Rating: 
Summary: A weak link between capitalism and the ?death of democracy?
Review: "The Silent Takeover" refers to the growing power of corporations vis-à-vis counties that is caused by global capitalism. Noreen Hertz argues that multinational corporations have become very powerful and politicians very weak; her thesis is best captured in this sentence: "by giving corporate wishes such priority, by defining themselves solely in terms of economic success, by supporting international institutions that value economic interests above all else, governments are in danger of becoming the puppets of business" (p.86).But, as Dr. Hertz recognizes, this is nothing new. Indeed, one of the book's defects is the inability to connect global capitalism with many of the current trends. If anything, globalization lessens the grip that business have on politicians by opening up markets; as The Economist put it, "Far from empowering global fat cats, free trade holds corporate power in check and assaults the excess profits that protectionism, courtesy of pro-business politicians, gouges from the public" (28 Jun 03). Still, Dr. Hertz raises some issues that are distinctively global: industry migration and tax competition. But Dr. Hertz seems to accept these arguments without skepticism: for example, she has a page-long citation on the debate about the "dirty industry migration" argument; after a dozen citations, she reduces her stance to saying that the argument makes intuitive sense, which is hardly a responsible stance in so contested a debate. For all its defects, "The Silent Takeover" is right to point out that businesses are gaining power through politics, and that fixing the system requires some disconnection between them. That's the real message to take home from this book.
Rating:
Summary: A weak link between capitalism and the ¿death of democracy¿
Review: "The Silent Takeover" refers to the growing power of corporations vis-Ã -vis counties that is caused by global capitalism. Noreen Hertz argues that multinational corporations have become very powerful and politicians very weak; her thesis is best captured in this sentence: "by giving corporate wishes such priority, by defining themselves solely in terms of economic success, by supporting international institutions that value economic interests above all else, governments are in danger of becoming the puppets of business" (p.86). But, as Dr. Hertz recognizes, this is nothing new. Indeed, one of the book's defects is the inability to connect global capitalism with many of the current trends. If anything, globalization lessens the grip that business have on politicians by opening up markets; as The Economist put it, "Far from empowering global fat cats, free trade holds corporate power in check and assaults the excess profits that protectionism, courtesy of pro-business politicians, gouges from the public" (28 Jun 03). Still, Dr. Hertz raises some issues that are distinctively global: industry migration and tax competition. But Dr. Hertz seems to accept these arguments without skepticism: for example, she has a page-long citation on the debate about the "dirty industry migration" argument; after a dozen citations, she reduces her stance to saying that the argument makes intuitive sense, which is hardly a responsible stance in so contested a debate. For all its defects, "The Silent Takeover" is right to point out that businesses are gaining power through politics, and that fixing the system requires some disconnection between them. That's the real message to take home from this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Commendable
Review: Chris. You seem to have things mixed when describing globalization.
First off LTCM was NOT bailed out by the government. What happened is the Fed contacted several banks and made them aware of the danger that LTCM posed if it did fail. These banks, realizing the danger, bailed out LTCM with the aid of a single Government cent. This is clearly not a case of a government bail out.
Next, your assertion that powers that be (in this case the IMF, not the US gov) bail out every faltering free market economy is wrong. When Russia defaulted it received no such bail out. This hurt many investor who assumed that Russia would get a bail out in ever it got into economic trouble because of their nuclear stockpile. And when the IMF does loan money to faltering governments, it comes with strings attached. Those govs have to reform the elements of their system that caused their trouble in the first place. In our global economy, one country's indiscretion can have global consequences (read Asian financial crisis). IMF intrusion can prevent "contagious" economic conditions from spreading. If they do spread, the poor are the hardest hit.
In the case of the steel tariffs, no Free Market Economist was for them. That was simple a case of politicians pandering to their constituents. No doubt those steel companies were glad to get the tariffs, but it was a multi state, grass roots labor movement that actually got them enacted.
As for the Soviets, you are right in that Reagan did not destroy them. They crumbled under the weight of their own stupidity. What Reagan (and Thatcher) realized was that the US ( and Britain) could suffer the same fate. The Keynesian ideals embodied in the New Deal and Great Society were just socialism spuriously rationalized from Liberal fundamentals. But Keynes has been refuted!! His economics have no empirical basis. The only way to global freedom and wealth is Globalization. The closer we come to a pure Free Market system, the more free and wealthy we will all be.
Alex from Monrovia, CA
Rating:
Summary: Liking this book DOES NOT make you a socialist.
Review: Dismissing this book as promoting socialism is simpleminded and wrong. Many of the problem's Hertz points out happen because business uses government to monkey about with the market mechanisim, not the other way around. If we(USA) lived in a pure market system there would be no:
*Billions of government dollars for computer and medical research(darpa\nih)
*Tariffs for steel workers
*Bailouts of hedge funds (LTCM)
*Bailouts of bankrupt countries In the case of bailing out countries with foreign debt (via the Bretton Woods organizations) and LTCM there was an arguably real fear that doing nothing could cause collapse of the world financial system. On the other hand giving the impression that the IMF will step in anytime western investors run into problems could lead to the very instabilities they are trying to solve. This, and the corporate welfare parts, point to the concept of "Too Big To Fail", which is fairly easy to understand. If you remove the risk from investments, though, you might add huge distortions to the market that outweigh the benefits of capitalisim. Serious? Yes. Socialism? Hell no. The government is going to intervene in the market, it does whether there is a left-wing nut or a right-wing nut in office. The important thing is that it does so intelligently so the maximum benefits go to the most people. These are complex issues not easily captured by any ism. Communisim was not destroyed by Reagan, but by a system that allowed state run businesses to be horribly inefficient. If we allow the same thing from private businesses we are no better. I didn't give this book 5 stars because I think the title is over-dramatic, which does disservice to its message.
Rating: 
Summary: By Far The Best Examination Of The New Wold Order
Review: Dr Hertz is a very articulate lady and her presentation of the issue is far from the biased-bipolar atmosphere that pollute the media in the United States, where the effect of Globalization could be as harsh as in the developing world, if nothing is done to tame the power the supranational entities continue to have over the elected governments. She presents facts supporting corporations as well as their counterbalance, which leave the reader with his/her option to decide accordingly. It's only in the final chapter that she proposes some solutions that should be expected in dealing with such a wide issue. Globalizations should not erase the social responsibility that governments have over the citizenry. And the role of the state is to provide for its citizen a safe and prosperous environment, not to bow down to the desire of the major corporations which benefits from more welfare than individuals and have failed to exercise the trickle-down concepts which the concensus have adopted...this book is a fresh reminder that in the absence of counterbalance the rich will find ways to widen the gap to their advantages and the most extremists among us will find an equal and opposite way to arise the passion of the discontent majority. Since we all have to share this planet we all will bear the social consequences, regarless of our hiding places. She is inspirational.
Rating:
Summary: Commendable
Review: Globalism..you've all heard of it. But what is it?. Why has there been huge opposition towards it in other parts of the world, while here at home we just shrug it off as we head towards Wal-Mart? "Silent Takeover" explores the paradox of capitalism and free trade that has over the years, transformed big business into multinational corporations that span the globe, and where in many cases, profits exceed the gross domestic product of several small nations put together. The author admits that never have we had more choices as consumers. Products from all over the globe line the supermarket shelves. Advances in technology, lower production costs, offer us a multitude of gadgets while superstores display an array of electronics that dazzle before our very eyes. But Dr Hertz warns that all that glitters is not gold, and there is a high tradeoff to all this seemingly wonderful progress. In her book she explores how left unchecked and unregulated, corporations and big money can manipulate governments, dictate domestic matters, and even influence foreign policy.
And while corporations worldwide dodge taxes through loopholes, people across the globe have been burdened to bridge the gap. The "Silent Takeover" explores the increasing improbability of lawmakers to be impartial, if they fear the loss of corporate sponsorship and asks, are we citizens or consumers first? Do we still have a say in our government's decision making, or have "We the People" been reduced to merely "We the Market" ? This book examines why economic globalism, left to progress in it's current direction, can never benefit societies as a whole, and why the gap between the rich and the poor will only widen unless reforms are made. This is a very commendable book, and the issues are current and happening right now. You will be surprised at the full scope of the situation. The author who credentials are impressive, is a strong advocate of public participation and summarizes her suggestions for reform at the end. You can open this book to literally any page and discover some sort of interesting tidbit.
Rating:
Summary: A good introduction to an important subject
Review: I liked this book; it was amazingly easy to read, without being trite or condescending. Many of the stories and anecdotes I knew from other readings, but there was new material, and all of it was well done in the telling.
This was not heavy going, nor was it an ill-structured string of disjointed stories.
I recommend it as an excellent introduction to the issues.
Rating:
Summary: Eye Opening
Review: Not the usual kind of book I would read, but something caught my attention, you have to read it to believe it! I have not been able to put it down and the information in it is very revealing about Blair, Bush etc. and of course throws a different light completely on the recent Iraq conflict.
I recommend this book to anyone and guarantee it will change your perceptions of what is going on around you completely, it definitely did for me!
Rating:
Summary: Informative and worth a look.
Review: The author took this reader on an emotional whirlwind depiction of the state of mind of anti-globalism activism in the United States and Europe, for which I am grateful. Let me recall: Corporations are intrinsically untrustworthy even when they try to do good. Rather than profitably sell goods to people at market clearing prices, they may choose to destroy or brutalize them (last chapter). Governments are more trustworthy, as more representative, than corporations--although they refuse to listen to anti-globalism activists. The street politics of anti-globalism protesters represent legitimate democratic interests that must be acted upon even if or though most citizens in the West disagree with their goals, and this will enhance democracy. This is true even though these protesters are, according to the author, particularly unlikely to vote. The steadily rising per capita incomes of the world population has not brought all persons a level of wealth and leisure satisfactory to anti-globalist activists. This must be rectified immediately. The shrinking of Western governments as a result of internal distributive demands outpacing the willingness of citizens to render more tax receipts and politicians lacking the courage to demand those additional receipts makes it likely that corporations are more able to effect positive change than are governments, at times and in places. Since governments are more trustworthy than corporations, however, tax receipts must be increased dramatically, even if democratic governments and their citizens reject this. This means the UN, especially, needs global taxing authority to further the international distributionist demands of anti-globalist activists. Even though this reduces or removes domocratic representation from taxation, it is inherently democratic to do so, as witness the results (all peoples will be brought into a state of satisfactory wealth, leisure, etc.). The Italian police treated wealthy young lawbreaking European and American college students/protesters really poorly in Genoa after the protesters arrived trained and well-prepared to do battle, resist arrest, damage property, halt trade, and invade private meetings en masse. Ergo, those police evinced shocking "brutality." This was no doubt "radicalizing" to the author. I recommend this book to all who wonder what in the heck those, according the the author, "masked masqueraders" are doing in the streets when it isn't even carnival week. Surprise, they are demanding more of your income while pondering non sequiturs or silly treatises like "Silent Takeover." Caveat: as one reviewer notes, the author does NOT represent the views of those many anti-globalist activists (meaning, black-shirted street thugs) who are anti-capitalist communist-anarchists. Perhaps another tear-gassing can bring her around to their viewpoint.
Rating:
Summary: Informative and worth a look.
Review: The author took this reader on an emotional whirlwind depiction of the state of mind of anti-globalism activism in the United States and Europe, for which I am grateful. Let me recall: Corporations are intrinsically untrustworthy even when they try to do good. Rather than profitably sell goods to people at market clearing prices, they may choose to destroy or brutalize them (last chapter). Governments are more trustworthy, as more representative, than corporations--although they refuse to listen to anti-globalism activists. The street politics of anti-globalism protesters represent legitimate democratic interests that must be acted upon even if or though most citizens in the West disagree with their goals, and this will enhance democracy. This is true even though these protesters are, according to the author, particularly unlikely to vote. The steadily rising per capita incomes of the world population has not brought all persons a level of wealth and leisure satisfactory to anti-globalist activists. This must be rectified immediately. The shrinking of Western governments as a result of internal distributive demands outpacing the willingness of citizens to render more tax receipts and politicians lacking the courage to demand those additional receipts makes it likely that corporations are more able to effect positive change than are governments, at times and in places. Since governments are more trustworthy than corporations, however, tax receipts must be increased dramatically, even if democratic governments and their citizens reject this. This means the UN, especially, needs global taxing authority to further the international distributionist demands of anti-globalist activists. Even though this reduces or removes domocratic representation from taxation, it is inherently democratic to do so, as witness the results (all peoples will be brought into a state of satisfactory wealth, leisure, etc.). The Italian police treated wealthy young lawbreaking European and American college students/protesters really poorly in Genoa after the protesters arrived trained and well-prepared to do battle, resist arrest, damage property, halt trade, and invade private meetings en masse. Ergo, those police evinced shocking "brutality." This was no doubt "radicalizing" to the author. I recommend this book to all who wonder what in the heck those, according the the author, "masked masqueraders" are doing in the streets when it isn't even carnival week. Surprise, they are demanding more of your income while pondering non sequiturs or silly treatises like "Silent Takeover." Caveat: as one reviewer notes, the author does NOT represent the views of those many anti-globalist activists (meaning, black-shirted street thugs) who are anti-capitalist communist-anarchists. Perhaps another tear-gassing can bring her around to their viewpoint.
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