Canada, the land of happiness, a land where its citizens are loved worldwide (for not being American) and a land where the government on the side of every citizen. Except if you are an investor.

In this book the Rosen’s (the father, Al, is a forensic accountant) point out how Canadas lax laws and weak enforcement of basic accounting principles have left the average Canadian exposed to the ravages of swindlers both inside and outside of corporations. How is this possible?

• Firstly, Canada does not have the equivalent of the SEC; there are provincial securities regulators, but they try to balance the needs of the investors with those of the corporations who bring business to the provinces
• Secondly, the accountants and auditors in Canada regulate themselves; in fact, “Canada is the only major country in the world that allows the same people who audit public companies to financially control the process that sets the auditing rules.”
• Thirdly, according to the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that audited reports are prepared for the guidance of current shareholders and that those reports and the auditors who prepare them have no responsibility to perspective shareholders nor creditors
• Fourthly, Canada has moved to the Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) which standard throughout most of the world, as opposed to the GATT standard used in the U.S. In the opinion of the authors, the IFRS standard “…perpetuates toothless financial reporting and costly, but valueless, auditing in Canada.” where investors will have to do their own investigations to determine the value of the numbers.

All of this may sound a bit boring and mechanical, but Canada suffers from repeated financial disaster which have cost retirement funds and individual Canadians hundreds of billions of dollars of losses. Under the Canadian system, liabilities can be kept off the books to inflate the value of stocks which allows corporate executives to claim large bonuses, artificially drive up the price of stocks and provide insiders with major windfalls on stock options. In fact, under the Canadian system, the auditors can knowingly misstate the numbers and they have no financial liability. When corporations are caught, their punishments usually consist of a slap on the hand for the top securities regulator says that Canada believes in rehabilitation as opposed to punishment.

An example of outcome of Canadian practices is the closing of Nortel, Canada’s largest corporation. While Enron was a $50 billion-dollar disaster, the cost of Nortel was seven times larger (over $350,000,000,000). Given the difference in size of the U.S. and Canada, it would be as if Enron crashed and destroyed $5 Trillion of shareholders money.

This book has become more timely given the accounting practices that are being uncovered regarding companies out of China and the failure of regulators in Germany regarding the scandal with Wire card. Investing outside of the U.S. requires the average person to be much more circumspect and knowledgeable about the laws and accounting practices of any individual country. The difference in laws, procedures, enforcement and yes, accounting practices can expose the unwary to huge risks. There is a long record of disasters due to practices which would not be allowed in the U.S.; the crash of the Mexican Peso, the banking crisis of Japan, corruption in Brazil and most certainly the whims of the Party in China should make any investor concerned about any opportunity. When financial times get tough, no one stashes their money in China, Japan, Russia, France or, yes, Canada, and there are good reasons.

Although it deals with a topic that should be dry to the average reader, the authors writing will make the reader put the book down and laugh that such lax regulation and disregard for citizens can permitted in Canada.

“Talking about ‘healthy masculinity’ is like talking about ‘healthy cancer” and “Traditional masculinity has oppressed girls and women and limited the identity construction of all boys and men.”  But let us not forget, “we need to call masculinity out as a hazardous ideology and denounce anyone who chooses to identify with it.”  Thus begins a review of No Apologies: Why Civilization Depends on the Strength of Men by Anthony Esolen (the review is by Noah M Peterson.

Mr. Esolen has written a rebuttal to statements like those and others that attack the concept of masculinity that has evolved for thousands of years. His rebuttals include examples of how civilization was built by the very forces that are condemned so readily today; men’s drive to create and conquer (which motivated technological development), men’s willingness to fight (not only physically but mentally) and other traits that have moved humans forward from the darkest caves.

Peterson, points out that while the author is only half right in some areas, such as his assertion that “Every typical difference between the behaviors of boys and girls can be seen as the natural expression of the forms of their bodies”, he is consistent in following his views to their logical if controversial conclusions.  For example, are women incapable of “dispassionate analysis”? Was government created by men to protect women and children?

 Esolen fails in his discussion of virtue in that he does not “provide a standard of virtuous masculinity that men can strive for….”  If virtue is a means of restraint, how is a boy growing into manhood be taught when to use his strength and drive and when to temper it? This is a question that cannot be answered by a secularist for what is the higher universal standard of a secularist? Perhaps the answer regarding virtue can be more easily answered by those who believe in a higher purpose and being? This is not covered in this discussion.

The questions and conclusions Esolen cover may infuriate some, but all we need to do is recall the quotes at the start of this review and then remember that we are also told that no one is attacking masculinity.

https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/boys-to-men-2/

This is a re-read for me and although it was published in 2010, during the tenure of China’s previous leader, it is a book that is more important than ever. Why? Because Xi Jinping has successfully set himself up, for the first time since the death of Mao, as the equal in thought and leadership to Mao.

As with all leaders of China who serve two five-year terms, the second term, unlike a re-elected President in the United States, is not seen as a lame duck, but is entering a time of greater power. The ability during the first five-year term to place hand chosen personnel in key positions of authority (and limited power) is a tactic harkening back to the earlies days of Communism, and is in fact, practiced in business, the academic world, etc. But unlike the other disciplines, in China key policies can be implemented due to the centralized power in the hands of a leader like Xi Jinping. And, by aligning himself with the image of Mao, after purging numerous centers of power (the leadership of Shanghai, numerous military officers, and financial leaders,), he has consolidated his power and authority at a key time.

There is no doubt that China has become a major regional power (militarily and economically) and a major economic power on a worldwide basis. And, as with other powers, there is a time of ascent which provides that power with a unique ability to re-write its place in the world. China has a world view that is based on its long history, it views of its inherent cultural superiority and its desire to right old wrongs from the days of the colonial empires. To fulfill its destiny, other nations in the Pacific area will need to acknowledge China’s superiority and brought to heed one way of the other.

What is plainly pointed out in this excellent book, is that the driving force behind the rise of China is the Communist Party. The centralized control of the party allows it to direct resources and unity of command to sectors which further advantage the main goals of the Party. At the same time, as with all other totalitarian (and Communist China is a totalitarian regime) examples, there is tremendous competition for primacy in the various sectors. This struggle which leads to strong leaders also means that periodic purges must be held when the local factions become too strong or corrupt. These purges allow the Party to show that it is looking out for the average man and allows wrongs to be put upon not the Party, but errant bureaucrats.

One key feature of the Party is that it is above the government, above industry, above the masses. From this height, the Party extends its reach into every key industry, becoming in fact, owners of the industries. When we see security concerns about telecommunications deal with a major Chinese supplier or wonder if the chips which are produced in China and are in our most advanced fighters will function at capacity, it is because the companies themselves are owned and are extensions of the Chinese Communist Party. The control of “key” industries means that all top management serves at the whim of the Party and thus all good things flow from the Party. The Party is willing to allow much of the consumer segment of the economy function in an open manner (unlike the old Soviet system), but the “key” industries are tightly controlled and direct by the Party.

I would recommend this slim book to anyone who is interested in beginning to understand how a modern totalitarian system can operate. The Party has been able to walk the fine line of providing an increasingly better standard of living for hundreds of millions while maintaining its primary place in society. The question remains however, if as with all totalitarian systems, if they can control their natural inclination to find both internal and external enemies on which to focus to divert popular discontent. The purge of “corrupt” officials is one example of how the Party can focus and direct attention. But the attempt by Xi Jinping to equate himself with Mao points to a much more dangerous and challenging future course.

The Thucydides’s Trap is when a rising poser threatens to displace an existing one.  This phenomenon began during the Peloponnesian War which lasted for decades and lead to the victory of a weakened Sparta over the devastated Athens.

Since that time, there have been sixteen cases of the same type since then and in twelve cases the result has been war. Some of the cases are easy to recognize, such as Japan vs. the U.S. in the Pacific, or the rise of Germany vs. the U.K. after 1900, while others are more distant such as the Dutch Republic vs. Great Britain during the mid- to late 17^th century.  The three most recent cases when no war was the result was between the U.K./France vs. Germany for political influence in Europe, the Cold War and surprisingly, the rise of the U.S. and the perceived threat to the U.K. during the early 20^th Century.

The first third of the book is a devastating review of the rise of modern China; it’s huge growth in GDP, the strength of its economy, the expansion of its military, etc. as compared to the sluggish performance of the U.S.  Despite the “pivot” in American foreign policy under President Obama, little of concrete value has been achieved; the North Koreans have more arms, the Chinese have claim more of the sea and built numerous “island” which contrary to their promise, they have militarized, and our “allies” have been forced to bend to Chinese demands through the use of their great economic power in the region. 

Several years ago, I read Luigi Albertini’s massive, three volumes, 1800-page work, The Origins of the War of 1914. It was a heartbreaking work as it laid out a chain of events beginning about thirty years prior to the outbreak of the war which seen from today, clearly pointed to the start of that terrible war.  Misunderstood actions, political snubs and fumbles, conflicting personalities, etc., seem to drive the Western powers toward a cliff from which none could turn.

In a sense, this book gives one the same feeling, only you reach the conclusion by about page 80; you want to put the book down and wonder how so many poor decisions could be made by so many policy makers and leaders. Anybody with even a rudimentary knowledge of asymmetrical warfare, can see the fundamental errors which turned a solid opportunity into a fiasco.

The author spent thirty years as an American diplomat in Washington, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, and the UAE, including working for fifteen years as the Consulates in Jeddah and Dhahran.  Fluent in Arabic.  He participated in Operation Desert Storm, the Saudi accession to the WTO and the defeat of the al-Qaeda terror campaign in Saudi Arabia.

Canada, the land of happiness, a land where its citizens are liked worldwide and a land where the government on the side of every citizen.  Except if you are an investor.

This is an interesting environmental book in that you do not want to slit your own throat after reading four pages; in fact, you can come away feeling that we are not on the eve of destruction, that progress is being made and that we have the ability to continue on a positive path.  For this alone, Shellenberger will be shunned by the majority of environmentalist.  That however, would be a mistake for his CV is excellent; he was a Time magazine “Hero of the Environment”, winner of the Green Book Award from the Stevens Institute of Technology’s Center for Science Writings in 2008  and an invited expert to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  More than that, he has traveled extensively, lived, and worked in some of the poorest part of the globe, attempting to balance the environment and the material progress of the poor.  Finally, he is, (be prepared), pro-nuclear and has managed to set up his office in the heart of Berkeley!

Neill Ferguson, one of todays top historians and social observers pulled together several noted historians (John Adamson, J.C.D. Clark, etc.) to create alternative views of history.  Unlike most counterfactuals, each section requires the reader to have a better than average understanding of the period being discussed.  The first time I read this book I knew that I would have to read it three of four times to really grasp some of its arguments. 

One of the author’s previous books, Wages of Destruction previously reviewed, was an outstanding look at the financial world of the Third Reich and how Hitler’s world view and understanding of the strength of the U.S. economy impacted on his decision regarding going to war.  In this massive (almost 700 page) work, the author looks at an even more complex problem, the financial crash of 2007-8 and the later one in Europe.  As one can imagine, this is not a light work, the excellent descriptions of many of the financial vehicles invented by the banks and regulators can be mind numbing.  Not a book to be read lightly, to grasp the complexity of what is written would require a flow chart that would make the invasion of Normandy look like a plaything.  It is because of this complexity that no one at any level could understand, regulate or formulate a strategy to contain the forces that had been let lose several years before the crash. It is in this area that this book fails for while being critical of the banks (worldwide) and fawning over President Obama, he manages to cover in a couple of sentences the role of the politicians (especially President Clinton) and the authors favorite financial advisors (Rubin and Summers) for their roles in passing the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 and the easy housing policies of HUD and Andrew Cuomo which led to the housing bubble.