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It is abundantly clear that our world is divided into two very
different economies. The real one, for the average worker, is based
on productivity and results. It behaves according to traditional
rules of money and economics. The other doesn't. It is the product
of years of loose money, poured by central banks into a system
dominated by financial titans. It is powerful enough to send stock
markets higher even in the face of a global pandemic and threats of
nuclear war. This parting from reality has its roots in an
emergency response to the financial crisis of 2008. "Quantitative
Easing" injected a vast amount of cash into the economy-especially
if you were a major Wall Street bank. What began as a short-term
dependency became a habit, then a compulsion, and finally an
addiction. Nomi Prins relentlessly exposes a world fractured by
policies crafted by the largest financial institutions, led by the
Federal Reserve, that have supercharged the financial system while
selling out regular citizens and leading to social and political
reckonings. She uncovers a newly polarized world of the mega rich
versus the never rich, the winners and losers of an unprecedented
distortion that can never return to "normal."
Central banks and institutions like the IMF and the World Bank are
overstepping the boundaries of their mandates by using the flow of
money to control global markets and dictate economic policy both at
the domestic and global level. These public institutions have
become so dependent on funding from private banking and the
revolving door between the two worlds is so smooth that public and
private banks are effectively working toward the same goals. Packed
with bold-faced names from the world of finance--from Janet Yellen,
Mario Draghi, and Ben Bernanke to Christine Lagarde and Angela
Merkel--Collusion sheds a bright light on the dark conspiracies and
unsavory connections between what is ostensibly private and public
banking and how it affects us.
Critical, independent voices are seldom found within the citadels
of international finance. That's what makes Nomi Prins unique.
During fifteen years as an executive at skyscraping banks like
Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, and Lehman Brothers, Prins never lost
her ability to see the broader picture. She walked away from the
game in 2002 out of disgust with the burgeoning corporate
corruption, just as its magnitude was becoming clear to the public.
In this acclaimed exposé, named one of the best books of 2004 by
The Economist, Barron's, Library Journal, and The Progressive,
Prins provides fascinating firsthand details of day-to-day life in
the financial leviathans, with all its rich absurdities. She
demonstrates how the much-publicized fraud of recent years resulted
from deregulation that trashed the rules of responsible corporate
behavior, and not simply the unbridled greed of a select few. While
the stock market roared on the back of phony balance sheets,
executives made out like bandits and Congress looked the other way.
Worse yet, as the new foreword to this edition makes clear,
everything remains in place for a repeat performance.
Who rules America? All the Presidents' Bankers is a ground-breaking
narrative of how an elite group of men transformed the American
economy and government, dictated foreign and domestic policy, and
shaped world history.Culled from original presidential archival
documents, All the Presidents' Bankers delivers an explosive
account of the hundred-year interdependence between the White House
and Wall Street that transcends a simple analysis of money driving
politics,or greed driving bankers.Prins ushers us into the intimate
world of exclusive clubs, vacation spots, and Ivy League
universities that binds presidents and financiers. She unravels the
multi-generational blood, intermarriage, and protege relationships
that have confined national influence to a privileged cluster of
people. These families and individuals recycle their power through
elected office and private channels in Washington, DC. All the
Presidents' Bankers sheds new light on pivotal historic events,such
as why, after the Panic of 1907, America's dominant bankers
convened to fashion the Federal Reserve System how J. P. Morgan's
ambitions motivated President Wilson during World War I how Chase
and National City Bank chairmen worked secretly with President
Roosevelt to rescue capitalism during the Great Depression while
J.P. Morgan Jr. invited Roosevelt's son yachting and how American
financiers collaborated with President Truman to construct the
World Bank and IMF after World War II.Prins divulges how, through
the Cold War and Vietnam era, presidents and bankers pushed
America's superpower status and expansion abroad, while promoting
broadly democratic values and social welfare at home. But from the
1970s, Wall Street's rush to secure Middle East oil profits altered
the nature of political-financial alliances. Bankers' profit motive
trumped heritage and allegiance to public service, while presidents
lost control over the economy,as was dramatically evident in the
financial crisis of 2008.This unprecedented history of American
power illuminates how the same financiers retained their
authoritative position through history, swaying presidents
regardless of party affiliation. All the Presidents' Bankers
explores the alarming global repercussions of a system lacking
barriers between public office and private power. Prins leaves us
with an ominous choice: either we break the alliances of the power
elite, or they will break us.
After months of various drafts and political infighting, Congress
finally passed, and President Obama signed into law, a bill that
was supposedly the biggest financial reform bill in decades. The
big question is, do the supporters of this bill really believe it
will change Wall Street? Or do they simply hope it'll be enough to
placate us so the status quo can be validated? Nomi Prins assumes
the latter, because they can't be that naive. In It Takes a
Pillage, former Wall Street insider turned muckraking journalist
Nomi Prins explains how we are building a new bubble with more
leverage, bigger bonuses, rampant speculation and fraud, amid
extended unemployment and personal financial decline. The cowering
of Washington bureaucrats in the face of the power and influence
exerted by the Big Banks threatens the economic well-being of us
all. The scariest part is that, for all the trillions that have
been spent or remain committed to the bloated stalwarts of Wall
Street, our economic system is still in disarray. Average Americans
continue to struggle while the banks are once again rolling in
outsized profits and obscene bonuses. It Takes a Pillage is packed
with the information you need to understand the financial crisis
and what has followed, and to gain deeper insight into how to fight
for real change.
This mesmerizing historical novel captures the swirl of New York
City's greed, power, romance and desperation on the cusp of the
Great Stock Market Crash of 1929 and Great Depression, eerily
mirroring the present. In this vivid tableau of New York with its
colorful, diverse cast of characters, Black Tuesday evokes the
passion and atmospheric tension of one of our most fascinating
historical epochs. From the beleaguered immigrant community of the
Lower East Side to the feral pit of Wall Street and the alluring
glitter of Park Avenue, Nomi Prins reveals a world of fraud,
obsession and economic devastation in a turbulent era that shines a
revealing, and disturbing, light on today's world. Black Tuesday is
an epic saga that probes the complex intersections of class, family
loyalty, desire, and the terrible consequences of deception,
avarice, and power. Meet Leila Khan - a vivacious, determined
immigrant, struggling to find her purpose in a tumultuous America.
Her job at a Wall Street diner introduces her to banker, Roderick
Morgan - a captivating yet haunted alcoholic - controlled by his
ruthless uncle, bank mogul Jack Morgan. As Leila and Roderick's
flirtations deepen into an illicit affair, Leila becomes a marked
woman in more ways than one. She uncovers dark, dangerous secrets
about Jack's business deals, and Roderick's role in them. But when
a body plunges from the top of the Morgan Bank, Leila's world comes
crashing down around her. Trying to balance an allegiance to her
family, and a fierce need for the truth, Leila delves into a
shadowy world of wealth and corruption. In the process she
discovers startling facts about both the Wall Street Empire and
herself. Her dilemma is timeless and universal, asking the
questions - who are we as individuals? As a country? What is it we
finally want to become?
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