This cautionary tale explains how the murky and complex world of mortgage finance caused a global market meltdown-and offers new insights on how to create a stronger world of banking and mortgage finance. Years after the economic crisis of the late 2000s, Americans still want to know what went wrong-and why. Black Box Casino: How Wall Street's Risky Shadow Banking Crashed Global Finance provides an accurate and understandable explanation, compiling and interpreting mountains of evidence to provide clear analysis and insight into the crisis that traumatized people and institutions around the globe. The book provides a thorough, in-depth examination of the multiple contributing factors. The author goes back as far as 15 years before the crisis to show how the well-intentioned idea of providing home ownership prompted a government led effort to steadily weaken credit standards. He assigns partial blame on regulators that were unaware of growing levels of risk, ignored mounting evidence of a housing bubble, and failed to grasp the unintended consequences of certain regulations. The origins of the overload of subprime collateralized debt obligations that led to concentrated risks on the balance sheets of many large banks around the world are also explained. Charts and graphs A bibliography

China, the world's most populous nation, will enter a period of rapid aging very shortly that will redefine that country. Between 2010 and 2040, the portion of people 65 and older will rise from around 7% to between 25 and 30% of the population. As China ages, can it retain the youthful dynamism now driving it? China, the world's most populous nation, will enter a period of rapid aging very shortly that will redefine that country. Between 2010 and 2040, the number of people 65 and older will rise from around 7% to between 25 and 30% of the population. As China ages, can it retain the youthful dynamism now driving it? This book is an effort to try to capture the broad outlines of the significant economic, market, social, and demographic factors that will shape the future of China and the role that aging will play in the whole mix of influences. Aging in developed societies and economies has been widely studied. In such nations as Japan, Germany, Italy, and Spain, for example, we know that as populations age, their societies decline, leaving fewer younger workers to support the growing number of people who will become dependent on costly health care systems, or whose basic needs, such as food and shelter, will need to be subsidized. But less work has been done in assessing the potential impact of aging in developing countries, where the majority of people may be working poor, not middle class-as in the case of China. As China restructures its economy, the old benefits packages previously available to urban workers (and not rural workers) are being replaced by a patchwork of benefits across a wide range of enterprises.

China, the world's most populous nation, will enter a period of rapid aging very shortly that will redefine that country. Between 2010 and 2040, the portion of people 65 and older will rise from around 7% to between 25 and 30% of the population. As China ages, can it retain the youthful dynamism now driving it? China, the world's most populous nation, will enter a period of rapid aging very shortly that will redefine that country. Between 2010 and 2040, the number of people 65 and older will rise from around 7% to between 25 and 30% of the population. As China ages, can it retain the youthful dynamism now driving it? This book is an effort to try to capture the broad outlines of the significant economic, market, social, and demographic factors that will shape the future of China and the role that aging will play in the whole mix of influences. Aging in developed societies and economies has been widely studied. In such nations as Japan, Germany, Italy, and Spain, for example, we know that as populations age, their societies decline, leaving fewer younger workers to support the growing number of people who will become dependent on costly health care systems, or whose basic needs, such as food and shelter, will need to be subsidized. But less work has been done in assessing the potential impact of aging in developing countries, where the majority of people may be working poor, not middle class—as in the case of China. As China restructures its economy, the old benefits packages previously available to urban workers (and not rural workers) are being replaced by a patchwork of benefits across a wide range of enterprises.