Coordinates

I like it when I order two new books and the covers kind of go together!
~ Thanks to Ben McCartney for the recommendations. ~

Among other things, this book "tries to unravel the essential paradox of the entire episode: that under - regulated markets ran badly off the tracks and the government rushed in to save the day, yet the government emerged as a villain" (xvii).

I'm surprised that Blinder would find this surprising.
"Can we prevent asset - price bubbles in the future? Here, unfortunately, the answer is mostly no. . . . No, while we may be lucky enough to nip a few bubbles in the bud, we will never stamp them out. The herding behavior that produces them may well be programmed into our DNA" (47).

What? This is supposed to be a book about using your thinking cap! "Herding behavior? Maybe. But, lets be honest, we're also talking about "greed." Instead of blaming "our DNA," how about offering some reality - based suggestions for behavior modification.

from After the Music Stopped:
The Financial Crisis, The Response, and the Work Ahead
Alan S. Blinder, American economist, Princeton Univ. (b 1945)

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"Custom was the keystone of life. . . . the underlying deep continuity that represents the nature of England itself. . . .

"The ancient roads, the witnesses of prehistoric life and travel, still persisted in the medieval landscape. But they were joined by other highways in the historical period. Many winding lanes between farmstead and farmstead, many sunken hollow - ways leading to the village, deep - set and drowsy on a summer afternoon, were constructed in the twelfth century" (7, 119).

from Foundation: The History of England
From Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors*
by Peter Ackroyd, British cultural historian (b 1949)

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I had seen the photos . . .
always with autumn colors in the background,
as if the school were based not in a town
but in a month, October (81).

from Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn, American author and screenwriter (b 1971)

I love it when my reading material matches my outfit!
~ Panama Bag, Tucson, AZ ~ October 2014 ~

P.S.
*Ben also recommends the sequel(L)!
And, should you need any help with your reading (R):