mikerickson reviewed Problem of Twelve by Coates, John
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4 stars
I did learn a lot from reading this one, which is my usual metric for rating nonfiction, but I'm also aware that a lot went clean over my head. Maybe I just didn't have enough baseline knowledge to come into this one. All the stuff with index funds and ETFs was familiar and interesting, but I wasn't at all equipped to follow the private equity half of the book. (Which I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself for that, considering private equity's whole business model is based upon secrecy and not disclosing things to the public).
The idea that index funds and private equity firms are simultaneously attacked by politicians on either end of the spectrum, but also exert too much influence on the economy despite actively trying not to draw too much attention on themselves was an interesting argument to make. And for what it's worth, I …
I did learn a lot from reading this one, which is my usual metric for rating nonfiction, but I'm also aware that a lot went clean over my head. Maybe I just didn't have enough baseline knowledge to come into this one. All the stuff with index funds and ETFs was familiar and interesting, but I wasn't at all equipped to follow the private equity half of the book. (Which I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself for that, considering private equity's whole business model is based upon secrecy and not disclosing things to the public).
The idea that index funds and private equity firms are simultaneously attacked by politicians on either end of the spectrum, but also exert too much influence on the economy despite actively trying not to draw too much attention on themselves was an interesting argument to make. And for what it's worth, I mostly bought into it; it feels like the world's most expensive tightrope balancing act is happening in the background of everyday life and we're all ignoring these titans of finance.
This is the second book I've read in this Columbia Global Reports series and I like the "history of the problem -> current/modern-day effects of the policy problem -> potential policy solutions" format. Even if I don't agree with what's rolled out at the end, I do appreciate that something is offered as a fix instead of the author just saying "we're fucked!" and throwing their hands up in defeat.