What Ron’s Reading

The Puzzle Palace” by James Bamford

Written way before its time in 1982, “The Puzzle Palace” penetrates the NSA’s vast network of power and unmasks the people who control it, often with shocking disregard for the law. The NSA has long eluded public scrutiny, but “The Puzzle Palace” penetrates its vast network of power and unmasks the people who control it, often with shocking disregard for the law. With detailed information on the NSA’s secret role in the Korean Airlines disaster, Iran-Contra, the first Gulf War, and other major world events of the 80s and 90s, this is a brilliant account of the use and abuse of technological espionage.

Dirty Wars” by Jeremy Scahill[amazon asin=0140067485&template=*lrc ad (right)]

In Dirty Wars, Jeremy Scahill, author of the NYT’s best-seller Blackwater, takes us inside United States’s new covert wars. The foot soldiers in these battles operate globally and inside the United States with orders from the White House to do whatever is necessary to hunt down, capture or kill individuals designated by the president as enemies. Funded through “black budgets,” Special Operations Forces conduct missions in denied areas, engage in targeted killings, snatch and grab individuals and direct drone, AC-130 and cruise missile strikes. While the Bush administration deployed these ghost militias, President Barack Obama has expanded their operations and given them new scope and “legitimacy”. You can see Ron’s talk with Jeremy Scahill on this site right now under the Video/Interviews tab!

Planet Ponzi” by Mitch Feierstein

As the global economy struggles to avoid meltdown, so the greatest Ponzi scheme in history approaches its final death rattle. Politicians have stood by and watched the financial industry create a massive overhang of debt, a [amazon asin=1846688507&template=*lrc ad (right)]mountain of low quality assets – and ultimately, an economic disaster which has dwarfed all others.

The Great Withdrawal” by Craig R. Smith with Lowell Ponte

The Great Withdrawal explores why Detroit failed, why other liberal cities may soon follow, and how this could drag America into insolvency and prolonged Depression. It explores the bizarre Nanny Statist Progressive movement that took power in America in 1913 and has driven America on a “100-Year Detour” away from the ideals of our nation’s Founders and towards the stagnation of Euro-socialist welfare states.

America 3.0” by James C. Bennett & Michael J. Lotus

Though we are currently going through a painful transition period, this book posits that America’s best days are yet to come. We are phasing out big business, big labor unions & big government…. and making way for a new world with rapid technological progress & a strictly limited government.[amazon asin=0985036923&template=*lrc ad (right)]

Fascism vs. Capitalism” by Llewellyn H. Rockwell

Lew Rockwell examines the starkly contrasting systems of capitalism and fascism, noting pro-fascist trends in recent decades as well as the larger historical trends in the U.S. and internationally.

The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Taleb asserts that in business and government, major money is wasted on prediction. The MBA- and Nobel Prize-credentialed experts who make their living from economic forecasting are wrong.

Free to Learn” by Peter Gray[amazon asin=0989847101&template=*lrc ad (right)]

Our children spend their days being passively instructed, and made to sit still and take tests—often against their will. We call this imprisonment schooling, yet wonder why kids become bored and misbehave.

Where Keynes Went Wrong” by Hunter Lewis

This book is accessible to anyone with a basic economic understanding. It rightly begins with what Keynes himself said. For many people, this part might be the biggest surprise since Keynes is rarely read today.

The Battle of Bretton Woods” by Benn Steil

Upending the conventional wisdom that Bretton Woods was the product of an amiable Anglo-American collaboration, Steil shows that it was in reality part of a much more ambitious geopolitical agenda hatched within [amazon asin=1594036438&template=*lrc ad (right)]President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Treasury.

Theodore and Woodrow” by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

This shocking historical account explains how a Republican and a Democratic president oversaw the greatest shift in power in American history, from a land built on the belief that authority should be left to the individuals and the states to a bloated, far-reaching federal bureaucracy.

A Government of Wolves” by John W. Whitehead

America used to be a bastion for individual liberty and privacy but we are seeing our great nation slowly turning into a police state. Unwarranted searches of our homes, constant surveillance and the ever-growing presence of paramilitary police forces on Main Street.[amazon asin=B00GX0H47I&template=*lrc ad (right)]

The Brothers” by Stephen Kinzer

Americans are fatigued by two illegal wars since 9/11, the continued use of drones in nations like Pakistan has murdered thousands of innocents and yet our government has not abandoned the failed policy of interventionism.

The Dispensable Nation” by Vali Nasr

America’s recent wars are largely indefensible, but it is our responsibility to at least provide stability, promote prosperity, and build up democracy in our wake in the smartest way possible. Vali Nasr details how, after taking office, the Obama White House missed a great opportunity to do just that.[amazon asin=081297381X&template=*lrc ad (right)]

The Dao of Capital” by Mark Spitznagel

Mark Spitznagel was one of the most profitiable hedge fund managers both before and after the 2008 crash. The Dao of Capital is a comprehensive understanding of the theories of Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian economic tradition.

The Coming Bond Market Collapse” by Michael G. Pento

Micheal Pento paints a frightening picture of a massive interest rate shock that will soon send consumers and the U.S. government into bankruptcy. Reinforced by solid historical and economic data, Pento shows how the bubble was created and, luckily, what can be done to avoid this impending crisis.[amazon asin=0465025994&template=*lrc ad (right)]

Red and Blue and Broke All Over” by Charles Goyette

Charles Goyette calls for a dramatic solution to the destruction of the dollar and the squandering of every American’s personal wealth due to an ever-increasing government deficit. We must stifle overseas spending and American interventionism abroad.

Homeschool: An American History” by Milton Gaither

New studies suggest that American public school students are falling behind the rest of the industrial world in all three major school subjects. From the age of the Founders to present day, Gaither details how the home has been the best base for education on all levels.

Reasons Why Americans Choose War” by Richard E. Rubenstein

From Vietnam to Afghanistan we have been fed war propaganda by self-proclaimed peace seeking leaders. Yet time after time we are blindly led into unnecessary, costly and counterproductive wars.

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