Mark Funke, Bookseller, has issued a catalogue of Modern Finance & Economics. This catalogue is a dream for economists and laymen interested in how the economy works and the various theories developed over the years. Even people not knowledgeable enough in economics to qualify as laymen will find items of interest, as we all care about our own wallets and investments. Better to learn about scams that have hurt others before we make the same mistakes. Then, there are a bunch of odds and ends that are interesting or amusing in their own way.
Economies pretty much just rolled along unattended in the days before Adam Smith in the 18th century, and there was not all that much intervention until the Great Depression. That is when so many people suffered from an economy left entirely on its own to face the whims of chance. One note here – “modern” finance and economics doesn't mean just the recent few decades. “Modern” here covers the time from Adam Smith forward when people began to study the field of economics seriously. Here are a few items from this catalogue. We will touch on some of the odds and ends.
There has long been a movement against large corporations taking away sales from local merchants and and driving them out of business. A few decades ago it was Walmart driving main street stores out of business. Going back further, to the 1920s and 1930s, there was the anti-chain store movement. This citizens' movement sought to keep money spent in the market local, rather than going to distant corporations who offered low pay to local workers. Among the major targets in those days were Sears, A&P, Woolworth's, Montgomery Ward, and J. C. Penney. Interestingly, these major retailers have all gone under, except Penney's, which is a struggling survivor, and an effectively dead Sears that is down to five stores from a peak of 2,705. These days, the chain stores are closer to being the local merchants as they try to fend off online companies with no local presence. Amazon has moved to the top of retailing. Item 185 offers three small anti-chain store pamphlets from 1929-30: Do You Know Your Mules, Sons of Wild Jackasses, Wall Street or Main Street. The author was John L. Powers, who tells us “economic independence is the very foundation of liberty.” He warns that Wall Street, if given “political control over this great land of America...our ballots would become mere scraps of paper, freedom a mockery, and independence a reproach.” Then, as with later populist movements, the big guys won. They had the pricing power and customers always opted for the lowest price. Meanwhile, they have taken the political power and effectively taken over our ballot by using the vast amount of money they earn to control the media where people get their news. Powers understood where we were heading a century ago. Priced at $250.
Here is another issue that's as real today as it was in 1947 when this book was written, even more so. The title is The Federal Budget Can Be Balanced Now! Where to Find $1.3 Billion of Challangeable Spending in the Federal Budget for 1947. This pamphlet was produced by the Citizens National Committee, a nonpartisan group seeking to make the workings of the government more visible. It provides recommendations on how to balance the budget. We could still use their help today, though they would have to find something more like a trillion dollars to pull it off now. Item 43. $75.
This book answers the the most important financial question for so many people – How do I get rich? E. Michaels knew the answer back in 1919 and he will share it with you today. Rabbits. Raising tasty rabbits. The nice thing about rabbits is they multiply like rabbits, so once you get started, you'll have an endless supply. Wealth is assured. His book is Wealth in Hares. An Appeal for an Extensive Production of Meat Raising Hares. With some unassailable mathematical logic, Michaels tells us that if one Belgian Hare produces $70 a year, then ten will produce $700 and 500 will get you $35,000 a year. He even offered a buy-back guarantee if you couldn't sell your rabbits. He provided some motivational words to get you going, like “today we have extended to you one of the biggest opportunities of the present time,” and “never has the door of prosperity opened to you so wide as now.” The drawback that undoubtedly killed this scheme is that the participants had to slaughter bunnies. Item 153. $150.
Here is a case of finance coming home. William J. Ashley was a noted English economist at the turn of the last century. He brought German economic thought to Britain and later was appointed the first chair in economic history in the English speaking world at Harvard. However, Ashley had his own personal economic interests in mind too. Item 5 is a collection of three letters he wrote to Putnam, his American publisher, in 1893. Ashley writes, “...in negotiations between Longmans and yourselves I have striven to be absolutely neutral; and this seems to be my reward: that on a book selling for $1.10 or thereabouts, the author receives four cents is sufficiently condemnatory of somebody.” Welcome to the world of publishing, Mr. Ashley. $750.
This is an odd contribution to the social credit magazine New Democracy in 1935 from poet Ezra Pound. He promotes a government bill whereby, “Every Senator, and and every and all or each representative...above the rank of BUTTONS shall hereby and herewith receive, have and cause to be set up, installed plumbed and/or used one SILVER BATHTUB of not less than 400 pounds weight and not less than 964 parts silver...” Presumably, this was an understandable humorous reference to some issue of the day, probably dealing with economic policy, in 1935, but in all my searching I have not been able to find an explanation. Item 180. $295.
However, when it came to politics, Pound was clear, and it was not pretty. He was a Fascist and anti-Semite among other things, an American living in Italy during the war promoting the Fascists and Nazis against the Allies. In a different 1935 edition of New Democracy, in his article Who Gets It?, he attacks England and claims, “Mussolini has prevented war several times, there is no competition.” To call this fantasy would be too polite. This was a December issue and in October Mussolini attacked Ethiopia, which was followed by several other such actions and his joining with Germany in World War II. Nevertheless, Pound continued to support the less than peaceful Fascists. Item 183. $295.
Mark Funke Bookseller may be reached at 206-632-1535 or mark@funkebooks.com. Their website is found at www.funkebooks.com.
