Cast Away: For These Reasons: Economic Jihad

Last Updated on January 2, 2023 by ellen

I’ve always been fascinated with our economy from the time I was in college and took my first economics class. That fascination has led to my love of documentaries and dystopian fiction. Every choice we make today will have an impact on what happens in our country and our world in the future. There’s no way to know what will happen but many theories exist. 

Cast Away: For These Reasons: Economic Jihad

Fifty-Five Shades of Political Economy…. Economic theorists since their inception over 200 years ago have struggled with the question of how to distribute wealth and continue to come up short.

The author is not only criticizing capitalism but finally has brought to the table, a new thought-provoking alternative to the economic cannibalistic system. The author’s unconventional line of attack, will raise your heart rate and make you nauseous.

By the middle of the book, you might be searching for a long rope to hang yourself with, thinking that humanity is doomed…but you will be missing out on the spectacular finale. This book is not one more economic liturgy.

The author offers a thought provocative remedy to global socio-economic inequality; the rise of Ethosism. Tara Casimir, Editor

My thoughts:

Economics isn’t an easy topic to understand. There are vastly different theories about what makes for a successful economy that ranges from capitalism to socialism with a number of stops in between. Like many other theories, the application is never perfect, so the results are always flawed. In the US, we tend to think that capitalism is best, but when you look at it, it’s just as bad as many others.

The author shares his thoughts on how capitalism has damaged not only our country but other countries as they try to impose (or we try to impose) our policies on their lives. He covers topics including the bank bailouts, the massive plant closures in the auto industries, over-consumption, and the disparity between rich and poor. Before you think that the book is entirely about the US, it’s not. The author gives many examples of problems in other countries including those in South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

While I found the entire book fascinating, one of the aspects that I found most interesting was that the author uses examples that the average person can connect to. While I took an economics class in college, it’s been a long time since I’ve given deep thought to the theory of Keynesian economics. However, I’ve seen the movies, listened to the music, and have heard the news reports about events that the author references in his explanations about how this constant search for riches is hurting us. That really makes the entire book hit home and explain the problem in a way that everyone can understand. The author also uses popular quotes throughout the book to further his message. My favorite being:

“I know, up on top you are seeing great sights, but down here at the bottom we, too, should have rights.” — Dr. Seuss

This book really opened my eyes to the problems in the world today – in our country and in others. I’ve always believed that there wasn’t really anything inherently wrong with capitalism but after reading this book, I’m seeing that it can be dangerous than I thought for reasons I never really considered. As a young adult, I briefly felt that Marxism was the answer to our socio-economic problems, but have realized that isn’t the answer any more than capitalism and the author briefly touches on the reasons why.

I’ve no idea what the right answer is to fix our socio-economic problems, but I found this book to be a fascinating read about what we as a global world are clearly doing wrong.

Buy it today!

ellen

Ellen is a mom of a 25-year-old son and 30-year-old daughter. She is Grandma to one adorable toddler. In what little spare time she has, she loves to read, watch movies, and check out the latest toys and games.