BAD MONEY: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, And The Global Crisis Of American Capitalism

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BAD MONEY: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, And The Global Crisis Of American Capitalism
by Haj Seyd Mammad
21-Sep-2008
 

Bill Moyers sits down with former Nixon White House strategist and political and economic critic Kevin Phillips, whose latest book BAD MONEY: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, And The Global Crisis Of American Capitalism explores the role that the crumbling financial sector played in the now-fragile American economy.

Recently, even people unaccustomed to paying mind to the world of finance suddenly began to learn a lot about terms like sub-prime mortgages, securitization, derivatives and, more ominously, negative equity, and the great unwind.

And now, when several blue-chip firms have failed in rapid succession, many Americans are getting another crash course in high finance as they try to understand the collapses, buy-outs, and government takeovers of respected household names like Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and American International Group (AIG).

This is the denouement (final outcome) of the 25-year debt buildup which was undertaken mostly by the financial sector putting themselves on steroids to-- get bigger and bigger and bigger. And we've finally gotten to the point where the bubble isn't sustainable anymore but a lot of Wall Street is dedicated to minimizing the spattering of the bubble, so to speak.

Phillips explains that these are the fruits of what he calls the "financialization" of the United States: the decline of manufacturing and the rise of finance as the central driver of the nation's GDP.

So bit by bit, they got bigger. And the other reason they got bigger was because this became a country that was further and further in debt. Consumerism was just pushed to the nth degree. People were given the sense that they had to buy everything and they had to borrow to do it increasingly.

Kevin Phillips is a political analyst, historian and author of thirteen books. Mr. Phillips first gained prominence as the chief political strategist for Richard Nixon during the 1968 election. In 1969, he published THE EMERGING REPUBLICAN MAJORITY, which forecasted a major shift to the right in electoral politics - a prediction that has been remarkably accurate.

His books have covered the range of history, politics and economics. In 1990, THE POLITICS OF RICH AND POOR, a critique of Reagan-Bush economics; in 2004, AMERICAN DYNASTY: ARISTOCRACY, FORTUNE, AND THE POLITICS OF DECEIT IN THE HOUSE OF BUSH. And in 2006, AMERICAN THEOCRACY explored the corrosive influence of oil, fundamentalist religion and debt on American democracy.

I highly recommend this book and interview to everyone. I found them very informative.

Hope you find it interesting:

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History Of U.S. Finanace

by Anonymous - 249 (not verified) on Sun Sep 21, 2008 09:43 PM PDT

Based on my reading of the history of U.S. Finance, it was pretty typical to have a "Depression" of sorts every 50 years or so. By that I mean, before 1929, if one goes back 50 years or so before that, there was some type of a depression in the 1870's, and similarly even one 50 years before that.

However, by the measures that they have put it in place, through Federal Reserve, etc., they have essenially "Delayed" this Major Correction that is bound to take place.

There are many who believe that such major correction, as took place in 1929, is just part of the nature of the beast called "Capitalism". Meaning that every 50 years or so, the Free Market Capitalist System gathers sufficient critical mass to collapse on its won weight.

There are also others who say that by "Delaying" such major corrections through the measures taken by Federal reserve, etc., that the Major Correction which would "Inevitably" come, would be much worse.

I want to share one other thing with you: On the television, they were interviewing a Religious Scholar who said that in the "Biblical" times, there was a year called the "Year Of Jubliee", which all Debts, etc. were forgiven. He indicated that the "Year Of Jubliee" took place about once every 50 years or so, and its intent was to give an opportunity to everyone to start with a clean state.

I guess in this "Secular" Economics that we have, it pretty much duplicates the "Year of Jubilee" without much of the religious implications.

All in all, Very Interesting :) Thank you for the video


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Haj Seyd Mammad

Some 'Reviews' Of This Book

by Haj Seyd Mammad on Sun Sep 21, 2008 08:18 PM PDT

Tim Rutten, Los Angeles Times:
Kevin Phillips' new book, "Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism," would be sobering enough if it were the first we'd ever heard from him. When you take into account how often he's been right in the past, this 14th volume in his continuing commentary on the American condition becomes positively alarming.

The New York Times - Daniel Gross:
Bad Money is perfectly timed for the present, as the foul stench of moldering debt and American decline lingers in the concrete canyons of Manhattan…Phillips is an entertaining writer. His prose is full of jabs and one-two combinations that keep things moving briskly.


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This is the most ...

by Hans Graebel (not verified) on Sun Sep 21, 2008 04:35 PM PDT

comprehesnive, and perhaps unbiased, account of all the activities of Wall Street and Government that I have heard in quite sometime.

There is no question in my mind that America's 'Chickens' are coming to 'Roost'.

Tks for the video - Informative, but alarming :) - It look like 1930's, dejavu, all over again!!


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