Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics,   ISBN:9780517548233

Customer Rating: 

This is a book, written just after WWII, updated in 1978 and applicable to today. The explanations of cause and effect for bad economic policies is "deja vu all over again." You cannot have an honest discussion of Obamanomics if you haven't read this book.

Customer Rating: 

This is a great read for those interested in knowing the fallacies of our economic system. It will shed some light on how government involvement on certain subjects will impact the economy negatively. What's scary is the same issues happening around the time this book was written are still happening today. I highly recommend this book.

Customer Rating: 

The book is extremely lucid, and shows how far one can get just by thinking. It is interesting that the author describes the housing bubble which he did not live to see (this has been pointed out by a number of other reviewers), but what I find just as interesting, the section on imports and exports shows very clearly why making the USD the world's reserve currency has had (and continues to have) a destructive effect on the US economy (since it creates an impetus to hoard dollars [exactly what the chinese are doing] as opposed to spending them on US-produced goods).

What I also find interesting (and depressing) is that a lot of the reviews of this are "religious": look at all of the one-star reviews -- none of them have any logical objection to Hazlitt, but they all say that they are (in effect) religiously opposed to it. Until people (and Amazon book reviewers are probably slightly more sentient than average) learn to think, we will continue on the current road to ruin.

(the above was written before I had actually finished the book: now that I have I am even more impressed, because the last three chapters, on Inflation, Savings, and Lessons learned are eerily relevant to the current crisis, and the last chapter is particularly depressing, since, despite Hazlitt's hope, the governments STILL are going on their merry way making things worse).

Customer Rating: 

If everyone simply read and understood this book, we'd be so much better off. Hazlitt explains economics in a way that anyone can understand, and I honestly have no idea what the 1-star reviewers are thinking. Hazlitt demolished Keynesianism in The Failure of the New Economics, so read that if you want to know why this book doesn't follow Keynes' teachings.

Customer Rating: 

I am glad I read this. It has taught me that if the free market thinkers of today were to have their way (that of absolutely no government intervention or regulation of the markets or trade), the US would turn into one giant sweat shop over night. I've had discussions with these types of people who will argue till their face turns blue about how Wal-Mart has actually INCREASED Americans' living standards!

Think if there was no minimum wage and no social security or medicare/medicaid. It would be a disaster! 1/2 the population's income would be cut in half, PLUS they'd have to take care of their elderly AND buy their medications! What on earth would they have left to live off of?

Even John Keynes said, "Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone." Personally, I would replace "astounding" with "ridiculous".

This book seems also to be a bible of types to international capitalists such as Peter Schiff. These people have no allegiances to any country. Peter Schiff, for all the honesty and sincerity he exudes, is playing a big part in the capital flight from the US that will prove to play a huge part in our eventual demise. They're bailing out on us! They're jumping ship, these excessively wealthy international capitalists. They're jumping on the next boat -China. And they're leaving us here to drown. I would say "shame on them"... but that doesn't quite cut it.

This is an important read. But read it critically.