The Speculation Economy

The Speculation Economy PDF Author: Lawrence E. Mitchell
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458722732
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
The first book to reveal the deep historical roots of the modern corporate obsession with stock price - a major cause of recent scandals like those at Enron and WorldComDetails how the rise of the modern corporation created the modern stock market - and why this led to an economy dominated by stock speculationAmerican companies once focused exclusively on providing the best products and services. But today, most corporations are obsessed with maximizing their stock prices, resulting in short-term thinking and the kind of cook-the-books corruption seen in the Enron and WorldCom scandals. How did this happen?In this groundbreaking book, Lawrence E. Mitchell traces the origins of the problem to the first decade of the 20th century, when industrialists and bankers began merging existing companies into huge ''combines''- today's giant corporations - so they could profit by manufacturing and selling stock in these new entities. He describes and analyzes the legal changes that made this possible, the federal regulatory efforts that missed the significance of this transforming development, and the changes in American society and culture that led more and more Americans to enter the market, turning from relatively safe bonds to riskier common stock in the hopes of becoming rich. Financiers and the corporations they controlled encouraged this trend, but as stock ownership expanded and businesses were increasingly forced to cater to stockholders' ''get rich quick'' expectations, a subtle but revolutionary shift in the nature of the American economy occurred: finance no longer served industry; instead, industry began to serve finance.The Speculation Economy analyzes the history behind the opening of this economic Pandora's box, the root cause of so many modern acts of corporate malfeasance.

The Speculation Economy

The Speculation Economy PDF Author: Lawrence E. Mitchell
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458722732
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 434

Get Book Here

Book Description
The first book to reveal the deep historical roots of the modern corporate obsession with stock price - a major cause of recent scandals like those at Enron and WorldComDetails how the rise of the modern corporation created the modern stock market - and why this led to an economy dominated by stock speculationAmerican companies once focused exclusively on providing the best products and services. But today, most corporations are obsessed with maximizing their stock prices, resulting in short-term thinking and the kind of cook-the-books corruption seen in the Enron and WorldCom scandals. How did this happen?In this groundbreaking book, Lawrence E. Mitchell traces the origins of the problem to the first decade of the 20th century, when industrialists and bankers began merging existing companies into huge ''combines''- today's giant corporations - so they could profit by manufacturing and selling stock in these new entities. He describes and analyzes the legal changes that made this possible, the federal regulatory efforts that missed the significance of this transforming development, and the changes in American society and culture that led more and more Americans to enter the market, turning from relatively safe bonds to riskier common stock in the hopes of becoming rich. Financiers and the corporations they controlled encouraged this trend, but as stock ownership expanded and businesses were increasingly forced to cater to stockholders' ''get rich quick'' expectations, a subtle but revolutionary shift in the nature of the American economy occurred: finance no longer served industry; instead, industry began to serve finance.The Speculation Economy analyzes the history behind the opening of this economic Pandora's box, the root cause of so many modern acts of corporate malfeasance.

The Futures

The Futures PDF Author: Emily Lambert
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465022979
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
In The Futures, Emily Lambert, senior writer at Forbes magazine, tells us the rich and dramatic history of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade, which together comprised the original, most bustling futures market in the world. She details the emergence of the futures business as a kind of meeting place for gamblers and farmers and its subsequent transformation into a sophisticated electronic market where contracts are traded at lightning-fast speeds. Lambert also details the disastrous effects of Wall Street's adoption of the futures contract without the rules and close-knit social bonds that had made trading it in Chicago work so well. Ultimately Lambert argues that the futures markets are the real "free" markets and that speculators, far from being mere parasites, can serve a vital economic and social function given the right architecture. The traditional futures market, she explains, because of its written and cultural limits, can serve as a useful example for how markets ought to work and become a tonic for our current financial ills.

Speculation

Speculation PDF Author: Stuart Banner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190623047
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
What is the difference between a gambler and a speculator? Is there a readily identifiable line separating the two? If so, is it possible for us to discourage the former while encouraging the latter? These difficult questions cut across the entirety of American economic history, and the periodic failures by regulators to differentiate between irresponsible gambling and clear-headed investing have often been the proximate causes of catastrophic economic downturns. Most recently, the blurring of speculation and gambling in U.S. real estate markets fueled the 2008 global financial crisis, but it is one in a long line of similar economic disasters going back to the nation's founding. In Speculation, author Stuart Banner provides a sweeping and story-rich history of how the murky lines separating investment, speculation, and outright gambling have shaped America from the 1790s to the present. Regulators and courts always struggled to draw a line between investment and gambling, and it is no easier now than it was two centuries ago. Advocates for risky investments have long argued that risk-taking is what defines America. Critics counter that unregulated speculation results in bubbles that always draw in the least informed investors-gamblers, essentially. Financial chaos is the result. The debate has been a perennial feature of American history, with the pattern repeating before and after every financial downturn since the 1790s. The Panic of 1837, the speculative boom of the roaring twenties, and the real estate bubble of the early 2000s are all emblematic of the difficulty in differentiating sober from reckless speculation. Even after the recent financial crisis, the debate continues. Some, chastened by the crash, argue that we need to prohibit certain risky transactions, but others respond by citing the benefits of loosely governed markets and the dangers of over-regulation. These episodes have generated deep ambivalence, yet Americans' faith in investment and - by extension - the stock market has always rebounded quickly after even the most savage downturns. Indeed, the speculator on the make is a central figure in the folklore of American capitalism. Engaging and accessible, Speculation synthesizes a suite of themes that sit at the heart of American history - the ability of courts and regulators to protect ordinary Americans from the ravages of capitalism; the periodic fallibility of the American economy; and - not least - the moral conundrum inherent in valuing those who produce goods over those who speculate, and yet enjoying the fruits of speculation. Banner's history is not only invaluable for understanding the fault lines beneath the American economy today, but American identity itself.

The Art Of Speculation

The Art Of Speculation PDF Author: Philip L. Carret
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1786256746
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
Philip L. Carret (1896-1998) was a famed investor and founder of The Pioneer Fund (Fidelity Mutual Trust), one of the first Mutual Funds in the United States. A former Barron’s reporter and WWI aviator, Carret launched the Mutual Trust in 1928 after managing money for his friends and family. The initial effort evolved into Pioneer Investments. He ran the fund for 55 years, during which an investment of $10,000 became $8 million. Warren Buffett said of him that he had “the best long term investment record of anyone I know” He is most famous for the long successful track record he achieved investing in Common Stocks and for being one of Warren Buffett’s role models. This book comprises a series of articles written for Barron’s and published in book form in 1930.—Print Ed.

The Theory of Stock Exchange Speculation

The Theory of Stock Exchange Speculation PDF Author: Arthur Crump
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Speculation
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description


Devil Take the Hindmost

Devil Take the Hindmost PDF Author: Edward Chancellor
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0452281806
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
A lively, original, and challenging history of stock market speculation from the 17th century to present day. Is your investment in that new Internet stock a sign of stock market savvy or an act of peculiarly American speculative folly? How has the psychology of investing changed—and not changed—over the last five hundred years? In Devil Take the Hindmost, Edward Chancellor traces the origins of the speculative spirit back to ancient Rome and chronicles its revival in the modern world: from the tulip scandal of 1630s Holland, to “stockjobbing” in London's Exchange Alley, to the infamous South Sea Bubble of 1720, which prompted Sir Isaac Newton to comment, “I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” Here are brokers underwriting risks that included highway robbery and the “assurance of female chastity”; credit notes and lottery tickets circulating as money; wise and unwise investors from Alexander Pope and Benjamin Disraeli to Ivan Boesky and Hillary Rodham Clinton. From the Gilded Age to the Roaring Twenties, from the nineteenth century railway mania to the crash of 1929, from junk bonds and the Japanese bubble economy to the day-traders of the Information Era, Devil Take the Hindmost tells a fascinating story of human dreams and folly through the ages.

The Intelligent Speculator

The Intelligent Speculator PDF Author: Ralph J. Fessenden
Publisher: Irwin Professional Publishing
ISBN: 9780786308392
Category : Commodity exchanges
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The Intelligent Speculator unveils a revolutionary technique to exploit the tendency of markets to oscillate up and down and make consistent profits in the commodities market. Professional traders Fessenden and McDivitt clearly explain every aspect of interval tradion, from the theoretical foundations to actual examples from the marketplace.

Why You Win or Lose

Why You Win or Lose PDF Author: Fred C. Kelly
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486147843
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Book Description
DIVA successful speculator shares his secrets, showing how to make money through the stock market by using amateur psychology skills and studying crowd reaction to market fluctuations. /div

The Silver Key

The Silver Key PDF Author: Sepharial
Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.
ISBN: 1596056290
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 97

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Book Description
Sepharial was.."the prince of English astrologers." - The Referee."the foremost living astrologer." - Evening NewsIn The Silver Key:, which is subtitled "A Guide to Speculators," Sepharial tests the accuracy of astrological prediction on horseracing. The winning result is achieved through a mix of numerology, astrology, and other occult methods. Chapters include the Science of Numbers, Names and Numbers, Winning Colours, and The Lunar Key. Sepharial's method is still in use - with some success - today. This Cosimo Classic is based on the book's Second Edition.AUTHOR BIO: SEPHARIAL (1864-1929) was born Walter Richard Old in Birmingham, England. At the age of 22 he had a mystical experience and spent the rest of his life seeking his true self and trying to unravel the future through astrology and other methods. After a scrape with Blavatsky's Theosophical society he changed his name to Walter Gornold, though by the end of the 19th century he was better known as Sepharial. He produced six children and authored nearly 60 books. Sepharial was the first president of the British Astrological Society, and counted among his friends such people as H.P. Blavatsky, Alan Leo, and Charles Carter, who believed that Sepharial was more than a mere astrologer and brilliant at almost everything he touched.

Rated Agency

Rated Agency PDF Author: Michel Feher
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1942130198
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description
The hegemony of finance compels a new orientation for everyone and everything: companies care more about the moods of their shareholders than about longstanding commercial success; governments subordinate citizen welfare to appeasing creditors; and individuals are concerned less with immediate income from labor than appreciation of their capital goods, skills, connections, and reputations. That firms, states, and people depend more on their ratings than on the product of their activities also changes how capitalism is resisted. For activists, the focus of grievances shifts from the extraction of profit to the conditions under which financial institutions allocate credit. While the exploitation of employees by their employers has hardly been curbed, the power of investors to select investees — to decide who and what is deemed creditworthy — has become a new site of social struggle. In clear and compelling prose, Michel Feher explains the extraordinary shift in conduct and orientation generated by financialization. Above all, he articulates the new political resistances and aspirations that investees draw from their rated agency.