Finance

There is ... an obvious risk of political capture by the financial elite. In the United States, to a greater degree than in any other advanced democracy, politics is driven almost entirely by money. Wealthy individuals and the organizations they control can mold government policy through political contributions and lobbying, often producing outcomes that are clearly at odds with what the public actually wants. As those at the apex of the income distribution become increasingly detached - living in a kind of bubble that insulates them almost entirely from the realities faced by typical Americans - there is a real risk that they will be unwilling to support investment in the public goods and infrastructure upon which everyone else depends. The soaring fortunes of those at the very top may ultimately represent a threat to democratic governance." Martin Ford: The Rise of the Robots
The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled dry American empire, reads like a Who's Who of Goldman Sachs graduates." Matt Taibi

Report: Recommendations for Systemic Reform to Create a Safe and Just Financial System (11/25/2020)

Private Equity Firms Have Caused Painful Job Losses And More Are Coming (10/30/2019)

Is the road to bankruptcy paved by private equity? (11/9/2018)

The US is not ready for the next recession. Here's why (1/18/2018)

Yellen and Draghi oppose Trump's Financial Deregulation (8/27/2017)

Donald Trump Plans to Undo Dodd-Frank Law, Fiduciary Rule (2/3/2017)

The GOP Plan To Dismantle Dodd-Frank (6/7/2016)

Krugman: Why Wall Street Tycoons Are Panicking About the 2016 Election
Financiers are doing whatever they can to elect a Republican, any Republican
. (10/16/2015)

Fed Cred Dead (9/21/2015)

Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act turns five years old (7/21/2015)

Introducing The Gigantic And Dangerous Wall Street Loophole You’ve Never Heard Of (8/22/2015)

When a Black Swan Flies Over Wall Street’s House of Cards (7/13/2015)

Sanders Files Bill to Break Up Big Banks (5/6/2015)

The Republican Plan to Destroy the CFPB (1/16/2015)

Graph: How the Financial Sector Consumed America’s Economic Growth (2/23/2013)

Video

The Big Short

The Flaw (Movie) 2011

Bibliography

Homewreckers, Scorching Examination of Greed: by Aaron Glantz

Private Equity at Work, Eileen Appelbaum

Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power by David Dayen. Here are endnotes.

The Only Game in Town, Central Banks, Instability, and Avoiding the Next Collapse: Mohamed A. El-Erian

How the Other Half Banks: Mehrsa Baradaran

The Myth of the Rational Market, a History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street: Justin Fox

Meltdown: How Greed and Corruption Shattered Our Financial System and How We Can Recover, Katrina Vanden Heuvel and the Editors of the Nation

Liar's Poker: Michael Lewis

The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street: Robert Scheer

Selling America Short: Richard C. Sauer

The Buyout of America: How Private Equity Will Cause the Next Great Credit Crisis: Josh Kosman

The Cheating of America: How Tax Avoidance and Evasion by the Super Rich Are Costing the Country Billions - and What You Can Do About It: Charles Lewis And Bill Allison and the Center for Public Integrity