The economic theories that dominated the field during the 20th century have failed us and empowered government to believe they can manipulate the business cycle. Every economic theory presented post-Marxism has assumed that the complexity of the business cycle can be reduced to a single cause and effect. To date, no attempt to manipulate the cycle has prevented a recession or financial crisis. We now face a truly monumental crisis. Central banks around the world are trapped. Their attempt to stimulate the economy through Quantitative Easing and rate manipulation has disastrously failed. The central banks have primarily purchased government debt, effectively keeping governments on life support by allowing them to issue new debt at substantially lower rates. In addition to catastrophic Quantitative Easing policies, political fiscal spending on various programs and agencies has burdened governments with a debt that they can never repay. The future crisis is one created by government. This time, we are not likely to fix the problem without major political reform, which all governments will resist. These policies have led many to assume that government can freely create money without inflation. After creating trillions of dollars to buy government debt with no appreciable inflation, many conclude that everything has changed. They are calling this the Modern Monetary Theory. If they are correct, then why bother to have taxes or borrow money continuously with no intention of paying off national debts? Governments, in modern theory, can simply create an endless supply of money to create a new modern version of Utopia. Can we throw away all economic history for an experiment that could unravel civilization if the theory proves to be wrong? What are the risks? Can it really be that easy? Are there any examples from the past that we can look to for answers?

The global economy deteriorated in a matter of months due to governments’ mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak. General observers may describe this event as “unforeseen,” but they fail to look at the patterns of the past that reveal the future. Cyclical behavior dominates every facet of our world, including warfare, civil unrest, and even pandemics. “The Cycle of War and the Coronavirus” is the most comprehensive review of the war cycle from the beginning of recorded history. The civil unrest prevailing on a worldwide basis can be traced to events of the past, as it is cyclically on time for a revolution. However, the current pandemic is by no means a natural occurrence—this a deliberate attempt to radicalize the world in the vision of those pulling strings behind the curtain. This book exposes the truth, explaining why the coronavirus outbreak destroyed the global economy, the culprits, and what we can expect in the short-term and long-term volatile future.

The era of globalization saw China emerge as the world's manufacturing titan. However, the "made in China" model—with its reliance on cheap labor and thin profits—has begun to wane. Beginning in the 2000s, the Chinese state shifted from attracting foreign investment to promoting the technological competitiveness of domestic firms. This shift caused tensions between winners and losers, leading local bureaucrats to compete for resources in government budget, funding, and tax breaks. While bureaucrats successfully built coalitions to motivate businesses to upgrade in some cities, in others, vested interests within the government deprived businesses of developmental resources and left them in a desperate race to the bottom. In Manipulating Globalization, Ling Chen argues that the roots of coalitional variation lie in the type of foreign firms with which local governments forged alliances. Cities that initially attracted large global firms with a significant share of exports were more likely to experience manipulation from vested interests down the road compared to those that attracted smaller foreign firms. The book develops the argument with in-depth interviews and tests it with quantitative data across hundreds of Chinese cities and thousands of firms. Chen advances a new theory of economic policies in authoritarian regimes and informs debates about the nature of Chinese capitalism. Her findings shed light on state-led development and coalition formation in other emerging economies that comprise the new "globalized" generation.

Epstein provides readers with a book that attempts to see through the veil of economic misinformation commonly reported in today's media and to offer facts in its place. Epstein discusses economics--assuming no prior knowledge on the part of the reader-- and exposes shoddy reporting by a laundry list of economic journalists.

Why do parties and governments cheat in elections they cannot lose? This book documents the widespread use of blatant and excessive manipulation of elections and explains what drives this practice. Alberto Simpser shows that, in many instances, elections are about more than winning. Electoral manipulation is not only a tool used to gain votes, but also a means of transmitting or distorting information. This manipulation conveys an image of strength, shaping the behavior of citizens, bureaucrats, politicians, parties, unions and businesspeople to the benefit of the manipulators, increasing the scope for the manipulators to pursue their goals while in government and mitigating future challenges to their hold on power. Why Governments and Parties Manipulate Elections provides a general theory about what drives electoral manipulation and empirically documents global patterns of manipulation.

Cybersecurity expert Theresa Payton tells battlefront stories from the global war being conducted through clicks, swipes, internet access, technical backdoors and massive espionage schemes. She investigates the cyberwarriors who are planning tomorrow’s attacks, weaving a fascinating tale of Artificial Intelligent mutations carrying out attacks without human intervention, “deepfake” videos that look real to the naked eye, and chatbots that beget other chatbots. Finally, Payton offers readers telltale signs that their most fundamental beliefs are being meddled with and actions they can take or demand that corporations and elected officials must take before it is too late. The updated paperback edition, including new information on real world cases of AI, chatgpt, tiktok, and all the latest and greatest exploits of manipulation campaigns, will leave readers both captivated and chilled to the bone.

Conflicts over currency valuations are a recurrent feature of the modern global economy. To strengthen their international competitiveness, many countries resort to buying foreign currencies to make their exports cheaper and their imports more expensive. In the first decade of the 21st century, for example, China's currency manipulation practices were so flagrant that they produced a backlash in the United States and other trading partners, prompting threats of retaliation. How damaging is the practice of currency manipulation—and how extensive is the problem? This book by C. Fred Bergsten and Joseph E. Gagnon—two leading experts on trade, investment, and the effects of currency manipulation—traces the history, causes, and effects of currency manipulation and analyzes a range of policy responses that the United States could adopt. The book is an indispensable guide to a complex and serious problem and what might be done to solve it.

Perkins, a former chief economist at a Boston strategic-consulting firm, confesses he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.

Automating Humanity is the shocking and eye-opening new manifesto from international award-winning designer Joe Toscano that unravels and lays bare the power agendas of the world's greatest tech titans in plain language, and delivers a fair warning to policymakers, civilians, and industry professionals alike: we need a strategy for the future, and we need it now. Automating Humanity is an insider's perspective on everything Big Tech doesn't want the public to know-or think about-from the addictions installed on a global scale to the profits being driven by fake news and disinformation, to the way they're manipulating the world for profit and using our data to train systems that will automate jobs at an explosive, unprecedented scale. Toscano provides a critique of modern regulation, including parts of the new European Union's General Data Proctection Regulation (GDPR) suggesting how we can create proactive, adaptable regulation that satisfies both the needs of consumer safety and commercial success in the international economy. The content touches on everything from technology, economics, and public policy to psychology, history, and ethics, and is written in a way that is accessible to everyone from the average reader to the technical expert.

First Published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.