Organized Money by Keith Mestrich and Mark Pinsky

   Robert Kiyosaki, in his Rich Dad books, says that the rich can make their money work for them. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe half of what Kiyosaki says but he has a point here; of you have a strong grasp of how money works, then you have a strong chance of sustainability. If you think of loans (or worse, credit cards) as a money tree, they you’ll lose the game. You have to know where the money goes.
    Both of the authors of Organized Money are financial experts, working towards the goal of community development through money management. Throughout the book they give you a tour of anti-conservativism, and a strong dislike for President Reagan’s policies in the 1980’s. They describe him as having wiped out all of the New Deal programs, especially the ones that regulated banks and prevented interdependence. However, they are not so warm to President Clinton either, because he signed further legislation that further deregulated the banks.

   I don’t agree with a lot of their opinions, however. They write that conservatives oppose a woman’s right to choose, racial integration, and the extension of personal rights. But what about the conservative who does in fact support women’s rights, yet opposes spending public money on a Women’s Studies program at a state college? What about the America who has no problem with non-traditional gender roles, and doesn’t object to a boy wearing a dress to school, but is irked at having to find gender-neutral books for the school library? Does that make the person a sexist?

    Another theme of this book is the notion of “be wary, government help comes with a price.” They use, as an example, President Trump’s Investing in Opportunity Act of 2017. Why would the most conservative president in history want such a program? Why would Trump, of all people, want to invest in low-income communities? The answer is that he doesn’t! It’s just another way for him to exert (conservative) government control over how the money is spent on a low-income community. Those who assume the money will go to daycare and preschool, will find the money going to the county jail. However, I do believe it was the (conservative) President Reagan who warned us to beware of anyone who says “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

   These guys give no usable advice on how to make the system work for progressives. They make no mention of how to avoid bad debt, nor do they advise against money-wasters like credit cards and Christmas shopping sprees. Have they been to Kmart (or FAO Schwartz, or Walmart) in the week before Christmas and seen people filling their carts with junk? With loads of gifts for other people? Things that will end up never being used? All of this while struggling to pay the rent? It’s a sad thing to see, and even sadder to see how these two financial experts wasted their time on this rant of a book. Better they should use their time to start a financial counseling program for the poor.