Rating: 
Summary: Fundamental Book on Supply Side Economics
Review: I won't try to summarize the fundamental theses of this brilliant book. I doubt I could. Instead I will simply call it what it is: the best and most readable introduction to supply side theory available. This is where to go before you begin reading Jude Wanniski.
Rating:
Summary: Gilder's providential faith
Review: Most neoconservatives are Jewish, and the arguments have a style borrowed from Marxism; consider, for instance, the Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, which pretty much sums up a certain brand of neoconservatism. Gilder, however, has his own, distinctly Christian arguments. Capitalism is for Gilder a festival in which you give and you shall receive. The entrepreneur who wagers his time, money, and respectability on an enterprise in which he could never know the outcome gives, and he is rewarded, and in hard cash. Not exactly what Jesus had in mind when he said "where your heart is, there your treasure lies," but there you go. It should also be said that Gilder fundamentally misunderstands the potlatch. The purpose of the potlatch, in which one tribe would in effect "trade" with another by providing a large meal and gifts (anticipating "gifts" in return), was not trade and the acquisitiveness but in fact the opposite: a display of an indifference to goods, through their destruction and wastage. Supply-side economics, by beginning from production and not demand, understands the true engine of growth is not government spending but the productivity of the entrepreneur. The counsel of Smith, that we should rely not on the charity but the interest of the butcher and the baker, is inverted by Gilder: the interest of the butcher and the baker is their charity. Gilder's providential faith consists of the spontaneous creativity of the entrepreneur in a predetermined harmony with Moore's law and supply side economics ("build it and they will come")whose ultimate incarnation is--Qualcomm. Who knew.
Rating:
Summary: A Very good perspective to human elements of economics
Review: This book carries in it the spirit of the economic and capitalist process. Capitalism is not solely about greed and profitability. It is about Humans realising their dreams, and living their lives. If business and economics were empirical science then all the big degree holders should be in the top echolons of human achievement and they are not. It is easy to use averages, against this book. But averages are averages and as George puts it best , we are born againat astronomical odds, in the bilogical process of selection. It is nothing compared to the odds we face in life. As George puts it , It is CHANCE, FAITH, RISK, UNCERTAINITY, INTUTION, ANIMAL INSTINCT all which are responsible for the progress of humanity and wealth creation.
Rating:
Summary: I was so much older then I'm younger than that now
Review: This book which most of us, who read books like this, read 20 years ago should be reread again today. The prescience and accuracy of its viewpoints are worth prolonged cogitation for members on either side of the aisle. Perhaps it could be recommended reading along with the cliff notes of Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations"? Okay, at least for Graduate students in the social sciences? Gilder points out that we have been misled by popular economics as it relates to how we increase wealth and curtail poverty. He then introduces the concept of Supply-Side Economics to the general reader. He fulminates about how misguided policy has undermined the true source of wealth that is to be found in such nonmaterial forces as creativity, technological adventure, and the motivation to strike out for new territory in economic enterprise. He talks about how the blunting of incentives and the efforts to redistribute the wealth, in a just fashion, only serve to keep the poor in poverty. He contrasts this with his description of the true capitalist as one who invests energy and money today for a return he may or may not receive in the future. Is this not the model for describing the difference between children and adults? Is it not a model for delayed gratification one which most of the world eschews? They instead opt for a metaphorical traffic jam at the waterhole of natural resources with the alpha chimp and his cohorts ripping off the biggest piece. When Gilder talks about the LEFT getting it exactly backwards it reminds me of what Balint Vazsonyi writes about in his book "America's 30 Years War: Who's winning?" He says, "contrary to the prevailing (classic Marxist-Leninist) thinking that economic conditions provide the foundations and everything else is "superstructure", the truth is the other way around. Our spectacular economic success is the result of a unique legal-moral foundation upon which a successful political system has been built". To show how deep the roots of misguided economic thinking go consider that even Christianity is built on a communistic notion of sharing, and an abhorrence for profit that is seemingly earned on the backs of the laborers. This results in men of the cloth, all to often economically illiterate ones, preaching the wrong formulae to the poor. Basically, "you're poor because they're rich". This Liberation theology is echoed in Marx's backward reading of human nature and the economic consequences of risk and reward. Gilder sets us straight. Amazing isn't it? We still have academics teaching this LEFT-wing nonsense in respected universities across America while their acolytes storm the barriers in Seattle, Washington, Genoa, etc; all in an attempt to wipe out a system that has brought greater wealth to more people than any other in human history, something even Marx himself acknowledged. Too me, it's about a pursuit of power and money at the top that is coupled with a reliance that those further down the pyramid of man will continue to engage in blocking and denial. Thus the proles can act as enablers of the "Priests" of the LEFT, those who commit the worst sorts of human crimes (see "the Black Book of Communism"), their zeal inversely proportionate to the laws of unintended consequence which they continue to violate with reckless abandon. Perhaps a futuristic pill will be uncovered that will allay the LEFT's fevered assessment of mankind's ills and grant them the ability to reason while providing them with much needed relief from their pervasive envy. Read this book along with Myron Magnet's "the Dream and the Nightmare" to get a feel for the intellectual firmament of the Bush II administration, and pray for another cable network.
Rating:
Summary: I was so much older then I'm younger than that now
Review: This book which most of us, who read books like this, read 20 years ago should be reread again today. The prescience and accuracy of its viewpoints are worth prolonged cogitation for members on either side of the aisle. Perhaps it could be recommended reading along with the cliff notes of Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations"? Okay, at least for Graduate students in the social sciences? Gilder points out that we have been misled by popular economics as it relates to how we increase wealth and curtail poverty. He then introduces the concept of Supply-Side Economics to the general reader. He fulminates about how misguided policy has undermined the true source of wealth that is to be found in such nonmaterial forces as creativity, technological adventure, and the motivation to strike out for new territory in economic enterprise. He talks about how the blunting of incentives and the efforts to redistribute the wealth, in a just fashion, only serve to keep the poor in poverty. He contrasts this with his description of the true capitalist as one who invests energy and money today for a return he may or may not receive in the future. Is this not the model for describing the difference between children and adults? Is it not a model for delayed gratification one which most of the world eschews? They instead opt for a metaphorical traffic jam at the waterhole of natural resources with the alpha chimp and his cohorts ripping off the biggest piece. When Gilder talks about the LEFT getting it exactly backwards it reminds me of what Balint Vazsonyi writes about in his book "America's 30 Years War: Who's winning?" He says, "contrary to the prevailing (classic Marxist-Leninist) thinking that economic conditions provide the foundations and everything else is "superstructure", the truth is the other way around. Our spectacular economic success is the result of a unique legal-moral foundation upon which a successful political system has been built". To show how deep the roots of misguided economic thinking go consider that even Christianity is built on a communistic notion of sharing, and an abhorrence for profit that is seemingly earned on the backs of the laborers. This results in men of the cloth, all to often economically illiterate ones, preaching the wrong formulae to the poor. Basically, "you're poor because they're rich". This Liberation theology is echoed in Marx's backward reading of human nature and the economic consequences of risk and reward. Gilder sets us straight. Amazing isn't it? We still have academics teaching this LEFT-wing nonsense in respected universities across America while their acolytes storm the barriers in Seattle, Washington, Genoa, etc; all in an attempt to wipe out a system that has brought greater wealth to more people than any other in human history, something even Marx himself acknowledged. Too me, it's about a pursuit of power and money at the top that is coupled with a reliance that those further down the pyramid of man will continue to engage in blocking and denial. Thus the proles can act as enablers of the "Priests" of the LEFT, those who commit the worst sorts of human crimes (see "the Black Book of Communism"), their zeal inversely proportionate to the laws of unintended consequence which they continue to violate with reckless abandon. Perhaps a futuristic pill will be uncovered that will allay the LEFT's fevered assessment of mankind's ills and grant them the ability to reason while providing them with much needed relief from their pervasive envy. Read this book along with Myron Magnet's "the Dream and the Nightmare" to get a feel for the intellectual firmament of the Bush II administration, and pray for another cable network.
Rating:
Summary: I agree -- Donald Duckburger knows SQUAT!
Review: This is a great book. Welfare replaces community and family with government for the price of a few bucks a month. The result is NO guidance to prevent unwed teen mothers, crime, drugs, and no role models to inspire learning and family/community bonds. The end result is we get people very much alone just making it up as they go along (and not being very successful at it). Misguided well-intentioned welfare has increased the suffering in this country to an astronomical level. Why? Because of misguided guilt-ridden middle class and the politicians what take advantage of them. Think back to pre-welfare. You had fraternal organizations that provided guidance and charity (but not welfare and tolerance of slacking off). Everything from group health insurance, mortgages, business loans, to daycare was provided within the group. You were part of an extended family and subtle peer pressure kept you honest and provided a plan to follow. They darn sure wouldn't have allowed their sons to gang bang (most gangbanging happens because their isn't any way out). All this was replaced by government welfare. Any linking of corporate welfare (a business entity) and personal welfare is about as misguided as they come. I hate statist corporate welfare! Charity is needed -- not beurocratic welfare! Write on!
Rating:
Summary: I agree -- Donald Duckburger knows SQUAT!
Review: This is a great book. Welfare replaces community and family with government for the price of a few bucks a month. The result is NO guidance to prevent unwed teen mothers, crime, drugs, and no role models to inspire learning and family/community bonds. The end result is we get people very much alone just making it up as they go along (and not being very successful at it). Misguided well-intentioned welfare has increased the suffering in this country to an astronomical level. Why? Because of misguided guilt-ridden middle class and the politicians what take advantage of them. Think back to pre-welfare. You had fraternal organizations that provided guidance and charity (but not welfare and tolerance of slacking off). Everything from group health insurance, mortgages, business loans, to daycare was provided within the group. You were part of an extended family and subtle peer pressure kept you honest and provided a plan to follow. They darn sure wouldn't have allowed their sons to gang bang (most gangbanging happens because their isn't any way out). All this was replaced by government welfare. Any linking of corporate welfare (a business entity) and personal welfare is about as misguided as they come. I hate statist corporate welfare! Charity is needed -- not beurocratic welfare! Write on!
Rating:
Summary: The best introduction to supply-side economics available
Review: Wealth and Poverty has been called the "Bible" of the early
years of the Reagan administration, and rightly so. Not only is it an easy-to-read introduction to supply-side
economics, its novel approach to economic theory will cause
anyone to rethink what they believe about how economics
works and affects them.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent in all ways but ...
Review: When I was a young woman, just starting out, I read this book. I learned much about the nature of wealth and the role that government policy has in creating and diminishing wealth for all ("Tax something, you get less of it, subsidize something, you get more of it"). Time and opportunity costs are also considered in this first-rate, eminently readable primer on macroeconomics. Finally, his message to minorities who have been injured by past discrimination -- which is basically, "Get over it!" -- is probably the most useful, however unsympathetic (who needs sympathy -- we want wealth, right?) However, I was and am disappointed in Gilder's treatment of women. He should read Ayn Rand. As a woman and a technician, I don't see possessing the same no-excuses, ability-driven love of achievement as unfeminine. Nor is my schoolteacher-husband's gentleness and quiet intuition unmasculine. We are FREE to do and be what we want! What I see in Gilder is a whining demand that women stop putting so much competitive pressure on men so that they can feed their egos at our expense. What would he say to a (male) CEO who demanded his corporate competition give him a "break?" Doesn't he get the basic fact that a free market must be free for all, or it is not really free? Stick to free-market economics, George!
Rating:
Summary: To one-sided ....
Review: whose review is below. I cant believe that this reviewer believes that corporate "welfare" disproves the thesis of this book. How moronic can one be? The difference dear child is that corporations still are in business and trying to produce a profit. An individual on welfare does nothing to earn an income, or very little at most. Thus the incintive not to work. Corporate welfare is just as incidious in my book, but at least the corporation is trying to profit from as many revenue centers as it can.
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