Meltdown

A Look at Why the Economy Tanked and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse

By: Thomas E. Woods Jr.

Narrated by: Alan Sklar

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

The media tells us that "deregulation" and "unfettered free markets" have wrecked our economy and will continue to make things worse without a heavy dose of federal regulation. But the real blame lies elsewhere.

In Meltdown, best-selling author Thomas E. Woods, Jr., unearths the real causes behind the collapse of housing values and the stock market---and it turns out the culprits reside more in Washington than on Wall Street. And the trillions of dollars in federal bailouts? Our politicians' ham-handed attempts to fix the problems they themselves created will only make things much worse.

Woods, a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and winner of the 2006 Templeton Enterprise Award, busts the media myths and government spin. He explains how government intervention in the economy---from the Democratic hobby horse called Fannie Mae to affirmative action programs like the Community Redevelopment Act---actually caused the housing bubble. Most important, Woods, author of the New York Times best seller The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, traces this most recent boom-and-bust---and all such booms and busts of the past century---back to one of the most revered government institutions of all: the Federal Reserve System, which allows busybody bureaucrats and ambitious politicians to pull the strings of our financial sector and manipulate the value of the very money we use.

Meltdown, which features a foreword by Congressman Ron Paul (R - Texas), also provides a timely history lesson to counter the current clamor for a new New Deal. The Great Depression, Woods demonstrates, was only as deep and as long as it was because of the government interventions by Herbert Hoover (no free-market capitalist, despite what your high-school history teacher may have taught you) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (no savior of the American economy, in spite of what the mainstream media says). If you want to understand what caused the fi...

©2009 Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Provocative, well-written, and deserves to be read." ( Catholic Historical Review)
"Well written, well researched, and the thesis put forth is well argued." ( Journal of American History)

Should be required reading!

Excellent, like all books by Thomas Woods!

if you've not already read it, a good companion book is "End the Fed," by Ron Paul.

Biting and brilliant

The author demolishes the standard Keynesian and monetarist models and delivers a straightforward and insightful Austrian approach to today's economic times.

His indictment of the Fed alone is worth the price of the book. The title for this chapter is telling: "The Elephant in the Living Room."

Even more importantly, chapter 4 "How Government Causes the Boom-Bust Cycle," is the best layman's explanation of Austrian Business Cycle Theory I have found. Presented clearly and cogently, even Paul Krugman could understand it were he so inclined.

Solid theory backing solid solutions, an A+ for content.

About production, Alan Sklar's narration is wonderful. Best I've heard, full stop.

He actually seems to have read the book beforehand and gotten a sense of the author's tone and style prior to recording.* Rather than the boring monotone of so many other readers, he invests the text with life and offers a vibrant rendition of the text.

Thank you Messrs. Woods and Sklar for offering the top combination of content and production I have yet to come across.

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* Yes, as some other reviewers have mentioned, Woods has a bit of sarcasm in his writing. When one deals with ideas which should have been put out of our misery many years ago but somehow keep showing up like zombies in a drive-in theater, a bit of leeway might be allowed for the positive unbelief that these ideas still hold sway in so many "educated" circles. =/

Awakening

I have a masters in economics and thus see myself as knowing my fair share on the subject. I knew of Keynes, the Austrian school, the New Deal, the Japanese recession and about the gold standard before, but this book really gave me a theory I could accept as plausible.

I read Paul Krugmans "The Return of Depression Economics" and compared to "Meltdown" Krugmans theory for a solution does just not hold as much weight as the Austrian theory. The worrying thing is that USA now seems to go for Krugmans "easy fix" (=illusion) instead of accepting the inconvenient truth.

USA now seems to be in for another "lost decade" together with Japan and with its second one...

So much information

I will definitely be listening to this again and again. Tom Woods is a brilliant writer.

A Great Read

What a mess we have gotten ourselves into and all the governments in the US and EU are doing is 'kicking the can down the road' instead of finding and implementing real solutions. But then again our political system of 4-year term governments doesn't lend itself to dramatic and meaningful changes. Everyone is just buying time.

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. It is well written and I was intrigued from start to finish. The narration is superb and I highly recommend it to everyone.

A must read!

...for anyone who believes that the housing crash was caused by deregulation. Learn the real story here!

A fantastic read

This book explains economics in a clear concise manner that won't leave you intelectualy stranded.

If only I could give it ZERO Stars!

What a crock of drivel!

Good grief, the narrator doesn't even attemmpt to make it sound anything other than partisan hogwash. Oh, that nasty government! How dare those poor people try to buy homes?

About the only thing we can agree on is that the current policies of blindly paying off Wall Street, while selling our manufacturing base down the river, is wrong.

If you're trying to undertsand the current crisis, this is not the the place to start.

You can't always know what you're buying

This book wasn???t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Someone who would like to see Ron Paul as the President. Ron Paul wrote the forward, thus setting up the rest of the book. He pretends to give the author the credit for the book but it is a thinly disguised Ron Paul speech. I didn't know much about Ron Paul before but know I feel I know all I need to know.

Has Meltdown turned you off from other books in this genre?

I don't know. I will still look for a book about economics that does not have a personal ax to grind.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

He is selling a political point of view. I only have to turn on the TV to get that.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment mostly.

Any additional comments?

I was looking for an open minded explanation and discussion or our current economics, not a political tirade about all the mistakes other politicians and economists have made. If I had this book for a college text I would drop the class, even if I agreed with the text because it hjas only one narrow viewpoint. The other side does not get to speak, and there are no detailed explanations of how we got here. There is only criticism.

Sarcasm & Ridicule Abound

If you want to place all of the blame for the current financial crisis on the government and the Federal Reserve you will love this book. I personally liked only the last chapter which dealt with solutions (I agree with them).

I was worn down buy the incessant sarcasm and ridicule. The author is obviously very intelligent and has a vast knowledge of economics. I just do not understand the approach of calling any idea or theory he disagrees with stupid.

I also believe it is too simple to say only the government and the Fed are the sole source of current problems.