In a basic and fundamental way, a nation's finances reflect its character.
And that character can be charted like a profit and loss statement.
That is the main conclusion that can be derived from the book "Boomerang" by Michael Lewis.
Lewis has previously written a book about Paul O'Neil, George W.it is christianlouboutinoutlet00 that has been often referred to as the supe. Bush's Secretary of the Treasury.
For "Boomerang," he toured a group of nations with the most interesting stories to tell about the world's financial condition.
Pay as you go
The America in the 1950s was funding the Marshall Plan to help rebuild Europe while paying its World War II debts.manufacturing under strict production requirements,loveedhardies products use high quality raw materials
So when a Democratic Congress and a Republican president set out to build one of the world's great public works projects, the interstate highway system, it was pay-as-you go. Gas taxes were used to build highways in stages.
Our problems now, Lewis implies, are as much about our character as our finances.
In Greece, he wrote, "The banks didn't sink the country. The country sank the banks."
That is, avoiding taxes is so common in Greece that tax avoidance is part of the national character.
"The extent of the cheating — the amount of energy that went into it — was breathtaking," he wrote.Go ahead to find your favorite shoxshoes in our online store.
Tax collecting was treated like theater where actual collections almost never happened.
Lewis described what happens when cheating becomes ingrained. It's democracy run amok.
Freedom begets lawlessness.
Free speech begets abusiveness.
Progress turns into anarchy.
California's excess
Ireland was another example of a country that had long been poor not knowing how to handle prosperity. All the abuses in America were taken to a greater extreme in Ireland.
"Ireland's banks had not been managed to withstand doubt; they had been managed to exploit blind faith."
As for Germany, its citizens did not take the bait of unlimited debt.
"Given the chance to take something for nothing, the German people simply ignored the offer," Lewis noted, while serving as co-dependents for nations that did.
As for the United States, we know the story all too well.in beadsturquoise tube cutting and forming.
California is the ultimate example of financial excess.
Pension funds turned into investing speculators,Do you really need that replicawatches you haven't worn in years, I mean who wants to dress like Ronnie from the Jersey Shore? promising 8 percent average returns.
Money that used to be spent on education went to a prison building boom.
Last year, the average Californian had debts of $78,000 vs. income of $43,000.
"Everywhere you turned, the long-term future of the state was being sacrificed," he wrote.
And that character can be charted like a profit and loss statement.
That is the main conclusion that can be derived from the book "Boomerang" by Michael Lewis.
Lewis has previously written a book about Paul O'Neil, George W.it is christianlouboutinoutlet00 that has been often referred to as the supe. Bush's Secretary of the Treasury.
For "Boomerang," he toured a group of nations with the most interesting stories to tell about the world's financial condition.
Pay as you go
The America in the 1950s was funding the Marshall Plan to help rebuild Europe while paying its World War II debts.manufacturing under strict production requirements,loveedhardies products use high quality raw materials
So when a Democratic Congress and a Republican president set out to build one of the world's great public works projects, the interstate highway system, it was pay-as-you go. Gas taxes were used to build highways in stages.
Our problems now, Lewis implies, are as much about our character as our finances.
In Greece, he wrote, "The banks didn't sink the country. The country sank the banks."
That is, avoiding taxes is so common in Greece that tax avoidance is part of the national character.
"The extent of the cheating — the amount of energy that went into it — was breathtaking," he wrote.Go ahead to find your favorite shoxshoes in our online store.
Tax collecting was treated like theater where actual collections almost never happened.
Lewis described what happens when cheating becomes ingrained. It's democracy run amok.
Freedom begets lawlessness.
Free speech begets abusiveness.
Progress turns into anarchy.
California's excess
Ireland was another example of a country that had long been poor not knowing how to handle prosperity. All the abuses in America were taken to a greater extreme in Ireland.
"Ireland's banks had not been managed to withstand doubt; they had been managed to exploit blind faith."
As for Germany, its citizens did not take the bait of unlimited debt.
"Given the chance to take something for nothing, the German people simply ignored the offer," Lewis noted, while serving as co-dependents for nations that did.
As for the United States, we know the story all too well.in beadsturquoise tube cutting and forming.
California is the ultimate example of financial excess.
Pension funds turned into investing speculators,Do you really need that replicawatches you haven't worn in years, I mean who wants to dress like Ronnie from the Jersey Shore? promising 8 percent average returns.
Money that used to be spent on education went to a prison building boom.
Last year, the average Californian had debts of $78,000 vs. income of $43,000.
"Everywhere you turned, the long-term future of the state was being sacrificed," he wrote.
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