Making Money
Terry Pratchett
HarperCollins, Oct 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9780061161643

Convicted con man Moist von Luwig was punished by being named the Ankh Morpork Postmaster General. To the shock of the stakeholders, he successfully reengineered the Ankh-Morpork Post Office from running like another government agency into an efficient effective customer oriented business. Shockingly mail is delivered on time to the right address at a phenomenal rate of accuracy.

He is so successful his superior Lord Vetinari offers Moist a new position that combines his experience as the head of a government bureaucracy with his money making skills as the head of the Royal Mint. Apparently hereditary and incest employment practices over hundreds of years has led to a situation in which the cost to make the money exceeds the value of the money made. However, if he accepts the position he will have an angry staff made up of inefficient, unproductive and mostly idle workers. However after GOING POSTAL, royally MAKING MONEY seems easy until someone steals the gold from the impenetrable vault of the Royal Bank.

This zany entertaining satirical sequel continues to lampoon the government bureaucracy, the executive branch leadership up to the White House, and Congressional fiefdom rulers. The story line spoofs the efficiency experts who insist on cutting employee waste while demanding more pork for their districts or promulgating the enforcement of the President's Management Agenda except for DOD and Homeland Security. The Royal Bank's Glooper Machine understands the global economy tenet is there is never enough money for the ultra wealthy whose taxes must be zero so that they can trickle down trickles to the working class to pay taxes. Moist is still at his effective best with the con, but his first inclination to make MORE MONEY is not enough as he must investigate who looted the treasury (beyond tax breaks) setting him up to take the fall though he is unsure of which agency.

Harriet Klausner