Naked Economics

I learned a great deal from this book. As we are listening to A LOT of Hamilton in my house, I thought I'd read the biography of Hamilton that is the source material for the play. I am listening to it anyway. The genius of Hamilton is vast but his theories on a central banking system are the basis for the world's economy today. Big time stuff. I realized I understand very little about the basic ideas of economics and so, when I was in my local bookstore recently, I saw Naked Economics on their store's bestseller shelf.

I learned what the Federal Reserve does ( at this point, attempt to keep the economy stable using low interest rates and controlling inflation ). I learned why every economist thinks trade is the foundation of a strong economy. I was one of those poorly informed people who thought Trump had a point when he said too much manufacturing is leaving the country and the US needs to impose tariffs to protect its workers. Turns out, that won't work. Not even the most fringe economists have any faith that will restore even one American worker's paycheck.

Why did 10 cents buy a hamburger 50 years ago and now it costs $5? What is inflation? Why did we stop basing the value of the dollar on gold? Why is the US able to run its government on a deficit? The end of that chapter is basically that the habit won't end well.

I recently read an article on the problems with our bloated assets and real estate market. The Fed can't control either of those and they are damaging the average person's quality of life either directly or indirectly.  Naked Economics gave me the basic info to understand the article. Every high school should teach a class on finances and basic economics. This book would be a great foundation for the class.