Are the Rich Necessary? (2007)

4.5 stars out of 5.

Are the Rich Necessary? is a Christmas gift from my brother Phil, who is a faithful reader of all my blogs. Thanks again Phil. I found this book entertaining and educational. The format of the book is a little bit odd. The author will take one point of view for one chapter, then the other point of view in the next chapter. Sometimes he will give points and counterpoints within the same chapter. He makes a valiant effort to present both sides of the story on each issue, though you can tell which way he is leaning (or maybe you will just be more sympathetic to one argument over another.

The book covers a variety of economic arguments, including the role of the rich, different economic philosophies and whether or not having the Fed is worthwhile (which I had never really thought about, but found his case for dissolving the Fed very reasonable). This book is a great economic primer on many salient economic issues today and should be required reading for everyone. It will help you better understand why people argue for the things that they do. The economics is not too tough, but a little background in economics may be helpful. The only reason it does not get five stars is that it gets a little slow sometimes, but overall it is a short, easy-to-read book (about 250 smaller pages).

I highly recommend to all capable readers.