recipients. They think within a box that tells them they are more qualified to tell Joe the Plumber how to live his life than Joe the Plumber himself. They discount those who haven’t gone through the same re-education camps they have. They maintain arrogance even when their ideas are failures and they rationalize this endlessly. Of course they can’t be wrong - and their co-horts all support this - otherwise they would be shown as fools who spent hundreds of thousand of dollars on an education that taught them little of real value. None of them can admit this so they continue the fantasy - all of them including the ones who hire them and the ones who elect them.

And I don’t mean to discount those who do learn things of real value - scientists, doctors, engineers - this is training that must be learned and is way different from the usual types we fine who are trying to tell the rest of us how our lives should be.

[ideafusion]

I have read Juggernaut and found that it was very conservative in the sense that the author makes an excellent case against state intervention in the economy. He does try to “see it from both sides” of course, which means that he takes into account the kind of monopoly and exploitation that arose around the close of the economy in 1900. But still, his defense of personal freedom and individual responsibility is perhaps the best I’ve seen.

http://www.amazon.com/Juggernaut-System-Crushes-Only-People/dp/1600200494/