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The Bubble of American Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of American Power

The Bubble of American Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of American Power

List Price: $22.00
Your Price: $14.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: practical, pro-american plan from a brilliant man
Review: soros scores a huge win with a very direct, to the point, clearly written book of the current problems with american foreign policy and the way it can be righted. naming names and citing history, soros shows that he's as well versed on the subject as the most learned policital scientist. it's amazing that a man with a background of escaping persecution who went on to become one of the world's richest men, can be so wholly unbiased in his outlook. rather than a criticism of america and americans, this is written from a perspective of restoring american values in our foreign policy. soros criticizes the policy of bush and certain other foreign leaders, while avoiding personal attacks. whether or not you agree with what he says, you have to admire the man and the honorable manner he puts forth his plan. a must read for the 2004 election season.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Rubbish written by a convicted inside trader & criminal
Review: Soros was convicted of insider trading in December 2002. Some of the rich can get very rich through insider trading and other sleazy business practices. Go to Google and type in "Soros BBC insider trading." You can learn all about Soros activities.

excerpt:
"Mr Soros and three other defendants, the court found, bought Societe Generale stock when it was cheap, and cashed in their investment when the price rose after the bid became public.

Two other businessmen implicated in the scandal - Edmond Safra and Robert Maxwell - have since died."

His pal Maxwell dove off his huge yacht off of France and killed himself becaus ehis billion fraud/business fell apart. Thousands of British pensioners lost everything because SOor's pal Maxwell looted their pensions.

There are better books on American global economic power that are written by people who do not engage in insider trading.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: pied piper of reflexivity
Review: Soros's intention in funding left-wing groups such as moveon.org is to allow their message to dominate the democratic party's platform thus creating a backlash from the voters and ensuring the victory of pro-market forces which should lead to more freedom,prosperity,ecological realism,and peace.But when dealing with reflexivity everything is illusion so maybe he has an actual plan for a society that restricts freedom more then ours but is somehow more "open".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Bubble of American Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of A
Review: Soros, a well-known financial expert and critic of uncontrolled global capitalism (The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered), extends his thesis to American foreign policy in this hastily written but passionately argued critique of the Bush administration's war on terror. A disciple of political philosopher Karl Popper, Soros believes that the "open society" requires private interests and communal interests to be in equilibrium. Though he supported the UN-backed U.S. attack on the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Soros castigates the attack on Iraq because he believes that it was begun as an outgrowth of the neo-conservative ideology adopted by Bush to establish American supremacy rather than to fight terrorism and destroy weapons of mass destruction. The first half of the book is a spirited, highly politicized attack on Bush's foreign and economic policies, which Soros believes contradict American principles. In the second half, he proposes reasoned alternatives to current U.S. policy based on a balance between sovereignty and terror prevention on the one hand and cooperative initiatives and international assistance on the other. A provocative if somewhat repetitive work that is recommended for academic and larger public libraries.-

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Soros Is Not Looking For Personal Gain
Review: The author has earned a very large fortune in the financial markets. He is able to pursue any interest of his desire. He has chosen to use his wealth to help people around the world. He is also politically active and supports the Democrats. He sees the world as a community. He is against the current efforts by the Bush administration to be an "empire."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must-read -- and an easy read
Review: The brilliance of this work is first in its brevity -- the directness and simplicity of its points and arguments. Second, Soros is convincing as he explains the basis for American neo-conservative policies, points out their consequences to date, and suggests the likely future if they continue to be pursued. Thirdly, Soros has standing to offer rational alternatives, and he does so without hyperbole. If you read only one political book, it shold be this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Soros in Perspective
Review: The most fascinating part of this book is not in the text itself, but in the Appendix under the title "My Conceptual Framework." Soros does what few authors on the left do; he clearly and forthrightly states the fundamental principles from which he operates. Would that everyone would be so candid!

He calls his philosophy "radical fallibility." It is based on his mentor Karl Popper's belief that ultimate scientific truth remains permanently beyond our reach. Soros applies the same principal to social situations, concluding that we are always wrong, although the nature and extent of our error is variable. A corollary is the "fertile fallacy," which holds that an idea may be valid initially, but when expanded to cover larger areas become corrupted. An example of a fertile fallacy is the scientific method -- valid when applied to science, but leading to distortion and misunderstanding when applied to the social sciences. Soros states, without elaboration, that "my concept of fertile fallacy does not claim to be anything more than a fertile fallacy."

Soros' postulates lead him to his model of the "open society". The open society is one based on the conclusion that beliefs are provisionally true while keeping them open to constant reexamination. He states: "An open society holds itself open to improvement. It is based on the recognition that people have divergent views and interests and nobody is in possession of the ultimate truth." Freedom of thought, expression, and choice are essential to his open society. People living within the society decide the practical limitations on these freedoms.

Radical fallibility stands in dramatic contrast to the absolutes in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal (Justice); "that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" (Freedom); and, "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from consent of the governed," (Self Government).

George Soros has become the new best friend of the Democratic Party, providing millions to fund surrogate organizations like MoveOn.Org. If his philosophy is shared by a majority of democrats, liberals, and progressives, and if most Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians hold to the traditional notions of democracy, then one must conclude that the schism in American society is greater than previously thought.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Mundane at best. No new information or opinion.
Review: There are now tons of books criticizing Bush foreign policy. The majority of them take a European liberal policy perspective. They criticize Bush for his unilateral actions, his hegemonic vision, and his preference for hard power (military) over soft power (diplomacy). Soros does the exact same thing. He repeats what has been better stated by others years ago. There is not a single new idea in this entire book, except for his comparison of the U.S. American supremacy to a stock market bubble. This metaphor is meaningless.

The U.S. supremacy is no bubble. Whether Mr. Soros likes it or not, the U.S. will likely remain the number one power in the World for decades to come. This is based on the U.S. competitive advantages on so many dimensions, including: demographics (our society is not aging as fast as Europe, Japan, and China), economics (entrepreneurship is more developed here), politics (democracy works after all), technology, and so on and so forth.

In many respect, Soros' book reminds me of "Fear's Empire" by Benjamin Barber. They both overreach in criticizing every minute aspect of our foreign policy. But, they are both rather weak in conveying practical alternatives. They are both somewhat blinded by their liberal perspectives. In a sense, they counteract the equally ineffective "An End to Evil" by David Frum, who is blinded by his own archconservative perspective. For my part, I recommend books written from a far more effective centrist perspective. These include Wesley Clark's excellent "Winning Modern Wars" and Robert Cooper's "The Breaking of Nations."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Wonderful Book
Review: This book made me want to meet Soros, shake his hand and just say "Thank you" for articulating such a serious and urgent problem so clearly.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Shocking
Review: This is a delusional book from a great investor. Soros seems to be anti-American and sympathetic of terrorists. He also seems to be filled with blind hatred. What a disgrace. America was heinously attacked and we are responding. What would Soros have done after Pearl Harbor? Negotiated with Japan?

Soros should stick to writing books on investing. Soros had a hand in depreciating the value of the British Pound and Asian currencies and he may be betting against the U.S. dollar. His actions may have helped to cause great economic harm to the Asian economy. This is a clear misuse of his power.


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