The Hottest Business Book

Question: What’s the hottest business book these days?

Answer: Das Kapital by Karl Marx.

I have been telling this joke for a couple of weeks now. I first came up with it when I was in London on the day when the British government announced that it would nationalize, in part, its banks. Since that type of approach, with variations, seems to be the way to go (and what bankers are asking for) all around the world, including the U.S., the joke really seems to capture the spirit of times. And it’s not only bankers – and the free market economist with their theories of rationality and perfect information -- that are crying for government intervention. It’s consumers as well. Which consumer has not diversified his or her bank accounts, and only trusts those savings that are guaranteed by the government?

So, time to brush up our knowledge of this classic text! Now what’s really funny is that I just read in the German weekly Die Zeit that sales of Das Kapital have quadrupled over the last few weeks! Who would have thought? Maybe a Nobel Prize in Economics, given posthumously, will be next.