Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception

Description

Capitalism encourages companies and individuals to profit, which means that dishonest manipulative business practices occasionally surface, if it means that more money can be gained. In this book, the authors reveal some of the underhand tricks that unsavory companies employ to dupe customers into unwise purchases.

All this book does is state what we already know: if we are not careful, we will be deceived. The text provides a general overview of deception in a few fields – finance, pharmaceuticals, politics – but newer gives specific advice to prevent being taken in, nor argues for a more general change in zeitgeist. The only suggestion that the book makes is a vague implication that increased government regulation would ameliorate phishing, but, comically, this thought is immediately followed by a chapter describing how lobbyists and savvy politicians deceive voters and seldom do what is best for the average American. Again, comically, the authors proclaim themselves to be stalwart advocates and admirers of free markets, and then immediately praise John Maynard Keynes as a paragon of economic wisdom.

This book is irritating to even the abecedarian economist and serves no purpose whatsoever.