Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics (Agora Series)

Bestselling author Bill Bonner has long been a maverick observer of the financial and political world, sharpening his sardonic wit, in particular, on the vagaries of the investing public. Market booms and busts, tulip manias and dotcom bubbles, venture capitalists and vulture funds, he lets you know, are best explained not by dry statistics and obscure theories but by the metaphors and analogies of literature.

Now, in Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets, Bonner and freelance journalist Lila Rajiva use literary economics to offer broader insights into mass behavior and its devastating effects on society. Why is it, they ask, that perfectly sane and responsible individuals can get together, and by some bizarre alchemy turn into an irrational mob? What makes them trust charlatans and demagogues who manipulate their worst instincts? Why do they abandon good sense, good behavior and good taste when an empty slogan is waved in front of them. Why is the road to hell paved with so many sterling intentions? Why is there a  fool on every corner and a knave in every public office?

In attempting an answer, the authors weave a light-hearted journey through history, politics and finance to show group think at work in an improbable array of instances, from medieval crusades to the architectural follies of hedge-fund managers. Their journey takes them ultimately to the desk of the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank and to a cautionary tale of the current bubble economy. They warn that the gush of credit let loose by Alan Greenspan and multiplied by the sophisticated number games of Wall Street whizzes is fraught with perils for the unwary. Boom without end, pronounces The Street.  But Bonner and Rajiva are more cynical. When the higher math and the greater greed come together, watch out below!

Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets ends by giving concrete advice on how readers can avoid what the authors call the public spectacle of modern finance,  and become, instead, private investors -  knowing their own mind and following their own intuitions. The authors have no gimmicks to offer here -   but instead give a better understanding of the dynamics of market behavior, allowing prudent investors to protect themselves from the fads and follies of the investment markets.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

You must read this book, 2008-08-22
This is a brilliant and very funny take down of the "system".
Rajiva and Bonner know their stuff. They take the 'lies, damn lies and statistics' put out by the financial system and put them together into a narrative that reads like fiction (that's what it is anyway). What you end up with is a fascinating read with quotable lines on every page.

The book has too many interesting angles to tackle here but it is really outstanding in dealing with the propaganda-controlled world we live in and with the whole globalist agenda, culminating in the credit and housing crises of today. Most important, the authors explain the mentality behind it all - the mindset of the politically correct elitists and corporate crooks who run this country.

You won't agree with everything they say. It doesn't matter, you should still do do yourself a favor and read this book before the elections so you will know that there is only one party in the US - Wall Street and that there is only one language it does business in - PR.


0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Mostly Like Reading Fiction, Out Of Date, With Poor Premises, 2008-08-09
Because its always valuable to get a leg up on the
next big move, I decided to check it out...my opinion
... skip it.

Here's what I found inside. Real estate can make you
money. Here is there reasoning. In New York or London
a fancy home can cost you between 3 and 5 million bucks.
But in Buenos Aire, Argentina the same house can be
bought for 800K.

They go on to state that the prices between them could
narrow. I don't know about you, but its hard to imagine
Buenos Aire to be on par with New York and London.

But the real kicker....on page 352, they state they think
the price of gold is going to $1000 .... excuse me,
gold has been there and is headed South.

The book is a waste of time, which some believe is
your most valuable commodity....my suggestion use,
it to improve you trading plan.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

not plato not archie, 2008-08-02
could be that when you look back at the final few years of this decade you will think how did they let all this happen. this book at least tells you a bit of why. don't just hope it will all work itself out and someone will take care of it because it is not going that way. Get some knowledge and try to get a better understanding of what you must do, please!!!


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Entertaining, insightful and very timely, 2008-07-17
As the debt ridden economy of the U.S. crumbles at an accelerating pace, "Mobs, Messiah, and Markets" helps you laugh to keep from crying by at least explaining how we got here and why. Without being too apocalyptic it also offers some avenues of escape from financial ruin as the house of cards built on Federal Reserve Notes begins to topple.


1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

The Daily Reckoning, 2008-07-11
Bill Bonner is my favorite market/trading on-line newspaper "The Daily Reckoning" author. This is the reason the book was purchased. The central message of the book is how to avoid getting caught up in the public spectacle of money. The "public spectacle" may be not Bonner's invention but for me it is the first time I am get faced with the term and I like it very much. In fact it is almost the first time that in clear and sensible form I find not the explanation but at least a sympthomatic description of this obvious stupidity and manias covering over us. Bonner gives a wide retrospective of a public spectacle in society life, the type which is developed in the form of tragedy demanding a huge toll of deaths and ruined faiths. All these sacred figures like comandante Che or great chairman Mao are depicted in their awfulness beloved as much as bigger was the damage they brought in their attempt to do a good for the mankind.

The market type public spectacle is according to Bonner more farce than tragedy.

The lessons:

1. The safest and sometimes the best way to make money is to save them, not to loose. Think about cash.

2. Don't go looking for trouble. Stick with good investment.

3. Never expect the market to give a sucker an even break. Try to bend the chances in your favour heavily.

4. Buy low sell high.

5. Never buy what someone else really wants to sell.

6. Never buy what everyone else is rushing to buy.

7. Learn to not to do anything.

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