America's Financial Reckoning Day 
by Charles H.Coppes
Is the U.S. heading for fiscal bankruptcy? It is according to David Walker, Comptroller General for the Government Accounting Office in a recent interview on CBS 60 Minutes (7/8/07). "I would argue that the most serious threat to the United States is not someone hiding in a cave in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but our own fiscal irresponsibility,” says Walker. “We suffer from a fiscal cancer. And if we do not treat it, it could have catastrophic consequences for our country.”  Not only could our fiscal irresponsibility have catastrophic consequences for our country – there is a growing consensus among Wall Street economist and analysts that we are indeed facing a financial reckoning day. For the baby-boom generation this is a serious wake-up call that domestic and foreign issues are converging to script the perfect financial storm – everything from asset bubbles, trade deficits, unfunded liabilities and derivatives exposure to an eventual bond liquidation, currency collapse and hyperinflation. With sobering and exacting detail, this book presents a clear case for America’s geopolitical obsolescence and the rise of the European Union as a superpower along with China’s economic future, the politics of oil, and the prophetic implications of war in the Middle East.  

Why do markets keep crashing and why are financial crises greater than ever before? As the risk manager to some of the leading firms on Wall Street–from Morgan Stanley to Salomon and Citigroup–and a member of some of the world’s largest hedge funds, from Moore Capital to Ziff Brothers and FrontPoint Partners, Rick Bookstaber has seen the ghost inside the machine and vividly shows us a world that is even riskier than we think. The very things done to make markets safer, have, in fact, created a world that is far more dangerous. From the 1987 crash to Citigroup closing the Salomon Arb unit, from staggering losses at UBS to the demise of Long-Term Capital Management, Bookstaber gives readers a front row seat to the management decisions made by some of the most powerful financial figures in the world that led to catastrophe, and describes the impact of his own activities on markets and market crashes. Much of the innovation of the last 30 years has wreaked havoc on the markets and cost trillions of dollars. A Demon of Our Own Design tells the story of man’s attempt to manage market risk and what it has wrought. In the process of showing what we have done, Bookstaber shines a light on what the future holds for a world where capital and power have moved from Wall Street institutions to elite and highly leveraged hedge funds

The dramatic increases in oil and natural gas prices, the finite supply of fossil fuels, and concerns over emissions and global warming are forcing us to consider alternatives. In this measured and knowledgeable book, energy experts Alan Herbst and George Hopley argue that the time has come for the U.S. to revitalize its nuclear generation assets in order to successfully meet growing domestic electricity requirements and lessen our dependence on foreign sources of energy. Nuclear Energy Now provides an informed look at the benefits and drawbacks associated with this controversial alternative to traditional energy sources.

It opens with a brief overview of commercial nuclear development in the U.S. during the past half-century and moves on to discuss what the future may hold if new initiatives-supported by the Energy Policy Act of 2005-gain traction. Along the way, readers will find informed insights into why the need for nuclear power has become so critical and how we can safely add capacity in the coming years. Exploring all of the issues related to developing America's nuclear energy capabilities safely and cost-effectively, Nuclear Energy Now is a must-read for anyone concerned about our oil dependency, the environment, and future of the nation

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Inside the House of Money lifts the veil on the typically opaque world of hedge funds offering a rare glimpse at how today's highest paid money managers approach their craft. Author Steve Drobny demystifies how these star traders make billions for their well-heeled investors, revealing their theories, strategies and approaches to markets. Whereas some still maintain that rationality permeates financial markets, Drobny captures a different dimension, showing how the unquantifiable human forces of emotion and intuition are also at play. Along the way, readers get an inside look at firsthand trading experiences through some of the major world financial crises of the last few decades including tragedies such as September 11th. Whether Russian bonds, Pakistani stocks, Southeast Asian currencies or stakes in African brewing companies, no market or instrument is out of bounds for these elite global macro hedge fund managers. Highly accessible and filled with in-depth expert opinion, Inside the House of Money is a must-read for financial professionals and anyone else interested in understanding how greed, fear, and the human forces of emotion drive world markets.

Alternative Energy Resources
The Quest for Sustainable Energy  by Paul Kruger

Over the course of the next fifty years, there will be a shift in the quest for sustainable energy, including a major change in transportation from internal combustion engines burning petroleum-derived fuels to newer technology engines using new transportation fuels. Alternative Energy Resources examines our options for energy sources with a focus on hydrogen as a large-scale, secondary energy vector parallel to electricity.

As the price of petroleum products increases, the world is scrambling to find a suitable replacement energy source. In this comprehensive primer, Professor Paul Kruger examines energy use throughout history and the exponential expansion of our energy use beginning with the Industrial Revolution through the present day. The book then analyzes the various alternative energy sources available, including renewable energy (hydroelectric, solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal), nuclear, and hydrogen. He addresses each energy source's pros and cons based on our needs, availability, and environmental impact aspects. Finally, Dr. Kruger proposes the use of hydrogen as a fuel to sustain our energy supply produced by appropriate technology mixtures of renewable and nuclear energy.