Βιβλία σαν το «A Season on the Brink»

I was furious the situation had reached this point. A relatively small group of people—many on Wall Street, some not—had gambled that the housing market would keep booming forever. It didn’t. In a normal environment, the free market would render its judgment and they could fail.

Most people are surprised by the way I work. I play it very loose. I don’t carry a briefcase. I try not to schedule too many meetings. I leave my door open. You can’t be imaginative or entrepreneurial if you’ve got too much structure. I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.

“Marty came to my father’s house, and he was shaking,” she said. “He walked real slow and quiet, like he was a beaten man. Dolly made that man so low. He said, ‘Frank should respect his mother but when he doesn’t, she takes it out on me.’ You never embarrass an Italian man and make him low like that. As soon as I saw him I felt bad. He looked like a hobo at the door begging for something to eat. He didn’t even ask for help right away, but his face said it all. He was stunned when I let him in. He thought I was going to swear at him. My father came out and said, ‘You look bad. You want a shot of liquor?”

Sex ed for me was “the talk” my father gave me when I turned thirteen. It was awkward for both of us, as the Irish aren’t exactly known for their Dr. Ruth-like candor in these matters. “The talk” was also somewhat unnecessary. I already knew the basics from seminars with my friends, using Playboy magazines as text. And my father’s words were highly theoretical because the reality was, I had about as much chance of landing the great white whale as I did of having sex. Teenage girls want to date smooth guys. I was a barbarian. But I gave my father points for trying.

Στην Αμερική σήμερα επικρατεί η μεγαλύτερη ανισότητα εισοδήματος και πλούτου που είχαμε ποτέ στη χώρα μας. τα πράγματα για τους ανθρώπους που βρίσκονται στην κορυϕή δεν ήταν ποτέ καλύτερα από τώρα. την ίδια στιγμή, όσο οι πλούσιοι γίνονται πλουσιότεροι, η μεσαία τάξη πασχίζει να πληρώσει το νοίκι, να αγοράσει τρόϕιμα και να έχει υγειονομική περίθαλψη. Οι ϕτωχοί ζούνε μέσα στην απελπισία. Σήμερα ένας μόνο άντρας –ο Έλον Μασκ– κατέχει περισσότερο πλούτο από το κατώτατο 52 τοις εκατό των αμερικανικών νοικοκυριών. Ας το επαναλάβω. Ένας άνθρωπος, με περιουσία σχεδόν τετρακοσίων δισεκατομμυρίων δολαρίων, κατέχει σήμερα πιο πολύ πλούτο από το κατώτατο 52 τοις εκατό των αμερικανικών νοικοκυριών. το 1 τοις εκατό της κορυϕής έχει περισσότερο πλούτο από το κατώτατο 93 τοις εκατό. Και οι διευθύνοντες σύμβουλοι των μεγάλων επιχειρήσεων βγάζουν 350 ϕορές περισσότερα χρήματα από τον μέσο υπάλληλό τους.

Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which is the only fact we have.