AGAINST THE GODS The Remarkable Story of Risk By Peter L. Bernstein I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by Against the Gods. I expected this book to be a typical dry book on a given financial subject, detailing use, application, and theory. I completely took for granted the fact that math, particularly risk, has history. The author did a fantastic job of painting a picture and explaining how, why and when concepts we use today came into being. While reading this book I became excited about risk and statistical analysis. The author is Peter L. Bernstein graduate of Harvard, economist, educator, and historian. He lived from January 1919 to June 2009. Bernstein is best remembered for his contributions in investment …show more content…
It was a very profound and eye opening moment for me to see how the author tied communism to the deliberate exclusion of risk. Any manipulation or attempt to hide risk changes the outcome and outlook of a situation. This was evidenced in the Soviet Union when their government tried to exercise control by pushing the concept of risk out of consideration. The end result was a complete stifling of social and economic progress. I personally compare this scenario to what Bernstein said earlier in the book about Greek society. Although the Greeks were great philosophers and were on the cusp of discovering risk, no great inventions or discoveries in math or science happened in their time. Another thing I liked about the book was in certain areas the discussion tied back to what I am currently working with on our StockTrak assignment specifically, the topes of options and dividends. Bernstein told the story of how in 1973 Fischer Black and Myron Scholes created an options pricing model and tried to have their work published. Although their work wasn’t accepted because neither Black nor Scholes had advanced degrees, their work went on to become very instrumental in options pricing and liabilities. With relation to dividends Bernstein explained how both investors and corporations would make more money if instead of paying dividends corporations used that money to repurchase outstanding shares of stock. In several areas of the book Bernstein
The late 1940′s were a time when much change happened to the American society. As a result to the expanding threat of the Soviet Union, or its Communistic ideals, America took a stand that lead it to the Cold War. Although the war didn’t involve fighting directly with Russia, it still affected the American society and domestic policy. The war affected America so much that it lead to a fear of livelihood; precisely when Joseph McCarthy began his “witch hunt”. The Cold war lead to an enlarged fear of nuclear war; as well, it affected many of the domestic policies.
“The Power of Vulnerability” is one of Brené Brown’s “most popular talk” in TED (“About | Brené Brown, Ph.D.,” n.d.) Here, she discussed what she have found and learned from her long research in human connection, specifically about the concept of vulnerability and its essential role in our everyday life. Brown (2010) started off with the idea that we relate vulnerability to negative emotions and towards the end, she showed that it is the “birthplace of joy, of creativity, of belonging, of love” as well and the “way to live.” Moreover, she suggests that if we “let ourselves be seen,” we expose ourselves to the different things in life that give “purpose and meaning” to us and live a better life out of it (Brown, 2012, par. 1).
▪ Marxism – fundamentally anchored on the work of Karl Marx, Marxism is a dominant critical theory born in the middle of the 19th century and flourished tremendously throughout the twentieth century. Marxism identifies social and economic factors as crucial denominators of relationship in society. This short story has very strong social problems. The people of the Marxist time are afraid of new technologies
Of the factors which shaped American society in the Cold War era, the fear of communism and its potential to spread imposed the greatest effect upon the United States. From the worldwide devastation of World War II arose two powers: United States of America, fueled by a capitalist economy, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, whose economy embodied the communist ideals of Karl Marx. Marx himself stated, “Communism is already acknowledged by all...powers to be in itself a power”. Marx predicted the power of a communistic society well before the first World War began. In the wake of the devastation
The Manifesto’s opening establishes communism as “a spectre [which] is haunting Europe” (218). At first glance, this would make communism the supernatural entity that threatens the natural world of capitalism. The
The Communist Manifesto left a tremendous impact on a society that was rapidly becoming industrialized, and its effects can even be seen on the dominating economic system of the twenty-first century. In the later nineteenth century, however, industrial capitalism was on the brink of ruin. “On many occasions during the past century, Marxists have thought that capitalism was down for the count . . . Yet it has always come back with renewed strength.” Industrial capitalism succeeded in the face of communism, despite numerous economic disasters. As the capitalist economists hopefully noted at the time, these economic earthquakes, temporary in character, soon cured themselves and left capitalism unscathed. Karl Marx sought to create
• As they are presented in the introductory essay, do you think Marx’s works are intended to be theoretical interpretations of communism, or was Karl Marx primarily focused on, and an expert in, the workings of capitalism?
One of the greatest debates of all time has been regarding the issue of the freedom of mankind. The one determining factor, for Marx, it that freedom is linked with class conflict. As a historian, Karl Marx traced the history of mankind by the ways in which the economy operated and the role of classes within the economy. For Marx, the biggest question that needed to be answered was “Who owns freedom?” With this in mind, Marx gives us a solution to both the issues of freedom and class conflict in his critique of capitalism and theory of communism, which is the ideal society for Marx. His theory of communism is based on the “ultimate end of human history” because there will be freedom for all humankind.
The Communist Manifesto recognized the unstoppable wealth-creating power of capitalism, predicted that it would conquer the world, and warned that this inevitable globalization of national economies and cultures would have painful consequences.[vi] Marx and Engels would probably not want to be remembered for
This topic in itself can be broken down even further. First, the flaws with the "current" system in respect to the bourgeois and proletariat will be shown, which will reveal the problems in the relationship between individual and society. Secondly, the way that communism addresses these issues, and the rights of the individual, as seen through the manifesto, will be elaborated on in great detail.
Karl Marx is the most famous theoretician of communism. Johnson acknowledges Marx’s most famous quote: “From each according to his ability; to each according to his need” which is a thought that within itself includes the basic idea of communism. Professor Johnson explains that the deeper deliberation of the concept is that everyone is expected to co-operate in the process of production. The individual citizen’s equal rights of access to consumer goods though would be completely unaffected by his own individual contribution to production. (Johnson) It was expected of people to stop thinking about money and how much they get, how much they can spend and how to get more. Furthermore they had to stop thinking about profit, contracts, banking, loans, insurance etc. The communist leaders thought that would eliminate all the major social problems such as class conflict, political oppression, racial discrimination, inequality of sexes, religious prejudice, and cultural backwardness. They believed it would also put an end to more such “psychological” forms of suffering as isolation and feelings of powerlessness. Johnson claims that the specific type of communism that occurred in Easter Europe was the Marxist-Leninist variant of socialism where people believed that a truly communist society can be achieved only through the powerful overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a “dictatorship of the proletariat”. They thought that
Communism in the USSR was doomed from the onset. Communism was condemned due to lack of support from other nations, condemned due to corruption within its leadership, condemned due to the moral weakness of humanity, making what is perfect on paper, ineffective in the real world. The end of this system was very violent. It left one of the two most powerful nations in the world fearful of what was to come. <br><br>Communism can either be called a concept or system of society. In a society that follows the communist beliefs groups own the major resources and means of production, rather than a certain individual. In theory, Communism is to provide equal work, and benefits to all in a specific society. Communism is derived from many ancient
Communism had one of the greatest political impacts than any other political ideas in the 20th century around the world. What is important and interesting about communism is its background, concept, and why many countries apply to this idea. This essay will generally focus on the background, ideology, and why the countries and political parties applied to this idea.
Everyone would like to live in a perfect society, and in Germany, Karl Marx set out to do just that by creating the government system known as Communism. Though, this system has failed in many countries all over the world because of many significant flaws in the very foundation of the system. Some of the most feared probabilities in society that Communism was created to eliminate still prevailed and were at the heart of the system’s downfall. If the system was infallible, why were so many of its principles created out of the fear of rebellion? The living conditions of the people were unbearable and would lead to nothing but rebellion. The whole system was full of corruption and had no moral standards. Communism has failed in many countries
Karl Marx is often called the father of communism, but his life entailed so much more. He was a political economist, philosopher, and idea revolutionist. He was a scholar that believed that capitalism was going to undercut itself as he stated in the Communist Manifesto. While he was relatively ambiguous in his lifetime, his works had tremendous influence after his death. Some of the world’s most powerful and most populace countries follow his ideas to this day. Many of history’s most eventful times were persuaded by his thoughts. Karl Marx was one of the most influential persons in the history of the world, and a brief history of his life will show how he was able to attain many of his attitudes.