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Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse Audiobook
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(4.01) - 912 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
The media tells us that "deregulation" and "unfettered free markets" have wrecked our economy and will continue to make things worse without a heavy dose of federal regulation. But the real blame lies elsewhere. In Meltdown, bestselling author Thomas E. Woods, Jr., unearths the real causes behind the collapse of housing values and the stock market—and it turns out the culprits reside more in Washington than on Wall Street.
And the trillions of dollars in federal bailouts? Our politicians' ham-handed attempts to fix the problems they themselves created will only make things much worse.
Woods, a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and winner of the 2006 Templeton Enterprise Award, busts the media myths and government spin. He explains how government intervention in the economy—from the Democratic hobby horse called Fannie Mae to affirmative action programs like the Community Redevelopment Act—actually caused the housing bubble.
Most important, Woods, author of the New York Times bestseller The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, traces this most recent boom-and-bust—and all such booms and busts of the past century—back to one of the most revered government institutions of all: the Federal Reserve System, which allows busybody bureaucrats and ambitious politicians to pull the strings of our financial sector and manipulate the value of the very money we use.
Meltdown, which features a foreword by Congressman Ron Paul (R–Texas), also provides a timely history lesson to counter the current clamor for a new New Deal. The Great Depression, Woods demonstrates, was only as deep and as long as it was because of the government interventions by Herbert Hoover (no free-market capitalist, despite what your high school history teacher may have taught you) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (no savior of the American economy, in spite of what the mainstream media says). If you want to understand what caused the financial meltdown—and why none of the big-government solutions being tried today will work—Meltdown explains it all.
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"At only 150 pages, you would not expect much substance and yet that is exactly what you get: a clear, concise, substantive explanation of why planned economies always fail and why the free-market (while less predictable for the individual) work out better for the general welfare. I am greatly looking forward to reading some of the works he Woods referenced to get a deeper understanding of the principles that he has laid our here."
— Douglas (5 out of 5 stars)
Meltdown Listener Reviews
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" Thomas Woods presents a classic Austrian case of the financial meltdown. I liked this book alot since it was very easy to digest and comprehend. You need'nt be an economist to follow Woods into the trail of trillon dollar losses. I hope he publishes more material soon. "
— Gary, 2/8/2014 -
" I'm re-reading this as a refresher. "
— Libertylover501, 12/3/2013 -
" A nice alternative to the conventional wisdom on the current economic crisis. The oft ignored Austrian school of economics gets some play. "
— Erik, 11/21/2013 -
" This book explores the Austrian theory of the business cycle. Surprise! The boom-and-bust cycle we have grown so accustomed to (Boom in the 90's, bust in 2000. Boom in the 2000s, bust in 2008) wasn't caused by those greedy bankers or home builders, etc. etc. It was caused by government (the Fed) manipulation of interest rates. Unfortunately, it will predictably happen again and again until we either learn and abolish the Fed, or become a centrally planned economy as the old Soviet Union was. And those of us born before 1989 all know how that worked out for them. "
— Dan, 11/11/2013 -
" Lucid explanation of the current economic catastrophe our government and the federal reserve bank have led our nation and the world into. "
— Ryan, 11/3/2013 -
" A fantastic breakdown of the current meltdown. Solid ideas that are explained for the general public. No wandering into areas of conspiracy and no superficial explanations you hear everyday in the media. Recommend to anyone wanting to understand our current fiscal situation. "
— Rand, 10/22/2013 -
" Should be required reading in colleges and high schools. Austrian economics view of the 2008 meltdown. "
— Colby, 8/25/2013 -
" Best book on explaining the reasons for the crash. "
— Jeremy, 2/21/2012 -
" The chapters on the current situation and how we got here are quite interesting and useful. The chapters on why fiat money is bad and the gold standard is good, not so much. "
— Brian, 4/28/2011 -
" I'm listening to this one on CD. Very educational - but also depressing "
— Cheryl, 1/23/2011 -
" A good summary of economic history and the current (2008 - 2009) difficulties. How the role of political Federal government has contributed to, if not caused the problem(s). "
— Mckenziefammstar.net, 1/21/2011 -
" Meltdown is a sobering account of the economic downturn. Woods is a historian, not an economist, but his command of the Austrian school is imposing. His assertions about fiat money verses the gold standard unseated my conviction in monetarism. Ron Paul looks less and less crazy every day. "
— Nathan, 10/22/2009 -
" Much food for thought in this book. Definitely a conservative viewpoint, but shares the economic mistakes it argues pretty equally between Republicans and Democrats. "
— Rhod, 6/25/2009 -
" One of the most concise, most informative books on monetary policy, and an excellent analysis of our current economic crisis. "
— Brian, 6/17/2009
About Thomas E. Woods
Professor Thomas E. Woods Jr. is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, as well as The Church Confronts Modernity: Catholic Intellectuals and the Progressive Era and The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy. He holds four Ivy League degrees, including an AB from Harvard and a PhD from Columbia. He teaches courses in Western civilization, is the associate editor of the Latin Mass magazine, and is a prolific essayist on historical subjects. He lives with his family in Coram, New York.
About Alan Sklar
Alan Sklar, a graduate of Dartmouth, has excelled in his career as a freelance voice actor. Named a Best Voice of 2009 by AudioFile magazine, his work has earned him several Earphones Awards, a Booklist Editors’ Choice Award (twice), a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award, and Audiobook of the Year by ForeWord magazine. He has also narrated thousands of corporate videos for clients such as NASA, Sikorsky Aircraft, IBM, Dannon, Pfizer, AT&T, and SONY.