Book Review: The Bush Boom
I nearly fell off my seat laughing when I saw this review at Amazon:
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The Bush Boom
53 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
Through the Looking Glass,
| By |
Alice (Wonderland) See all my reviews |
Finally! A book that proves the existence of an alternate universe. Obviously, a rip in the space/time continuum between this universe and the other universe where Bush is presiding over a 'boom economy' opened up and this book fell through. Can there be ANY other explanation?
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Best of all, its only 1 cent at Amazon.
This book is of great interest to Theoristical Physicists, especially those that studty string theory...
Tuesday, April 15, 2008 | 07:30 PM | Permalink
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I'm reserving a spot on my bookshelf for this one, right next to "Dow 36,000".
Posted by: wunsacon | Apr 15, 2008 7:36:58 PM
Wow! A two-fer! Jerry Bowyer the author with a foreward by Mr. Goldilocks.
No wonder Larry always has Jerry on his show.
I wonder how well the content holds up to the "how to lie with statistics" Bible?
Posted by: Chief Tomahawk | Apr 15, 2008 7:47:45 PM
No need for the publisher to withdraw any books from the shelves -- just flip them upside down and the arrows will point in the right direction.
After all, it all depends on your definition of the word "boom".
Posted by: speedlet | Apr 15, 2008 7:59:40 PM
At $.01 it is way overpriced!
Posted by: Neil Sambol | Apr 15, 2008 7:59:51 PM
I am sure Bush will author some during his retirement as well. You may want to spare some shelves for those too.
"Conversations with God: An uncommon monologue"
"George W: Straight from the arse"
" Who Moved My Brain? An Amazing Way to Deal with Reality in Your Work and in Your Life"
"Fair to Awful: Why Some Governments Make Wars... and Others Don't"
Posted by: Mich(^IXIC1881) | Apr 15, 2008 8:02:24 PM
priceless! (well, almost...)
Posted by: Robert | Apr 15, 2008 8:03:42 PM
When I visit the link, "customers who bought this item ["The Bush Boom"] also bought" "The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression".
What a pairing that is.
Posted by: engineer al | Apr 15, 2008 8:35:29 PM
They got lost in their own Dark Matter
Posted by: jj | Apr 15, 2008 8:39:01 PM
Has anyone told the Onion?
Posted by: FT Woods | Apr 15, 2008 8:51:55 PM
I thought we'd already collectively determined that "Bush Boom" is an oxymoron.
Boom as in oxy and Bush as in ...
pat
Posted by: patfla | Apr 15, 2008 9:00:35 PM
Absolutely a bargain...I bet it doubles in value in only 50 years!
Posted by: Jack | Apr 15, 2008 9:03:16 PM
Our economy is like a country exhausted of natural resources. All the tricks of cheap money & consumer debt, to prop our economy up are spent.
I hate sounding so negative about my own country, but our economy is sick, and the unfortunate medicine is a nasty recession ... unlike anything most of us have ever seen.
Posted by: Donny | Apr 15, 2008 9:07:16 PM
Did anyone else notice the increasing resemblance between Bush and Alfred e. Newman? This might be funny if it wasn't for the fact that he has detroyed the US economy, thrown away the Geneva convention and destroyed long fought for civil liberties. Bush I mean.
Posted by: Philip in Bali | Apr 15, 2008 9:09:25 PM
Is this book found under fiction or comedy?
Posted by: normaldist | Apr 15, 2008 9:21:46 PM
I didn't read all of the reviews but my favorite, so far:
October 23, 2003 By A Customer
"Anyone who thinks that we are in a "boom" is delusional. Read this book if you have no sense of reality. It will confirm your hallucinations."
Posted by: engineer al | Apr 15, 2008 9:46:48 PM
And Hillary Clinton got caught telling the truth the other day.
No really, I'm serious, Paul Krugman caught her.
Econolicious
Posted by: ECONOMISTA NON GRATA | Apr 15, 2008 9:51:57 PM
Robert,
"priceless! (well, almost...)"
was a killer. lol, lol, thank you
Posted by: Eren | Apr 15, 2008 9:53:37 PM
The Bush boom is real.
I made my fortune investing in assets that rise in price with ginourmous amounts of fiat money printing.
And then paid 15% tax.
Good luck on a repeat with McObamatin.
Posted by: Jeff B | Apr 15, 2008 9:58:00 PM
Philip in Bali, you might've already seen this:
http://www.thenation.com/covers/alfredw/
From a 2000 issue!
Posted by: wunsacon | Apr 15, 2008 10:02:01 PM
Looks like "The Bush Boom" it blew up in the author's face.
Pundits and the propaganda hacks they push are the least credible people in America.
Posted by: Marcus Aurelius | Apr 15, 2008 10:03:26 PM
It's 'Boom' as in explosion
Posted by: VennData | Apr 15, 2008 10:19:35 PM
Jerry Bowyer is living proof that Aliens exist.
Posted by: The Decider | Apr 15, 2008 10:20:45 PM
A penny? On a page per sheet basis, wouldn't that make a copy cheaper than a role of toilet paper? Hmmm...might be some utilitarian value there. Then again, considering the content already on the pages, that might be redundant.
Posted by: Al Czervic | Apr 15, 2008 10:30:25 PM
Good time to link into the reactions to the Times story "98% of historians rate Bush Presidency a Failure":
http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/the-bush-presidency-the-historians-start-to-weigh-in/
Posted by: Paul in NYC | Apr 15, 2008 10:36:16 PM
The Book is $19.09
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594670870/thebigpictu09-20
Bowyer's book sells for more than PPaannzznneerr's Financial Armageddon, Revised and Updated 2008 Edition - $11.53 and 32% discount with free shipping just to buy it please
Just the facts Barry, just the facts.
~~~
BR: Yes, facts:
Amazon has Bush Boom for sale used at 1 cent
Amazon has Financial Armageddon used at $16.00
How about Amazon sales rank?
Bush Boom: Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,928,415
Financial Armageddon #4,886
Any other facts you care to discuss?
Posted by: $19.09 | Apr 15, 2008 10:47:50 PM
Financial Armageddon:
4 used & new available from $19.99
Bush Boom:
15 used & new available from $0.01
Also available in [BARGAIN PRICE] category: 7 used & new available from $19.09
So, the bottom line is, on Amazon, the lowest price for Bush Boom is 1cents and Financial Armageddon is 19.99. Unless you like to pay more for Bush Boom, what is it that you're trying to say?
Posted by: Mich(^IXIC1881) | Apr 15, 2008 11:04:22 PM
I saw the 11.53 price but that is for paperback... which brings me to the question: Why doesn't Bush Boom have a hardcover version? (rethoric question)
Also, the reason that Financial Armageddon is included in the "free shipping for orders over $25" is because you can actually buy it directly from Amazon. You can't buy Bush Boom directly from Amazon because they don't sell it. The inventory costs and profits ($0.01) are left to the flea market sellers.
just the facts!
Posted by: Mich(^IXIC1881) | Apr 15, 2008 11:22:28 PM
Mich(^IXIC1881),
One is new with free shipping and another one used and without shipping.
I wanted to buy the book for $0.01 but it was used, with missing pages and additional $10 shipping charge.
Instead, I have purchased Financial Armageddon 2008 edition for $11.53 with 32% discount, free shipping, and free car wash by the author. It says the author of Financial Armageddon will come and wash my car if I buy his book. I thought it was a better bargain. Hey, you cannot go wrong with free car wash for $11.53
http://www.amazon.com/Financial-Armageddon-Revised-Updated-Economic/dp/1427797412/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208313450&sr=8-2
Posted by: wingnut | Apr 15, 2008 11:25:30 PM
Blatantly misleading messages keeps coming:
frugalmedia01 sells for $0.01 (s/h $3.99) in "Used - Good" condition
-usedbooks123- sells it for $0.01 (s/h $3.99) in "Used - Acceptable" condition and adds "Lots of visable wear from reading, spine and cover have creases, all pages in good shape, reading copy."
aammarket sells it for $1.49 (s/h $3.99) in "Used - Very Good" condition and commments "corners are a little scuffed. Book appears to be unread."
If you want new,
outlook_books sells it for $4.96 (s/h $3.99) in NEW condition and adds "New book, unread, ships out in 24 hours, 100% satisfaction guaranteed"
I would like you to see the "just facts" proved by pointing me to the sentence where it says $10 for shipping or says "pages missing" in any of the examples above.
It pisses me off when people uses the words "facts", "truth", "reality", "unarguably", "undeniably" to blatantly lie to your face.
What kind of fanaticism gets people this blind that they can't even tell a man for who he is, a puppet moron, who messed up every task he was given, who lied and cheated his way to power, who took a great country to a reasonless (preemptive) war, who caused thousands of his fellow citizens, and hundreds of thousands of innocent people to die??? What kind?
Posted by: Mich(^IXIC1881) | Apr 15, 2008 11:49:45 PM
"What kind?"
um, ok. I'm going out on a limb here but......
a bastard?
Bush, btw, is God's retribution on America for Larry Kudlow.
Posted by: brion | Apr 16, 2008 12:03:55 AM
What part of "New book, unread, ships out in 24 hours, 100% satisfaction guaranteed" was confusing in my copy&paste?
Posted by: Mich(^IXIC1881) | Apr 16, 2008 12:15:06 AM
You missed the best review quote on Amazon by Robert I Cruickshank:
"...As a serious study of current political economy, this book is a joke. As an example of the total disconnection of conservatives with basic human reality, however, it is a tour de force."
I'm sure Mamma Bush will buy out the first printing.
Posted by: ScrewBush | Apr 16, 2008 12:15:21 AM
you can buy the used copy real cheap cause the pages have been stuck together.
Posted by: mock turtle | Apr 16, 2008 1:01:21 AM
Medical diagnose of author is that he is afflicted with Cranial Rectal Inversion.
Hence Kudlow as a 'Butt Buddy'
Your mileage may vary....
Posted by: SR | Apr 16, 2008 1:07:48 AM
That book came out in 2003, and most of the negative review are from that year as well. I wonder what kind of reaction it would get if it was published this year.
Posted by: Quiddity | Apr 16, 2008 1:08:36 AM
"The Bush Boom," will be observed by future historians with the same amount of respect currently reserved for former President Jerry Ford's WIN buttons.
Posted by: tanya | Apr 16, 2008 2:37:35 AM
quote
Bush, btw, is God's retribution on America for Larry Kudlow.
unquote
who said god doesn't have a sense of humor?
Posted by: hidebound | Apr 16, 2008 7:06:36 AM
Selling for $0.01 on Amazon... maybe Jerry Bowyer can use this as an example of low inflation!!!
Posted by: Formerly Known As... | Apr 16, 2008 7:30:03 AM
Let us know how y'all really think. I'd much prefer the current president to anything named Clinton. BTW, the economy is great with tons of high paying jobs, as long as you are in engineering, energy, and science. It appears that many less rigorous individuals hate the president because it is his fault they have "bubble economy job skills". Katrina being his fault confirms this outlook. Supply of qualified individuals is low, demand for qualified individuals is high. Giddy up boys, since I am riding green energy while you fret about the past. Retrain yourselves so you can join me and quit whining, or you can continue your lives and keep paying me.
Posted by: John Wellman | Apr 16, 2008 7:37:52 AM
You do have to wonder who buys books like this. As the Iraq fiasco clearly demonstrates there is a segment of the population who are quite willing to suspend belief if it accords with their deepest prejudices. This ranges from the grieving parents trying to rationalize the deaths of children killed over there by convincing themselves they "died for their country" to the economically deprived laying out scarce bucks for this sort of tripe which demonstrates that they have really not been shortchanged economically over the last seven years. It can't be explained anymore than can belief in miracles or alien abduction, but it's hard to hide one's disgust for shills like Bowyer and Kudlow for perpetrating this nonsense. Someone above mentioned the Amity Shlaes revisionist conservative critique of the New Deal. It's deeply ironic that many of the policies/agencies she said didn't work in this book have just been used to bail out the paymasters on Wall Street of the AEI or Heritage Foundation where she perches. These people have zero personal or intellectual integrity but like the poor they will always be with us.
Posted by: john | Apr 16, 2008 7:45:17 AM
Mr Wellman above proves my point. He takes essentially an anecdotal fact and transmutes it into a broad analysis. As it happens I've done extremely well over the past five years but it doesn't blind one to the wider picture. After all certain industries boomed during the great depression- the movie for example. Does he suggest we all get jobs in green energy because if we did he'd soon find out what the economic consequences were. Overall by just about any measure this has been the weakest economic expansions since the war and has had all sorts of malign consequences which we can now see unfolding. Unfortunately, Mr Wellman's deepseated prejudices, apparently about Bill Clinton, blind him to the obvious, but perhaps he also believes in alien abduction.
Posted by: john | Apr 16, 2008 7:57:02 AM
Now you see what this Supply-Side/Goldilocks Bullshit is truly worth when served up without the spin.
It's just one more piece of trash being sold to the public trying to mask their true intentions.
Posted by: BG | Apr 16, 2008 8:01:46 AM
You know why this Country is in the shape it's in?
-GREED, DECEPTION and blatant DISHONESTY-
A perfect example is the guy above in this post who was unwilling to even admit the true price of the book in question. People elect to lie rather than tell the truth when the obvious truth is staring them directly in the face.
So when discussing more complex topics where the ultimate outcome is not yet known, people who flood the channels with disinformation cause serious repercussions in the final result. This Country is now facing the end result of this most recent failed policy, where the cost is simply incalculable.
Get over it! The book is fairly priced at one penny. It's actually even less than a penny considering the inflation we are now experiencing.
Posted by: BG | Apr 16, 2008 8:18:37 AM
So, wait. If I agree to take 100 of these, then I'll get a dollar? They'll pay me a dollar to take possession of a year's worth of fine kindling? Sweet!
Wait, what? They expect me to *pay* for this?
More seriously, I expect this reality-defying book was pooped out on the market for the limited purpose of sustaining the support of the dumber part of the Bush base through the 2004 election. I'm sure the book generated plenty of favorable airtime and column-inches for Mr. Bowyer, propagating his 'argument'.
Posted by: Jon H | Apr 16, 2008 9:44:23 AM
BTW, the pre-production title of this was "Yum! Shit sandwiches! My favorite!"
So I hear.
Posted by: Jon H | Apr 16, 2008 9:46:51 AM
I'm very much looking forward to the Obama boom which will be driven by higher taxes, protectionism and hope!!
Posted by: Dave | Apr 16, 2008 9:53:50 AM
"I'm very much looking forward to the Obama boom which will be driven by higher taxes, protectionism and hope!!"
Don't forget competence, good judgement, and lower deficits.
Posted by: Jon H | Apr 16, 2008 10:00:12 AM
I hope the paper is soft like Charmin
Posted by: Bob A | Apr 16, 2008 10:11:39 AM
Hey, the Bush Boom is real! (at least for the top 1%!!)
For the rest of us, we still get a Bush Boom too, however it's better known as the Bush "KA-BOOM"
Posted by: RedCharlie | Apr 16, 2008 10:31:37 AM
Quite possibly the funniest post (and comments) on TBP yet. Thanks to Barry and everyone who posted - even the wingnuts, although they're almost certainly incapable of appreciating the reaction their comments elicited.
My own guess: on Amazon's best-seller list, this book will be 2,898,410th out of 2,898,409.
Posted by: Uncle Jeffy | Apr 16, 2008 10:43:35 AM
I guess nobody bothered to take a look at the publication date of this book. After this book was published, GDP took off and stayed strong for years, and the stock market hit record levels, which it has only slightly receded from.
So, sorry to spoil the fun, but it was, uh, right...
Posted by: A | Apr 16, 2008 11:03:28 AM
Speaking of booms and busts, how would McCain react as President were his phone to ring at 3:00AM? He would call Amity Shlaes and by 9:00am the following morning, she'd have convened an emergency press conference, where in urgent tones, she'd condemn the New Deal.
Posted by: tanya | Apr 16, 2008 11:33:32 AM
Boom as in 'fall down go boom!'. Remember the old Warner Bros. cartoons with the hobos making soup from boiled shoes? Won't even be able to do that this time because of all the synthetics.
Posted by: p.a. | Apr 16, 2008 12:54:40 PM
About $0.01 stuff on Amazon: I used to work for the group at Amazon that did that. It is called Amazon Marketplace. These are remainders and used books. If you click on the link you can get an idea of "market depth" for a book. You do not want to quote the Amazon retail price for anything because Amazon deliberately keeps those prices a bit high so as to help the Marketplace sellers (which it gets a commission on).
$0.01 is still profitable because the fixed shipping price for these is $3.99 and anything you can actually ship for less than that gives you a profit on it. It is really going to cost you $4.
Amazon sellers are not permitted to quote a price of $0 or a negative price. That is one reason this particular title keeps piling up unsold.
Posted by: wprestong | Apr 16, 2008 3:09:30 PM
Personal biases aside, how many Americans are willing to take the road less traveled? It took me eight years to acquire my job skills in nuclear energy. Just as a general rule of thumb, between 20 and 30 percent of the overall energy industry is currently undermanned and that figure will only get worse as more people retire and more powerplants are built.
Before I spent my time aboard a submarine, I realized that I wanted to get involved in alternative energy. Foresight, patience, discipline and hard work has positioned me well. I want more people in my field because our nation needs the stability and technology development in energy to close the loop on pollution. This endeavor will take over 50 years. Why is it that we have to import so many engineers and scientists from overseas? We need to take charge in this field and lead the world in energy. There will not be enough engineers, technicians and scientists available in my life to solve this problem.
Lets encourage students to properly leverage their careers by choosing careers that will actually pay off their student loans, purchase homes and provide for their families. Lets not continue creating degrees for people who use them as fashion accessories and then wonder why they cannot make more than 40-50k per year with no upward mobility because they are mired in debt. I want to attack this problem with many solutions and create wealth for greater number of motivated individuals.
Rhetoric is great, but results are what differentiate the educated from the productive.
Posted by: John Wellman | Apr 16, 2008 11:09:58 PM
I like to read this book because it must be very useful to us. It will be great interest to us because the Environment becomes pollution day by day. Amazon is the largest forest in the world. The forests help to save the role of climate and weather also the earth. If we know about the theoretical physics we can easily save our Environment.
...........
sujiwani
There are a lot of sites out there showing book video. BookVideoTV, BookTelevision and of course CSPAN, but I like how BN.com and Reader's Entertainment TV have specific genre channels and original shows. There's just more to see and I can be specific in what genre I'm interested in. Anyone else watch online tv?
http://www.readersentertainment.tv
Posted by: sujiwani | Jun 14, 2008 4:29:35 AM
