Showing results by publisher "Dreamscape Media, LLC" in Money & Finance

We live in an age of addiction, from compulsive gaming and shopping to binge eating and opioid abuse. Sugar can be as habit-forming as cocaine, researchers tell us, and social media apps are hooking our kids. But what can we do to resist temptations that insidiously and deliberately rewire our brains? Nothing, David Courtwright says, unless we understand the history and character of the global enterprises that create and cater to our bad habits.

This revelatory account of the ways silver shaped Chinese history shows how an obsession with “white metal” held China back from financial modernization. First used as currency during the Song dynasty in around 900 CE, silver gradually became central to China’s economic framework and was officially monetized in the middle of the Ming dynasty during the 16th century. However, due to the early adoption of paper money in China, silver was not formed into coins but became a cumbersome “weighing currency”....

Why are cellphone plans so much more expensive in the United States than in Europe? It seems a simple question. But the search for an answer took Thomas Philippon on an unexpected journey through some of the most complex and hotly debated issues in modern economics. Ultimately, he reached a surprising conclusion: American markets, once a model for the world, are giving up on healthy competition.

This comprehensive guide to legal deductions, credits, and loopholes covers rules of thumb for record-keeping and how to stay organized, secrets to mortgage, tax and insurance deductions, maximizing work-related expenses, making the most of medical expenses and health savings accounts, strategies for utilizing deductions and credits for education, and lots of tips on how to make more money - some of it tax-free!

Gender equality is a moral and a business imperative. But unconscious bias holds us back, and de-biasing people’s minds has proven to be difficult and expensive. Diversity training programs have had limited success, and individual effort alone often invites backlash. Behavioral design offers a new solution. By de-biasing organizations instead of individuals, we can make smart changes that have big impacts.

In The New Road to Serfdom, British conservative Daniel Hannan argues forcefully and passionately that Americans must not allow Barack Obama to take us down the road to EU-style social democracy. Instead, he pleads with Americans not to abandon the founding principles that made their country a beacon of liberty for the rest of the world.

The bastard step-child of Milton Friedman and Anthony Bourdain, Socialism Sucks is a bar crawl through former, current, and wannabe socialist countries around the world. Free-market economists Robert Lawson and Benjamin Powell travel to countries like Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, and Sweden to investigate the dangers and idiocies of socialism - while drinking a lot of beer.

Rejecting the old Left/Right ideologies, Rand develops a more pragmatic view capable of delivering practical solutions to this critical problem. A renewed capitalism harnessed to the task is the only way we might replace fossil fuels fast enough to mitigate severe climate risk. If we leave our dogma at the door, Rand argues, we might just build an economy that survives the century.

In Secondhand, Adam Minter delves into the vast, multibillion-dollar industry that resells used stuff around the world. He follows the trail of unwanted objects from the closets, garages, and storage units of Middle America to epic used-goods markets in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Ghana, India, Malaysia, and beyond. Secondhand takes us through the often painful and heartbreaking process of cleaning out a lifetime’s worth of possessions and shows that used stuff still has a place in a world that values the new and shiny.

There is the Bitcoin story of the headlines, but there is a more important one behind them: tangled plots sprawling like roots deep underground, entire worlds in which we are just passersby. In Once a Bitcoin Miner, journalist and author Ethan Lou takes listeners on a richly told first-person narrative through the proverbial cryptocurrency Wild West.

For anyone approaching retirement, Where's My Money? is a must-hear guide to ensure you maximize your income, reduce your tax burden, protect your loved ones, avoid costly mistakes, and enjoy the retirement you have always dreamed of.

Noted tax expert and award-winning finance author Eva Rosenberg presents one of the first guides to Trump's newly enacted tax plan, providing individual taxpayers with a road map to making the most out of this historic tax reform. The first part of her book provides a plain English overview of what's new and how it will affect individual taxpayers, as well as the larger goals of tax reform. The second part features nearly 300 tax tips that provide specific instructions on how to take advantage of the new tax law.

One of the 10 best-selling self-help books of all time, Think and Grow Rich describes a method for success in life by adopting the mindset shared by successful people. Originally written in 1937 by Napoleon Hill, the book was inspired by a suggestion from business magnate and later-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. In it, the author insists that the philosophy taught in the book can help people succeed in any line of work - to do and be anything they can imagine.

Like it or not, a healthy credit score is essential if you want to participate in today's financial world. But very few people actually understand how their credit score is determined. Worse yet, most don't know how their score is used by all kinds of companies and banks to dictate financial terms that will strongly affect their daily lives. When consumers interact with the world of credit, they do so from a position of weakness. In Your Score, Anthony Davenport aims to change that. Finally, there's a road map for navigating the confusing world of consumer credit.

In this book, Newsmax senior financial analyst and lifelong investor Andrew Packer reviews the latest challenges facing investors today. He outlines a step-by-step approach to understanding the current investment environment as well as what to look for when allocating your capital. Rather than swinging for the fences and hoping for the best, Packer reveals the high-return yet low-risk investing strategies that are available to investors. These opportunities will appeal to anyone who wants to supercharge their retirement savings and grow their nest egg.

Most Americans have not inherited wealth or a successful business that can set them up for life. That means most Americans are destined to live with financial worries and concerns for the rest of their lives, right? Wrong! With his entertaining and informative style, New York Times best-selling author, actor, and financial pundit Ben Stein refutes the current notion that the corporate system is rigged against ordinary citizens and explains how corporate stock ownership is the best system ever devised.

For most of us, the idea of life inside the golden triad of Park Avenue, Sagaponack, and St. Barths is just as exotic as the mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle. Luckily, Richard Kirshenbaum has a VIP pass to the Upper East Side and is willing to share the wealth - of gossip. His New York Observer column on uptown social life provides a fascinating glimpse behind the gilded curtain into the swanky restaurants and eye-popping vacation destinations where the one percent gathers.

Investing experts and best-selling authors Peter J. Tanous and Jeff Cox return with The 30-Minute Millionaire, a step-by-step guide to achieving financial success. Whether you're new at investing or already preparing for retirement, the authors provide practical advice with specific examples, giving you the tools and knowledge you need on your path to becoming financially secure. The authors also give detailed instructions on exactly how much cash you'll need to start (less than you think!) and the best advice from financial gurus on your journey ahead.

Although dinosaur fossils were first found in England, a series of dramatic discoveries during the late 1800s turned North America into a world center for vertebrate paleontology. At the same time, the United States emerged as the world’s largest industrial economy, and creatures like tyrannosaurus, brontosaurus, and triceratops became emblems of American capitalism. Large, fierce, and spectacular, American dinosaurs dominated the popular imagination, making front-page headlines and appearing in feature films.

The crisscrossing stories of Mark, a white devout Christian who sells his suburban home to move to Baltimore’s inner city, and Nicole, a Black mother determined to leave West Baltimore for the suburbs, chronicle how the region became so deeply segregated and why these fault lines persist today.