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Charles Wheelan is an American professor, journalist, speaker and founder of Unite America, born in 1966. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1988 and received his masters at Princeton University along with his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He is now a senior lecturer and policy fellow at the Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College, teaching courses about education policy, health care, tax policy, income inequality and related topics. Wheelan’s first book written in 2002 (Naked Economics) is an introduction to economics for lay readers, which was then followed by Naked Statistics which was written in 2013 and lastly Naked Money in 2016. He has always had a passion for public policy and solving real problems involving economics and statistics. In 2007, Naked Economics was selected by 360 degrees of Reading as one of the 360 books that every college bound student should read, alongside authors ranging from Sophocles to Malcolm X. Naked Economics was also selected as one of “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time.” Wheelan is a regular contributor to the Motley Fool Radio Show on National Public Radio and to the Eight Forty-Eight program on WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio.

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In the novel Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan many different aspects are touched upon with regards to our economic world. After reading this book you get a sense of how markets work, why things like inflation exist, and why goods are priced as they are. Reading something of interest is important and learning about money and how the world works is fascinating. Wheelan depicts insightful information that is easy to read and keeps readers wanting to read more. Dr. Wheelan's arguments, taken as a whole, are neither conservative or liberal. He strikes a good balance in seeking the truth about how modern economies work, and more importantly, what makes them work better. For example, he makes the general argument that marginal rate tax-cuts can lead to more investment and economic activity, which in turn grows the economy. However he debunks the misguided (at best) political arguments that tax-cuts also lead to higher revenue. I was also enlightened by his points about professional organizations (ABA, AMA, teacher's unions) and the barriers to entry they artificially impose that can actually result in poorer outcomes. His example about "Cadillac lawyers' ' was amusing and made me think about high prices for legal services. Teachers unions seek to protect their own at the expense of providing children a better education by lobbying for teacher certification requirements that research shows don't help children succeed (e.g. people with Phds not legally allowed to teach high school). He makes a good argument for lowering these barriers of entry, along with eliminating absurd tenure rules that protect and reward under-performing teachers, to incentivize smart, competent people to become teachers.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/12/technology/cryptocurrencies-crash-bitcoin.html In Naked Economics the topics of cryptocurrency are discussed and in this nonfiction article from the New York Times Bitcoin is mentioned. The price of bitcoin plunged to its lowest point since 2020 recently. More than $300 billion was wiped out by a crash in cryptocurrency prices since Monday. 16% of Americans now own some type of cryptocurrency, up 1% since 2015, some using debt to further juice their crypto bets.

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A steep sell-off that gained momentum this week starkly illustrated the risks of the experimental and unregulated digital currencies.

A crash in cryptocurrency prices has wiped away more than $300 billion in value this week. Credit... Samuel Corum for The New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO - The price of Bitcoin plunged to its lowest point since 2020. Coinbase, the large cryptocurrency exchange, tanked in value. A cryptocurrency that promoted itself as a stable means of exchange collapsed. And more than $ 300 billion was wiped out by a crash in cryptocurrency prices since Monday.

The crypto world went into a full meltdown this week in a sell-off that graphically illustrated the risks of the experimental and unregulated digital currencies. Even as celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and tech moguls like Elon Musk have talked up crypto, the accelerating declines of virtual currencies like Bitcoin and Ether show that, in some cases, two years of financial gains can disappear overnight.

The moment of panic amounted to the worst reset in cryptocurrencies since Bitcoin plummeted 80 percent in 2018. But this time, the falling prices have broader impact because more people and institutions hold the currencies. Critics said the collapse was long overdue, while some traders compared the alarm and fear to the start of the 2008 financial crisis.

"This is like the perfect storm," said Dan Dolev, an analyst who covers crypto companies and financial technology at the Mizuho Group.

During the coronavirus pandemic, people have flooded into virtual currencies, with 16 percent of Americans now owning some, up from 1 percent in 2015, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Big banks like Northern Trust and Bank of America also streamed in, along with hedge funds, some using debt to further juice their crypto bets.

Early investors are still probably in a comfortable position. But the rapid declines this week have been especially acute for investors who bought cryptocurrencies when prices surged last year.

The fall in cryptocurrencies is part of a broader pullback from risky assets, spurred by rising interest rates, inflation and economic uncertainty caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Those factors have compounded a so-called pandemic hangover that began as life started returning to normal in the United States, hurting the stock prices of companies like Zoom and Netflix that thrived during lockdowns.

But crypto's decline is more severe than the broader plunge in the stock market. While the S&P 500 is down 18 percent so far this year, Bitcoin's price has dropped 40 percent in the same period. In the last five days alone, Bitcoin has tumbled 20 percent, compared to a 5 percent decline in the S&P 500.

How long crypto's collapse might last is unclear. Cryptocurrency prices have typically rebounded from major losses, though in some cases it took several years to reach new heights.

"It's hard to say, 'Is this Lehman Brothers?'" said Charles Cascarilla, a founder of the blockchain company Paxos, referring to the financial services firm that went bankrupt at the start of the 2008 financial crisis. "We're going to need some more time to figure it out. You can't respond at this type of speed."

The origins of cryptocurrencies trace back to 2008, when a shadowy figure calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin. The virtual currency was portrayed as a decentralized alternative to the traditional financial system. Rather than relying on gatekeepers like banks to facilitate commerce, Bitcoin proponents preferred to conduct transactions among themselves, recording each one on a shared ledger called a blockchain.

Prominent tech leaders including Mr. Musk, Jack Dorsey, a founder of Twitter, and Marc Andreessen, an investor, embraced the technology as it grew from a novel curiosity into a cultlike movement. The value of cryptocurrencies exploded, minting a new class of crypto billionaires. Other forms of cryptocurrency, including Ether and Dogecoin, captured the public's attention, particularly in the pandemic, when excess cash in the financial system led people to day trade for entertainment.

Cryptocurrency prices reached a peak late last year and have since slid as fears over the economy grew. But the meltdown gathered momentum this week when TerraUSD, a stablecoin, imploded. Stablecoins, which are meant to be a more reliable means of exchange, are typically pegged to a stable asset such as the U.S. dollar and are intended not to fluctuate in value. Many traders use them to buy other cryptocurrencies.

TerraUSD had the backing of credible venture capital firms, including Arrington Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, which invested tens of millions of dollars to fund crypto projects built on the currency. That gave "a false sense of security to people who might not otherwise know about these things," said Kathleen Breitman, one of the founders of Tezos, a crypto platform.

But TerraUSD was not backed by cash, treasuries or other traditional assets. Instead, it derived its supposed stability from algorithms that linked its value to a sister cryptocurrency called Luna.

This week, Luna lost almost its entire value. That immediately had a knock-on effect on TerraUSD, which fell to a low of 23 cents on Wednesday. As investors panicked, Tether, the most popular stablecoin and a linchpin of crypto trading, also wavered from its own $1 peg. Tether fell as low as $0.95 before recovering. (Tether is backed by cash and other traditional assets.)

The volatility quickly drew attention in Washington, where stablecoins have been on regulators' radar. Last fall, the Treasury Department issued a report calling on Congress to devise rules for the stablecoin ecosystem.

"We really need a regulatory framework," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said at a congressional hearing on Thursday. "In the last couple of days, we've had a real-life demonstration of the risks."

Stablecoins "present the same kinds of risks that we have known for centuries in connection with bank runs," she added.

Workers installing a cryptocurrency mining data center in Medley, Fla. Credit... Rose Marie Cromwell for The New York Times

Other parts of the crypto ecosystem soured at the same time. On Tuesday, Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, reported a $430 million quarterly loss and said it had lost more than two million active users. The company's stock price has plunged 82 percent since its triumphant market debut in April 2021.

Expand Your Cryptocurrency Vocabulary

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Brian Armstrong, Coinbase's chief executive, tried to reassure customers on Twitter that the company was not in danger of going bankrupt after a required legal disclosure about the ownership of its assets stoked panic.

Cryptocurrency prices also dropped precipitously. The price of Bitcoin fell as low as $26,000 on Thursday, down 60 percent from its peak in November, before rising somewhat. Since the start of the year, Bitcoin's price movement has closely mirrored that of the Nasdaq, a benchmark that's heavily weighted toward technology stocks, suggesting that investors are treating it like any other risk asset.

The price of Ether plunged, too, losing more than 30 percent of its value over the last week. Other cryptocurrencies, like Solana and Cardano, are also down.

Any panic might be overblown, some analysts said. A study by Mizuho showed that the average Bitcoin owner on Coinbase would not lose money until the digital currency's price sank below $21,000. That, according to Mr. Dolev, is where a true death spiral could occur.

"Bitcoin was working as long as no one lost money," he said. "Once it gets back to those levels, that's sort of the 'Oh, my God' moment."

Professional investors who have weathered past crypto volatility also stayed calm. Hunter Horsley, chief executive of Bitwise Asset Management, which provides crypto investing services to 1,000 financial advisers, met with more than 70 of them this week to discuss the market. Many were not selling, he said, because every other asset was down, too. Some were even trying to capitalize on the drop.

"Their standpoint is, 'This is no fun, but there is nowhere to hide,'" he said.

Still, the plummeting prices have rattled crypto traders. Just a few months ago, blockchain proponents were predicting that Bitcoin's price could rise as high as $100,000 this year.

"I never thought things would get ugly this fast," said Ed Moya, a crypto analyst at the trading firm OANDA.

Alan Rappeport contributed reporting.

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Cryptocurrencies Melt Down in a 'Perfect Storm' of Fear and Panic

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A steep sell-off that gained momentum this week starkly illustrated the risks of the experimental and unregulated digital currencies. SAN FRANCISCO - The price of Bitcoin plunged to its lowest point since 2020. Coinbase, the large cryptocurrency exchange, tanked in value. A cryptocurrency that promoted itself as a stable means of exchange collapsed.

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The book was published in 2002 and the overall setting takes place in talking about the U.S. and other parts of the world. There isn't one specific setting in this novel.

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Which global trends will shape the world's economy in the next 10 years?

This question can be researched and I thought it would be an interesting question to pose because it intrigues readers. People will want to find out what the answer is and there could be several different answers.

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The poem that talks about the invisible hand leads us back to the driving question and after reading the poem you can gather that the global trend of supply and demand will definitely affect the economy in the near future.

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The article on cnbc that discusses the topic of inflation also tells us that inflation could also be an answer to this driving question. Inflation has been on the rise for these past 2 years and it does not seem like it is going to go back down if anything it will keep skyrocketing. This specific global trend is a noticeable one and I think there is a lot of room to expand on this topic specifically.

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Inflation outlook for consumers falls from record high, Fed survey shows

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Inflation expectations over the next year fell to a median 6.3% in April, a 0.3 percentage point decrease from the record high the previous month.

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The other source that suggests an answer for the driving question is the art piece. A global trend that will be present in the next 10 years and continue to be is the overall idea of money and depicting the world's economy.

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Original - Sold

Price

$1,750

Dimensions

30.000 x 40.000 x 1.500 inches

This piece has been already sold.   Please feel free to contact the artist directly regarding this or other pieces.

Click here to contact the artist.

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The novel that I chose is Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan and it would be considered a contemporary text because it is relevant to today’s economic industry. Charles Wheelan is a senior lecturer and policy fellow at the Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College. He has always had a passion for public policy, solving real problems and thinks that economics along with statistics offer a good set of tools for understanding how the world works. Charles is the author of Naked Statistics, Naked Economics, and Naked Money. These topics spark my interest and I plan on majoring in finance with a minor in economics. Learning about how the world works fascinates me along with understanding how to manage money and finances. I believe that everyone should have a general understanding of economics and how to deal with real world problems. After reading a few chapters of this book in economics class this year I realized that it was full of information that intrigued me. I have always had a passion for math, numbers and statistics; which has brought me to want to pursue a career in this field. After reading this book I hope to gain more knowledge on how the world works with regards to money and why things like inflation exist. I find it hard to stay committed to reading a book but when I enjoy a topic that interests me I will never put it down. The most important thing to me is taking a general theme or idea away from the novel after reading it and I believe that I will at the end. Even though this novel discusses how the world interacts with money and markets it also shows people's behavior with finances. With the many great topics discussed in this book I think that it is insightful and something that people can read with little pain and much pleasure.