Surplus - by Marc Chandler (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

What happens when capitalism becomes so successful that the problem is no longer too little--but too much?

In Surplus, economist and market strategist Marc Chandler traces the extraordinary rise of economic abundance from the earliest agricultural civilizations to today's world of overflowing capital, soaring asset prices and unprecedented productive capacity. He argues that many of the forces destabilizing modern societies--from widening inequality and financial speculation to political discontent and environmental excess--are symptoms of a profound transition: we have created an economic system extraordinarily good at producing wealth, but have yet to build institutions capable of managing its abundance.

Drawing on economics, history, politics and philosophy, Chandler shows how earlier surpluses transformed civilizations--and argues that today's surplus gives us an opportunity to do so again. Provocative and ultimately hopeful, Surplus asks what comes after scarcity, and how we might build a society that measures progress not simply by how much wealth it creates, but by what that wealth makes possible.

Review Quotes

"It's a revealing depiction of how unchecked wealth accumulation by the few is incompatible with true democracy."-- "Publishers Weekly"

About the Author

Marc Chandler is one of the most highly respected and widely quoted currency experts in the United States today, with more than three decades of experience analyzing the global capital markets and advising private businesses, hedge funds, and major public institutions on policy and market behavior. He currently serves as Chief Market Strategist at Bannockburn Capital Markets.

Chandler appears regularly on major media outlets such as CNBC, FOX Business, and Bloomberg TV and Radio. His writing and commentary have been featured by Barron's, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Nation, and the Washington Post, among others. Known for his colorful and incisive takes on global financial and economic news, Chandler is also a sought-after speaker at industry events across the United States. An honorary fellow of the Foreign Policy Association and a Business Visionary named by Forbes, Chandler is the author of Making Sense of the Dollar and Political Economy of Tomorrow. He lives in Manhattan, New York.