Read Dan Koeppel's posts on the Penguin Blog.
In the vein of the bestselling Salt and Cod, a gripping chronicle of the myth, mystery, and uncertain fate of the world's most popular fruit
In this fascinating and surprising exploration of the banana's history, cultural significance, and endangered future, award-winning journalist Dan Koeppel gives readers plenty of food for thought. Fast-paced and highly entertaining, "Banana" takes us from jungle to supermarket, from corporate boardrooms to kitchen tables around the world. We begin in the Garden of Eden--examining scholars' belief that Eve's "apple" was actually a banana-- and travel to early-twentieth-century Central America, where aptly named "banana republics" rose and fell over the crop, while the companies now known as Chiquita and Dole conquered the marketplace. Koeppel then chronicles the banana's path to the present, ultimately--and most alarmingly--taking us to banana plantations across the globe that are being destroyed by a fast-moving blight, with no cure in sight--and to the high-tech labs where new bananas are literally being built in test tubes, in a race to save the world's most beloved fruit.

* Insurers take $ Billions from our annuity plans * Inflation cuts payment value in HALF * Guaranteed annuity income ends at death * Insurers never return our annuity assets Yes, everyone is talking about annuities for retirement income. They are popular; but they are expensive. They take billions of dollars from our retirement funds in exchange for a guaranteed stream of payments. But those payments can end at our death. Our family may lose the legacy we worked hard to accumulate. Insurers keep the remainder of our annuity account. And, if we have a medical emergency, there are no refunds. If we live a long time, those guaranteed payments lose purchasing power-our $1000 a month income will buy only $500 worth of goods. We can avoid all of these possible losses and keep our retirement funds growing and producing income for life. We can maintain control of our assets for emergencies and a family legacy. We can create an inflation-proof income for the rest of our lives without giving up control of our assets. Today we can create an inflation-proof income stream to match our needs while we keep building our assets for the future. We can create this stream of income AND grow our assets AND have access to our funds for emergencies with a FREE account. Only you know what fits your lifestyle needs at each stage of retirement. You use low-cost products so you keep more of your assets growing. You avoid high-fee advisors and products. Now we can take advantage of a better opportunity. We can decide how much to spend, how much to invest and which assets to buy so we will be assured of enough assets for whatever the future brings. Now you can create a guaranteed income and grow you assets.

Debt is a knife that is killing us slowly. Indenture to our bank kills the pleasures of life. Break the chains and gain financial freedom. Let's admit it. Most of us are spendaholics. 70% of us live paycheck to paycheck. Most of us will NEVER pay off our loans. We will die by a thousand cuts to our paychecks. How can we get free of the Master or the VISA? How do we protect ourselves against indenture to banks for the rest of our lives? Freedom from our chains of lifelong payments requires immediate action: cutting credit cards and amputation of some of our costly toys and habits. Going cold turkey is the only way to save your life in rehab. When you have financial freedom, you can buy new toys using the profits from your investments. Right now, you are making other people wealthy from your monthly payments. Stop it Consider this example: You pay $161 per month for 10+ years to pay off the average unsecured debt of $10,050 at 15%. You will spend at least $19,360 to pay off that $10,050. (If your rate is 25%, you will pay $25,080 for $10,050.) You pay almost double for that same $10,050 But that's not all-THE REAL COST IS MORE If you did not have to use that $161 each month to pay off the loan of $10,050 and $9,310 in interest, you would be able to use the $161 per month to make money. You could have made about $37,036 in the 10 years using a growth mutual fund. So the REAL cost of that $10,050 debt is actually $56,396 The lender gets the $19,360 (to pay the debt over time) and YOU gave up earning $37,036 from the $161 payment per month for 10 years. You give up the down payment on a house You can be building your wealth in 24 months. Start now.