Grain of Salt
Econospinning by Gene Epstein
The business world spins around numbers, from the headlines of USA Today to the fine print of The Wall Street Journal. Too bad the numbers spin too, says Gene Epstein, Barron's economics editor. Fed up with how liberal and conservative media manipulate economic data to affect public policy and sway popular opinion, Epstein identifies the worst offenders—including econ icon Paul Krugman—and helps readers learn how to read between the numbers to make up their own minds.
Flight Reading
The Accidental Investment Banker by Jonathan A. Knee
Jonathan A. Knee, an investment banker who worked at such houses as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in the 1990s, decries the loss of the gentleman banker, sacrificed on the altar of hefty transaction fees from the needless IPOs and mergers of that decade. This insider's chronicle brims with humor and insight as it depicts a civilized world driven mad by money.
A version of this article appeared in the September 2006 issue of Fast Company magazine.
