A simple explanation of economics by Irwin A.

Schiff This book superbly explains economics in a simple and easy to understand comic book format, it's a work of genius which if read and understood by everyone would restore economic freedom and prosperity practically overnight. - Chris, InfoLib

With wit and humour Schiff explains: 1. The roots of economic growth. 2. The economic benefits of underconsumption. 3. Where savings come from. 4. Why economic growth is dependant on savings. 5. How consumer spending stiffels economic growth. 6. How capital is created. 7. How governments destroy capital. 6. The four uses of capital. 9. How capital benefits even those who don't have any. 10. The destructive nature of consumer credit. 11. How free enterprise forces capitalists, no matter how mean and greedy, to benefit society, if they want to get richer. 12. Why government can not expand credit.

13. How the federal government loots society's limited store of savings. 14. How the Federal Reserve operates as the U.S. Government's partner in crime. 15. Where inflation comes from and why prices go up. 16. How the government creates unemployment. 17. The myth of government "jobs" programs. 18. Why most politicians are deceivers, (this of course will not be news to many, but this book will allow you to cite chapter and verse.) 19. How the U.S. government destroys America's ability to produce. 20. Plus a whole lot more! Reviews from Amazon: How to learn economics in one sitting, October 2, 2002 By A Customer A talent in too short supply today is the ability to take the complex and make it understandable to all. Listening to university professors and presidential advisors drone on about economics for generations has turned it into the dismal science most Americans tune out today, and we are all the poorer for it. Schiff has taken a lifetime's experience and observation and distilled it into a comic book that can be read in an hour or so, but the lessons learned are immeasurable. It will teach you about investment, savings, capital and inflation, faster and with greater enjoyment than all the textbooks and position papers stretching from here to Jupiter and back. It will also arm you mentally for all future encounters with politicians or government spokesmen when they try to "explain" why America's economy is in such a bad way, and why we keep paying more and more for less and less. Schiff has done a great public service in giving us a cheap and painless way to learn the basics of how an economy grows and why it doesn't. The pain will come in trying to reverse generations of misguided and uninformed economic policy. How Government holds back the Economy, August 31, 1999 By A Customer Best comic book I've ever read. It tells you how the Federal Reserve monopoly has held back our economy and government causes massive unemployment with it's minimum wage laws and inflation. If you are young and learning about the economy and want to know how politicians scam people with their dirty tricks then this book is a must-read for you. Schiff:Economics :: Feynaman:Physics, May 14, 1997 By A Customer A truly brilliant person can explain a normally complex topic in such a clear and consise fashion that the listener would wonder why he did not think of the explanation on their own. This book does just that. The main point of the book is that very simple principals are all that is needed to understand the overall workings of any sized economy. Economic theory is explained in the narrative of a series of approximately 300 comic frames. The setting is a tropical island where hunter/gatherer cavemen struggle daily to collect fish to eat. The concepts of risk, creation of capital assets, return, consumption, saving and borrowing are explained. The economy of the island becomes increasingly dynamic as the story goes on. Institutions develope to protect the islanders' savings and captial assets from theives and disasters. The

concepts and purposes of government, public works projects, welfare, inflation are progressively treated in context of this island economy. Some people may not like the comic format but I think it would be difficult to explain the subject better or more concisely. Regardless of Amazon's claim to my work, I retain copyright to this review. Regards, Steven Thomas, Copyright 1997.

This is a graphic novel explaining the growth of a general economy from its barebones structure to a full-fledged economic system. Through an allegory , the author shows the deep malaise in the functioning of US economy. It starts off with three men on an island Able, Baker and Charlie who merely catch fish,eat, sleep. There is no credit, no investments, no savings to begin with. Able gets a brainwave to make a fishing net that will save him some time to pursue other activities. Heunder consumes for a day, takes risk , comes up with a fishing net, thus managing to catch 2 fish per day instead of 1 fish. This is the first time the island has a saving and a capital equipment (net). It is also the first time when one of the islanders can do some other activity than merely taking care of survival. With the new savings, Abel can choose one of the options 1) Save what he has saved 2) Consume what he saved 3) Loan out what he has saved 4) Invest what he has saved 5) Combination of the above options. The author quickly argues that the only way Abel can increase his wealth is by making his wealth available to other members of his community. Baker and Charlie make use of the loan and build their own nets. With more savings, Baker and Charlie build a bigger net (Bigger Capital project) and thus are able to generate far more savings for themselves and the island. This savings were possible only because Abel in the first place did not lend loans for frivolous activities like vacationing etc. Capital Loans were preferred to Unnecessary Consumer Loans as the former increases savings while the latter reduces savings. The point that the author makes is, Loans for consumption purposes reduce the amount of funds available to finance both capital projects and the production of more consumer goods, and hence can ONLY lower societys standard of living. The increased prosperity of the island gives rise to a need for effective storage of fish, and hence fish savings&loan operations kicks off by MaxGoodBank. Its intention is a noble one where it lends to the needy people who pay interest and takes fish deposits and pays the depositors specific number of fish for entrusting the fish with MaxGoodBank. So, island has now savings, credit and investments well oiled in to the society.There is also Manny Fund which invests in risky projects and islanders who have the appetite to take risk invest their fish in Manny Fund and get returns / lose their fish based on the performance of the projects that Manny Fund invests in. However the losses of Manny Fund doesnt threaten the societys credit structure. So, All is well until the islanders decide that they need a govt to take care of law and order situation, protect life and property. The problem starts when Democracy takes an ugly dimension the elected senators become so powerful that they control courts and dispense laws whatever they deem appropriate. Franklin Dee V becomes a senator and he starts making some nasty moves to gain power and sustain power over periodic elections. He passes a law whereby MaxGoodBank is forced to give low interest loans for business, school, minorities and other sections of the society.

This in itself is not bad, but by extending the line of credit to people who have no hope of paying it back, wreaks havoc in the system. Franklin Dee V creates another phantom , the Franklin Reserve Notes which say that govt would guarantee fish in return to the printed notes. Basically in a way , Govt has forced MaxGoodBank to exchange fish to some printed paper. Soon, he realizes that his coffers are empty and there is no way he can give back the promised fish for each Franklin Reserve Note. He goes to senators with the plea that their Franklin Reserve System could be a catastrophe to the Island. In this situation, Senators employ fish technicians who work on fish skins and skeletal and turn them in to fish by putting meat from original fish. Basically they are creating fraud fish which are lesser in value than the original fish. In order to cover up their fraud , the senators pass a law that only official fish , marketed as officially decontaminated fish, would be used in the society.They also pass fraudulent laws which create a situation where islanders deposit skeletal remains of fish with Fish Bank. MaxGoodBank sees through this ploy and refuses to cooperate. He is promptly removed and Chesley Bartin is appointed as the new director of Fish Bank. Soon with official fish floated around in the island that were half the size of original fish and naturally there was inflation. The price of everything doubled and consumers were at loss to explain the reasons behind it. Meanwhile the govt congratulated themselves and the islanders saying that inflation was a sign of prosperity. This went for quite sometime until the official fish was 1/3 the size of original fish and prices in the island skyrocketed to 200% from what they were before Franklin Reserve notes. Islanders saw that they were getting 1/3 of the fish that were available in the sea and started using offshore fish banks. Senators realized the threat it posed to their well being and promptly passed a law to regulate fish that were being deposited in offshore banks. Soon, there was an underground economy for original fish as some islanders did not think that they should give away fish for Franklin Reserve Notes. Subsequently, the shortage forced the prices to jump by 600%. People were laid off, there was unemployment everywhere. What did the govt do ?They chose the easy way out Unemployment Insurance and printed away to glory. These notes created a run on fish bank and there was a severe fish bank crisis in the Island. Chesley Bartin, the director had no clue and ran to the rescue of the govt for a possible solution. The govt ran out of fraudulent tricks and called the economists for a solution. Economists offered Expand Credit and Lower Taxes solution which obviously were useless as Island was already crippled with no credit. How can you expand credit in a situation credit situation had been manipulated to the hilt?. The situation becomes unmanageable and Franklin Dee V finally asks the islanders to start fishing again and quickly. The Island is back to square one, but with more disastrous situation, where there are only few people who know how to fish but MANY people who need fish. The book ends with reiterating that

Vote seeking Politicians bring mayhem by interfering in the economic systems and tools Minimum wage law is actually counter-productive

Consumer credit wastes credit and it costs society in the sense that there is less credit available for Commercial purposes Hence the author suggest a possible solution for this island : Government should outlaw bank credit to finance activities that fall under consumer credit. This will kick off a wave of layoffs, painful readjustment of life styles, but ultimately the island would be in a better situation as everything would adjust downwards. Basically a deflation is the cure suggested as the solution to the islanders. However this seems impossible to happen as the ones that will be deeply hurt in the process is the government( that has become bankrupt), is in charge of passing these strict measures. The book leaves the reader with an obvious question Is the Island economy doomed, now that it is in this crisis and govt. would never take harsh measures?

If you want academic books explaining the inefficacy of government and centralized banking with mathematics and models, try reading up on the Chicago school of economics.

the Schiffs explain the roots of economic growth, the uses of capital, the destructive nature of consumer credit, the source of inflation, the importance of trade, savings, and risk, and many other topical principles of economics.

political and economic blunders have led to financial crisis.

which make sense all the way through from micro to macro.

Economics is bewilderingly complicated because there is so much disagreement amongst the professionals...the economists. So, just when you think you have understood what is going on around you by listening to the BBC and how the forces of Fiscal Stimulus, Government Spending and low Interest Rates will save us from another great depression, you hear that some are deeply opposed. Why? This book is written from that dissenting side who feel that enormous government borrowing and the trend to get others to make the stuff we need will lead us to destruction. It is very persuasive because it is written as a fable on a land with fish as its currency. It bears an uncanny resemblance to the United States but the message is universal that corruption of currency by government overspending is the root of most economic trouble. The end scenario of this allegory is quite sobering because, again, it is logical and presented simply. Altogether an easy and amusing read.

spending more and providing more and more stimulus to keep consumers spending.

For somebody who knew nothing - literally nothing, about economics I feel it has given me a great foundation and incentive to find out more. It explains basic concepts such as inflation and interest rates with a refreshing lack of esotericism and this has undoubtedly inspired me to read more.

This book is suitable for all ages. It comes with illustrations, which while very amusing can sometimes appear somewhat condescending. Nevertheless, it's a fantastic book for anybody who feels they should know more about economics, and it explains the basic principles with considerable clarity.

he twists and turns of their lives on the islet are described in an amusing way, really. You will find out how they produce wealth, how they invest, how loans are created, how joint venture arises, how barter is replaced by money, how specialization (leading to competitive advantage!) benefits whole economy, why deflation is a good thing (efficiency pushes prices down - for instance, Henry Ford was steadily bringing down the prices of cars, which then were available to a wider pool of buyers! Same goes with computer industry - "What was once a luxury for the rich became common for everyone"), and why avoiding underconsumption and taking risk lead people to take up an employment, and many, many more.

Last night, when I was searching and reading some article post about inflation rate. It came to my attention the inflation rateincrease happened in Zimbabwe last 2008. As I continue reading, Zimbabwe is the one who holds the highest inflation rate increase in the history of mankind. And how much that is? If here in the Philippines, we have aninflation rate of 9.3% last 2008 and an average inflation rate of 6% in the past 10 years, Zimbabwes highest recorded inflation ratewas a whopping 231 million percent. Can you imagine that?

Its like having at a Php. 1.00 suddenly having Php. 231million isnt it.

to buying a piece of bread cost yesterday, and then to buy the same bread at cost today. Unbelievable,