The rules of making money have changed-forever With the collapse of investment banks, trillion-dollar-plus government bailouts, and the Dow plunging like a rock, it's never been more important to understand-and actually profit from-the "new rules." Fact is, Fiscal Hangover, will give you an investing blueprint that will allow you to profit from the changing global economy. For the first time in 200 years, American consumers are stepping down from their position as the driving force behind the world's economy. In Fiscal Hangover, Keith Fitz-Gerald analyzes the declining power of the American consumer and introduces you to the resulting investment opportunities. Without question, the American consumer and the United States government have provided the rest of the world with liquidity in the form of cheap capital and abundant debt. But in light of recent economic events, the rules of the game have changed and that means you must change with them-if you intend on securing your financial future. Unlike most of today's finance books that simply examine the end of the American Empire, Fiscal Hangover shows you how to prepare for the fall, effectively allocate your investments, and thrive in the new global economy. This book offers specific analysis and concrete actionable steps for individual investors interested in grabbing their fair share of what will be the greatest wealth creation in the history of mankind. Examines our current financial situation and offers practical investment advice to overcome the challenges you'll face Analyzes the declining power of the American consumer and introduces you to the resulting investment opportunities Details new investing benchmarks and discusses why the old ones no longer work Explores big picture economic issues that will affect your individual investment endeavors The coming years may hold the greatest investment opportunities of our times, but in order to take advantage of this you'll need the insights that can only be found in Fiscal Hangover.

Vanity Fair presents 21 true stories of the new hard times Where did all the billions go? Commissioned by the editors at Vanity Fair magazine, The Great Hangover is an eye-opening collection of essays on the global economic crisis by fifteen of the most respected contemporary business writers in America, including: Bryan Burrough (Barbarians at the Gate) on the atmosphere of uncertainty and fear that preceded the demise of Bear Stearns . . . Michael Lewis (Liar's Poker) on Iceland's bizarre national implosion . . . Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down) on the decline of The New York Times and the threat to the ailing newspaper industry . . . Mark Seal on the defining figure of the seriously tarnished New Gilded Age: the Grand Master of Greed, Bernie Madoff . . . Along with compelling and sometimes hair-raising pieces from a dozen other Vanity Fair contributors on the recent recession's myriad villains and victims—and the worldwide impact of the financial downturn.

Following the Great Recession, U.S. government debt levels exceeded 100% of output. We develop a macroeconomic model to evaluate the role of various shocks during and after the Great Recession; labor market shocks have the greatest impact on macroeconomic activity. We then evaluate the consequences of using alternative fiscal policy instruments to implement a fiscal austerity program to return the debt-output ratio to its pre-Great Recession level. Our welfare analysis reveals that there is not much difference between applying fiscal austerity through government spending, the labor income tax, or the consumption tax; using the capital income tax is welfare-reducing.

Heir to a conservative political dynasty, Shinzo Abe entered politics burdened by high expectations: that, in ruling Japan, he would change it fundamentally. In 2007, seemingly overwhelmed, he resigned only a year after becoming Japan's youngest postwar prime minister. Yet, after five years ofreflection and reinvention, he masterfully regained the premiership in 2012, and now dominates Japanese democracy as no leader has done before.Abe has inspired fierce loyalty among his followers. He has cowed Japan's left by pursuing an ambitious program of reflating the economy and strengthening the armed forces and national security establishment. And, on the international stage, he has staked a leadership role for Japan in Asia, aregion being rapidly transformed by the rise of China and India. Abe's stature has only grown in the age of 'America First': he has both taken steps to preserve an ironclad relationship with the mercurial US president, and has himself become an undisputed leader of the besieged world order.In The Iconoclast, veteran Japan-watcher Tobias Harris tells the story of Abe's meteoric rise and stunning fall, his remarkable comeback, and his unlikely emergence as a global statesman struggling to lay the groundwork for Japan's survival in a turbulent century.

As their infatuation with President Obama fades, millions of Americans anxiously ask, Is this the change we were waiting for? The current administration represents change, for sure, Steven Malanga argues - a momentous transformation of the fundamental structure of American politics. A self-interested coalition of public-sector unions and government-financed community activists (like the young Barack Obama) has become our era''s characteristic political machine. In Shakedown, Mr. Malanga shows how this machine''s single-minded goal is always bigger government and more public spending. The bill, he says, is now coming due for the relentless rise of this new political powerhouse. He chronicles how public-sector unions and the corrupt political hacks beholden to them have all but bankrupted once-rich states like California and New Jersey. He details the campaigns to undermine the successful and popular 1990s welfare reform and to revitalize the failed, wasteful War on Poverty programs that funnel taxpayer money to the advocacy groups that are integral cogs in the new political machine. And he provides a comprehensive summary of how these same advocacy groups spent decades helping undermine mortgage standards in the name of helping the poor - in the process enriching themselves and enabling the housing meltdown. As Americans anxiously ponder the future direction of their government and their economy, Shakedown explores the questions of who got us in this mess and why we need change - constructive change - more than ever.