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Local Dollars, Local Sense: How To Shift Your Money From Wall Street To Main Street And Achieve Real Prosperity (Community Resilience Guides) (2012)

by Michael Shuman(Favorite Author)

4.06 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1603583432 (ISBN13: 9781603583435)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Chelsea Green Publishing

review 1: A fine look at how investing in local economies helps build local communities. Obviously there are limitations to this idea (e.g. I'm here on Goodreads, which isn't a company in my local community), but it's good to at least be aware that there are tradeoffs when we only support non-local corporations. I just wish that there were more academic articles out there with data on locals. This book detailed some studies, but not as much as I'd have liked.
review 2: The major strength of this book is the broad survey of investment opportunities outside the global casino that is Wall Street. Shuman gives detailed examples of ways in which everyday people can invest in local and regional businesses and other endeavors. Many of the stories can be seen as either a challen... morege or a discouragement, though, as the author is careful to explain how many of these opportunities are outside the regulatory mainstream, and therefore require a certain amount of finagling in order to take advantage of them.The weakness of the book is that it is ideological in a way that closes off debate or further explanation. Shuman states at the beginning that investment in the stock market does not provide the rate of return many believe it does, and this is the lens through which the stories throughout the rest of the book are seen. However, with this as the foundational assumption, there is not much opportunity to explore what he means when he discredits Wall Street's rate of return and touts alternatives instead.I recommend this book for anyone interested in knowing more about alternative forms of finance, either for your own business endeavors or as an investor. It's not the final word on the topic, but it's a good place to start. less

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