Books I'm reading

I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink! Great book and fast read. I would highly recommend it to anyone. He gives a laymen's understanding of how we make decisions within the first 2 seconds.
The book I'm reading now is Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell. It's an economics book for the everyday person. No graphs or charts. Just good information in 'normal people terminology'. In the first chapter, Sowell is talking about a price-coordinated economy and how scarce resources determine what you buy and how much you pay. The definiition of economics is "the study of the use of resources that have alternative uses." This one paragraph really hit me so I thought I would post it (from page 15):

In a price-coordinated economy, emplyees and creditors insist on being paid,
regardless of whether the managers and owners have made mistakes. This means
that businesses can make only so many mistakes for so long before they have to
either stop or get stopped - whether by an inability to get the labor and
supplies they need or by bankruptcy. In a feudal economy or a socialist economy,
leaders can continue to make the same mistakes indefinitely. The consequences
are paid by others in the form of a standard of living lower than it would be if
there were greater efficiency in the use of scarce resources.

He goes on to give examples of the former Soviet Union and other countries that were socialist or communist and have moved to a freer economy (or vice-versa). It interesting because today I was reading another website mouseprint.org today. It's a consumer website devoted to helping you keep from getting screwed. The link takes you to a particular post about Circuit City which just filed bankruptcy. Their line in the post is great..."I guess when you are in bankruptcy you can’t count on suppliers to fulfill orders for advertised items when the retailer already owes them a ton of money. " It's so true in a free economy. Makes you rethink all the bailouts we have had in the past two months huh.