"Bakan offers passionate argument and copious research in this compelling call for parents to stand up for their children."--Booklist (starred review) "Corporations have found a new resource to be mined for profit: our children. In this shocking and indelible behind-the-scenes journey, Joel Bakan, acclaimed author and award-winning maker of the renowned film and international bestselling book The Corporation, uncovers the astonishing degree to which companies exploit the special vulnerabilities of children, manipulate parents' fears, and operate with callous disregard for children's health and well-being. The number of children taking dangerous psychotropic drugs has skyrocketed as pharmaceutical companies employ insidious, often illegal tactics to inflate diagnoses of disorders and convince parents their children require medication. A highly sophisticated marketing industry deploys increasingly subtle and powerful tactics to play on children's intense emotions and desires and to lure them into obsessive consumerism. Computer game designers craft techniques to titillate children with sex and violence, while social media developers infiltrate and shape children's social and emotional worlds to compel them to spend more and more monetizable time online. America's schools are being transformed into profit centers while children are subjected to increasingly regimented teaching that thwarts curiosity and creativity, numbing the joy of learning. And children's chronic health problems, from asthma to cancer, autism, and birth defects, steadily escalate as thousands of new industrial chemicals are dumped into their environments. Nelson Mandela once sagely remarked that "there can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way it treats its children." The problem today, as Joel Bakan reveals, is that business interests have made protecting children extremely difficult. Corporations pump billions into rendering parents and governments powerless to shield children from an unrelenting commercial assault, with the result that after a century of progress, during which protective laws and regulations were widely promulgated, children are once again exposed to substantial harms at the hands of economic actors. Childhood Under Siege leaves no room for doubt that this assault on childhood is a major crisis of our time. A powerful manifesto for urgent change, it empowers us to shield our own children while offering concrete and realistic proposals for legal reforms that would protect all children from these predatory practices. "--Publisher's description

"A unique approach to personal finance that tackles money like a jiu-jitsu fighter would tackle an opponent in martial arts and personal finance, fundamentals are important. But while failing in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu may be disappointing, it's nothing compared to failing to build wealth and creating a better future for your family. Nobody understands this better than Scott Ford, a top-ranked financial advisor and Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast. Now, in Financial Jiu-Jitsu, he shows you how to overcome your emotions and state of mind to excel at your investing endeavors. Along the way, Ford teaches you fundamental skills such as automating your savings and investments, the importance of paying yourself first, and managing credit wisely. Compares the patience and practice of the martial arts, specifically Jiu-Jitsu, to investing offers an approach to adapting to financial change as you move through life, while maintaining the same guiding principles. Author Scott Ford is ranked in the top one percent of all financial advisors. The guiding principles in this book are the foundation of your financial fight plan and the keys to reaching your financial dreams. No matter what punches the market or the economy throws at you, if you follow these principles you'll always react well in the face of adversity.--