Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 448 pages
- Published by: Touchstone August 26, 1999
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0684832720
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0684832722
-
Book Dimensions:
8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
- Weighs: 15.2 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
The computer revolution, in the authors' dire scenario, will subvert and destroy the nation-state as globalized cybercommerce, lubricated by cybercurrency, drastically limits governments' powers to tax. They further predict that the next millennium will see an enormous decline in the influence of politicians, lobbyists, labor unions and regulated professions as new information technologies democratize talent and innovation and decentralize the workplace. In their forecast, citizenship will become obsolete; new forms of sovereignty reminiscent of medieval merchant republics will spring up; electronic plebiscites will decide legislative proposals; mafias, renegade covert agencies and criminal gangs will exercise much more behind-the-scenes power. Davidson and Rees-Mogg, who publish Strategic Investment, a financial newsletter, present an apocalyptic exercise that is unconvincing. Appendices offer advice to "Sovereign Individuals" (members of the information elite) on how to invest, find tax shelters, avoid criminals and list one's business on the World Wide Web.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Following up their equally visionary Blood in the Streets (LJ 5/1/87) and The Great Reckoning (S. & S., 1993), the authors offer a sweeping analysis of the implications, especially financial, of the information age. According to Jupiter Communications, a research firm specializing in emerging technologies, in the year 2000 online transactions will total about $7.3 billion, and new payment methods such as electronic money will be used for almost half of that amount. The authors explain that such developments are driving a "megapolitical" level of societal transformation similar in scope and significance to the end of the Roman Empire or the 15th-century gunpowder revolution. The key result of this information revolution will be the advent of the "sovereign individual" and the death of mass democracy and the welfare state. The authors are serious, conservative thinkers whose advice will attract attention on Wall Street. A major work; strongly recommended for academic libraries.?Dale F. Farris, Groves, Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State (Hardcover)
Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad recommends The Sovereign Individual as one of the must-read books for those who want to be Financially Independent. I like this book for its contribution to future-trend-watching. It ranks as one of the essential readings for those who want to be Financially Independent. James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg are experts at predicting future trends and tailoring financial strategies and self-reliant measures to protect oneself against the future. The Sovereign Individual is about self-accountability and taking action. The Sovereign Individual is not beholden to his government and looks out for himself/herself and his/her loved ones. The Sovereign Individual takes steps to ensure his/her physical safety, job/business and finances. This book challenges the concept of nationhood and all the propaganda fed to us. The concept of nationhood as we have come to known is a relatively young one and not necessarily a good one. Governments, spouting patriotism, can make use of its people for its own ends e.g. burdensome taxes, raising armies for wars, treating its citizens like low-classed employees - all for the benefit of a select elite few. A warning for the interested would-be reader. The Sovereign Individual is written in the typical Davidson/Rees-Mogg famed-style - alarmist, paranoid and hyberbolic. I urge the reader to see pass this style because there is much to be gained from reading this book. For the interested reader, I would also recommend The Roaring 2000s by Harry Dent.
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