DesireesShelves

Excellent book! We have lost our manufacturing base along with tons of jobs! We don't seem to make much of anything in the US anymore... A lot of the book is promoting the author's website: http://madeinusaforever.com. I just checked it out and they do have a wide selection of quality products. They do seem a bit on the expensive side, however. But, this is coming from someone who has a limited income and is a total bargain shopper! Check it out, maybe you can help out an American worker!

Not only have we exported our jobs, but we also import so much stuff that full containers arrive on ships and go home empty. According to the Guardian, "just 15 of the world's biggest ships may now emit as much pollution as all the world's 760 million cars." The use low-grade ship bunker fuel which has up to 2,000 times the sulphur content of diesel fuel used in the US.

The author claims that if every adult in the US made a commitment to buy ONE $30 American-made product per month, we would directly create 500,000 jobs in the US! And, that is not counting all the additional jobs that would spring up surrounding this activity. Not only at suppliers and transporters but also at restaurants, and all the other local establishments where people with good jobs spend their extra money! OK, having said that, I am definitely going to find something on that list to purchase!!!

As a country, we can't afford NOT to buy American! Labor costs make up very little of the extra expense of manufacturing here. Transportation is also a big factor. Definitely recommended!

Lots of great tips here. Certainly not a get rich quick scheme, just regular small businesses that can be started for next to nothing and you can start working out of your own home! May sound too good to be true, but, these are good solid business ideas here. One problem is that some of them are kinda gross, hence the sub-title, not much competition....

A must have for anyone who wants to be an entrepreneur!

Interesting story of a mother and her three teenagers who pull the plug on technology!

I learned a new word: Thaasophobia, the fear of boredom.... another disease I have, lol! It is hard to get bored with all the technology we have today, but turning it all off = thaasophobia!

According to Thoreau, "our inventions are wont to be pretty things which distract our attention from serious things."

"Interestingly, psychoanalysts have observed that boredom and clinical depression are closely related." Hmmmmmm....

Recommended for anyone who would like to cut back on their use of technology....

I don't read a lot of fiction and never got into Janet Evanovich. However, when I spotted two graphic novels at my local library, I decided to take a chance and I enjoyed the read! Love, detectives and voodoo! Part 2 is up next!

"The opposite of play isn't work. It's depression." "Gameplay is the direct emotional opposite of depression." More and more people are playing video games, whether it's hardcore console gaming or simple games on sites like Facebook. So, we spend less time on passive activities, like watching television. "we're much happier enlivening time rather than killing time."

PS3 and computer gamers are even helping to save real lives by running the folding@home application on their console or computer! The author also discusses other real world games, like World Without Oil, that simulate what would happen if we ever ran out of oil.

Would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the effects of games in real life!

I really enjoyed this short graphic novel! Of course, I usually love books about books because I love books! :-)
Can't really say much more than that as I don't want to give out any spoilers... Recommended!!

A good read. Probably the only book I don't have any quotes from. A good overview, recommended!

"We must build the sort of online ecosystem that can benefit the whole world over the long term, not one that serves the short-term interests of one powerful company, no matter how brilliant."

"The Google Books plan is a perfect example of public failure." If they are allowed to continue, Google will "own" the rights to all books! It's one thing to allow people to view books online that have expired copyright, however, Google would be the only place that these books would be available! Even copyright holders would not have a say in this! This is definitely NOT a good plan and we must stop this!

Google becomes our memory! Why bother to memorize anything, if you can look it up and find the answer instantaneously? Not to mention the privacy issues (the author argues that privacy no longer exists) when something you posted online years ago can come back to haunt you?

Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with Google. I love that I can find whatever I need, however, they have been working on blocking access to lots of sites, in particular, sites that aggregate news stories from other sites... It's never good to have a monopoly on anything and if Google is allowed to have that monopoly over our collective knowledge and past, that can not be a good thing!

Interesting read!

Another good read about the current state of our economy with good suggestions on how to fix it! "The more power they have, the less you have."

"From the auto industry, the banks, and various financial institutions, to Obama's plan to snatch expansive tracts of land depriving the middle class of mining, farming, and cattle-raising opportunities, and commandeering the energy industry through his green socialism scheme of cap-and-trade, Obama is hell-bent on crippling capitalism through massive taxes and his bureaucratic state."

When the SEC uptick rule was eliminated in 2007, it enabled short sellers to drop the stock market fast and raid it, as was done in 2008! If the market drops fast, the halt trading, unless it is after 2:30, then there is no halting and they can raid with no brakes! "the SEC is essentially still a toothless entity headed by someone who's in the bag for hedge fund traders."

"He (Obama) and his confederates are implementing a plan to do nothing less than steal from middle America and redistribute the wealth to their powerful cronies, exactly the opposite of what they would have you believe they stand for."

"Make no mistake: Obama's energy policies are a federal tyranny."

The author also talks about how the latest Federal census, which will be used for redistricting, does NOT ask if the people are citizens!

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it. " - Albert Einstein

Excellent read about America's future!

"But we did not learn the larger lesson of the 1930's: that when the distribution of income gets too far out of whack, the economy needs to be reorganized so the broad middle class has enough buying power to rejuvenate the economy over the longer term." "Until we take this lesson to heart, we will be living with the Great Recession's after-shock of high unemployment and low wages, and an increasingly angry middle class."

He writes about the fact that the economy is mostly financial now and large donations from Wall Street makes it difficult for politicians to bite the hand that feeds them.

"To be sure, prolonged economic stress could open the door to demagogues who prey on public anxieties in order to gain power."

The author offers up a lot of practical solutions that I feel would certainly help!

According to the author, we are powerless to resist technology! "We continue to amass vast doses of gadgets and things because we can't help it." Minor glitches can turn into massive unstoppable waves until they reach catastrophic proportions!

"The technium is also pushing the increased mutualism among machines. The majority of telecommunications traffic in the world is not between messages flowing between humans but messages between machines."

An interesting, but not the easiest read! Would definitely recommend to all my geek friends! Technology seems here to stay and the sum of it outperforms the parts!

I enjoyed this one. However, I think that it may be a little too late to implement some of the ideas presented here. I hope not, as implementing this program, even half of it, could restore American to the land of opportunity and entrepreneurialism.

"it is the fortunate result of our nation's rich and unique stew of individual liberty, constitutional democracy, limited government, free enterprise, social mobility, ethnic diversity, immigrant assimilation, intellectual freedom, property rights, and rule of law." If you have been keeping up with recent current events, you will see that a lot of the things listed above have been being stripped away from us in the US.

The Sarbanes-Oxley law has penalized investments in start-up businesses. That is a definite blow to innovation. The author also thinks that we should allow ANY company to fail! What would have happened if the government bailed out all the horse and buggy companies back in the day????

Students from around the world long to come to the US to study at our universities. However, once they are done, they are sent home, where they start up innovative new companies there, instead of here. He advocates more immigration, as immigrants are more likely than native-born Americans to start businesses. A growth economy requires an expanding population.

The fact that we have long ignored our aging infrastructure will make this impossible. "We are becoming India, and it saddens and angers me." Companies can not thrive with intermittent electricity, crumbling roads and polluted water.

"The U.S. is the only country that taxes revenue from abroad-even though it is also taxed by other countries. So corporations respond by keeping billions in cash and not returning it to the United States." "Require every law passed by Congress to be analyzed for its cost-benefit impact on business operations and the nation's economic growth."

"Nuclear energy is safe, carbon-neutral, and cheap, when we get the plants built." This was obviously written before the meltdown in Japan, now we can see that it is not really safe. Also, 90% of US nuclear plants have been built on fault lines... duh???? Clean coal is the way to go, in my humble opinion as all that comes out of coal fired plants smokestacks is carbon dioxide, which the government wants you to think is NOT safe. I take issue with this. If we can get enough green power, clean coal is the next best alternative. However, our current President has publicly stated that he will tax any new coal fired plant into bankruptcy!

Definitely a good read! I hope that we can implement these strategies!

Lots of talk about the world ending on 12-21-2012... Is it real? That's what most people want to know...
For me, the book didn't get interesting until the end. The first 2/3'rds or so of the book is filled with history and Mayan info.

Basically, that is the end of the Mayan calendar, but it also coincides with the expected "solar maximum" when sunspots, flares and solar winds peak. We have created a large "hole" in the magnetoshphere that will allow this increased solar activity to come right through. This can easily take out satellites and transformers. If the transformers blow, the electrical supply will be cut off to the effected areas. Also, a polar reversal may happen which can create all kinds of havoc!

The technology is available to be able to set off earthquakes, volcanoes and also alter the climate, using electromagnetic waves. We also have HAARP in Alaska that can do similar things and more!

The book also states that we can actually create the end of the world as a self-fulfilling prophecy. "scientific studies show that our intentions can shape our reality"

Definitely recommended for history buffs or anyone interested in the Mayan civilization.

Interesting and painful read about crack addiction! Excellent for a first time author. He is a gay man with a long-suffering boyfriend, who easily could have kicked him to the curb a long time ago... Recommended!

"something that has largely been forgotten in Western democracies - that the passivity of the majority is what allows the powerful to rule."

The author claims that the new cap and trade policies share DNA with the same toxic policies of the early 2000's that lead to the mortgage meltdown.

"according to data from one of the longest-running farm-scale studies, sustainable organic farming could sequester up to 40 percent of current CO2 emissions."

"The activist Abbie Hoffman once observed, "You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." By that metric, there's not much democracy around."

A good read for anyone interested in our current state and what is really going on! Recommended!

Scary book about how our politicians sold us out and are turning the USA into a third world country!

We have let our infrastructure go so badly that bad roads cause more crashes than drunk drivers! In a 2008 study, 80% of Americans believed government was controlled by "a few big interests looking out for themselves." Averaged out, each member of the legislative branch received $6.5 million from special interests! "Not only have we failed to control corporations, corporations have flipped the equation and taken control of us."

If you have ever wondered just what happened to our country, just pick up this book! Easy to read and understand, more frightening than any horror novel!