Left Business Observer, 250 West 85 Street, New York NY 10024-3217, Tel: 212-874-4020.

Whatever particular economic sects or factions they may be partial to, virtually all Wall Street insiders adhere to one fundamental tenet of the free-market catechism. Over two hundred years ago, Edmund Burke formulated it thus: "The Laws of Commerce are the Laws of Nature, and therefore the Laws of God." (Memorize this sentence, and for the rest of your life you can safely skip Wall Street Journal editorials.)

Doug Henwood is an exception. As his stylishly-written newsletter Left Business Observer (LBO) demonstrates, Henwood knows Wall Street's theory and practice inside out. But he doesn't mistake his subject matter for theology. LBO (the initials are also those of "leveraged buy-out," that magic phrase of the 80s) prints nitty-gritty case studies every issue: the successes of the (managed) South Korean economy; the incestuous ownership of the Big Media; the horrific track record of the International Monetary Fund. But Henwood is also willing to ask the big questions: e.g., is no-rules capitalism really hastening the economic millennium? Or only driving most of us to the wall? If there were really a free marketplace of ideas, Henwood would be on TV -- not writing a book about Wall Street for Verso.

-- Steve Badrich

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