Bulls, Bears, And Golden Calves Summary

The purpose of John Stapleford’s book, Bulls, Bears, and Golden Calves, is to provide a useful overview of economic analysis. Using a Christian view point Stapleford cover a variety of important public policy issues. He uses Biblical thinking, scriptures and ethics to many of today’s major topics in today’s economy, such as: legalized gambling, pornography, economic growth, proper role for government, poverty, the environment, immigration, population control, less developed countries and more. To organize these topics, the book can be broken up into two different main topics. The first topic, which covers chapters 1 through 6, is about developing the proper analytical and ethical basis for analyzing public policy. Stapleford calls this section laying the foundation. The second top, which covers chapters 7 through 16 and is broken down into
Because much of this gross compensation is tied to the performance of the company and the company’s stock, the CEOs’ chase after the rainbow brings benefits that spillover to many. And while CEO compensation can often seem obscene, at least there is tangible productivity, in contrast to the spoiled celebrity or government-lobbying lawyer or the regulation-skirting financier. Regardless, the essential question is what has each of us done with the talents and resources God has entrusted to us?” (Stapleford, 2009, p. 136).
The book has several strong points that make it a very good introduction into a Christian perspective of economics. It covers a wide range of topics that provide ample amount of information that the reader can read and be able to pick from to research further if they desire to. The information is very general on the foundations, assumptions and principles of mainstream economics. However, there are specific topics of interests that are also included in the book ranging from immigration to gambling and