Chaos in America - Political Unrest & Social Turmoil in the US | Current Events Analysis & Historical Context | Perfect for Researchers, News Enthusiasts & History Buffs

This book is some 260 pages long. 22 of them are a sort of epilogue/appendix where most of the useful material resides--that is if you don't know anything about our economy nor have taken high school or college economics 101 nor American government 101. You pretty much have to have had your head in the sand all your life to find anything worthwhile in this book. At page 200 I am still trying to find something useful to know about the present state of our government and what the Congress has done to our finances. Mr King does not deserve the appendage of PhD. He doesn't know how to write for one, rambling through 200+ pages saying essentially the same thing over and over under the pretense of different topics; "We're in trouble,We're in trouble,We're in trouble,We've overspent ourselves into a bottomless pit!"In the first place, he appears not to have done very good research, for in his introduction he repeats a political hack phrase attributed to De Toqueville; "America became great because America was good...." Wrong, John, he never said that. You can't find it in any of his writings. What about the rest of your sources?In the second place anyone who has a decent high school education knows that Capitalism has no connection with financial systems. Capitalism is a system of distribution of goods based on private ownership of those goods. But Mr King conflates that with the evils of finance, namely debt. Private ownership of the means of production of goods has nothing to do with being stupid enough to borrow under terms that will destroy your capacity to manufacture and remain competitive in a market. Part of his solution to poverty is the redistribution of wealth under a system he doesn't identify, but is obviously Socialism.The real problem is we the people have allowed our Congressional representatives to legally plunder our pockets to the point where the interest on government debt has destroyed our monetary value in any world market. Mr King doesn't seem to get the distinction, and correspondingly doesn't get the fine distinctions on other matters as well. He does however bring it home to the American consumer, blaming him in part for this attitude of borrowing to live well, rather than saving and pay as you go.There is hardly more than a page's worth of remedy, and his subtitle "Surviving the Depression" bears little advise better than what your grandparents should have told you. If you want to get a simple feel for the hazards of debt and interest, read The Richest Man in Babylon which has been around for decades. You can get more detailed information without all the hyperbole and rhetoric inferring Americans are corrupt or debauched from basic college textbooks which explain how finance works and how the Fed has meddled in our economy.Best message? Spend your money more wisely elsewhere.