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The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It |  | Author: Les Leopold
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
List Price: $14.95
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as of 11/24/2009 13:16 CST details
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Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 4475
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 1603582053
Dewey Decimal Number: 330.973
EAN: 9781603582056
ASIN: 1603582053
Publication Date: June 2, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"I loved this book. A worms'-eye dissection of the Wall Street crisis from a very sharp and very knowledgeable labor economist. Here's hoping that before the Washington consensus gets set in stone, policymakers will read it and reflect on the havoc the masters of the universe have wreaked on ordinary people."
--Charles Morris, author of The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash and Money, Greed, and Risk: Why Financial Crises and Crashes Happen How could the best and brightest (and most highly paid) in finance crash the global economy and then get us to bail them out as well? What caused this mess in the first place? Housing? Greed? Dumb politicians? What can Main Street do about it?In The Looting of America, Leopold debunks the prevailing media myths that blame low-income home buyers who got in over their heads, people who ran up too much credit-card debt, and government interference with free markets. Instead, readers will discover how Wall Street undermined itself and the rest of the economy by playing and losing at a highly lucrative and dangerous game of fantasy finance.He also asks some tough questions:- Why did Americans let the gap between workers' wages and executive compensation grow so large?
- Why did we fail to realize that the excess money in those executives' pockets was fueling casino-style investment schemes?
- Why did we buy the notion that too-good-to-be-true financial products that no one could even understand would somehow form the backbone of America's new, postindustrial economy?
- How do we make sure we never give our wages away to gamblers again?
- And what can we do to get our money back?
In this page-turning narrative (no background in finance required) Leopold tells the story of how we fell victim to Wall Street's exotic financial products. Readers learn how even school districts were taken in by "innovative" products like collateralized debt obligations, better known as CDOs, and how they sucked trillions of dollars from the global economy when they failed. They'll also learn what average Americans can do to ensure that fantasy finance never rules our economy again.As the country teeters on the brink of what could be the next Great Depression, we should be especially wary of the so-called financial experts who got us here, and then conveniently got themselves out. So far, it appears they've won the battle, but The Looting of America refuses to let them write the history—or plan its aftermath.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 37
 Good but... October 24, 2009
JFGrissom (San Diego, CA. USA)
2 out of 11 found this review helpful
This book feels like a blogger just put it all in a paperback.
The author demonstrates some creative writing that clearly expresses his disdain for those who simply did what they thought was best (for better or worse) for themselves.
He sites many tired old examples of how people create false economies (think tulip bulb craze of the 1600's) that are inflated by the irrational behavior of people as if it is some kind of profound thing...
He bashes anyone who has found wealth by influencing many and simply is an author that has little to say that is remarkable.
Just another complainer on the net that managed to get published...
What did he offer as a solution... nothing tangible... anyone can complain...
For all the research that went into this book, I expected a LOT more on at least some kind of speculative solution... anything! This was the best he could come up with? REALLY?
A book that drones on about how we are victimized by our own stupidity?
REALLY, that is all he had to say?
How about a solution, rather than just complaining... he simply added some research to his complaining and got it published...
Focus on the solution and one might be found... keep focusing on the problem and we'll keep getting more problems...
Really a totally worthless book...
 Great Book October 5, 2009
Jaime V. Valdivia
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It gives a real good break down on how this whole economy got into this mess. The example a are simple to follow and you can see how without regulations or standards put into place in the financial industry this has a good chance of happening again.
 Jim's Review of Looting of America September 24, 2009
J. R. Baldwin
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I could not put this book down. How did this come to pass? WARNING: The more you read the madder you will get.
Economics as Compelling Reading? Miraculous! September 18, 2009
M. Hill (Colorado)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Coming at this from an accountant's perspective (zzzzzzzzzzzz) this book is fascinating. Our viewpoint is historical and rooted in black and white numbers. Record financial transactions and results accurately so they can be examined after the fact and reasonable conclusions reached. Profit, loss, why? Which subsidiary failed to pull its weight? Which product didn't sell? What steps can we suggest to tighten up the performance of the business to ensure financial stability and reasonable growth? So, my hope was to read a clearly written analysis of what happened, what caused the financial collapse of 2008? This book largely delivers a reasonable explanation of the root causes and presents it in an understandable manner.
I gave the book four stars instead of five because the author freely expresses his political slant, which undermines acceptance of his conclusions by those who disagree with his politics. Leopold has good arguments to make but by putting his political views into the book he provides an opening for those of the opposite persuasion to claim he has a vested interest in reaching certain conclusions. It was a brave move, but the smarter approach may have been to simply leave out his leanings and simply state his premise and let it stand or fall on its own merits, thus reaching a larger audience. The message is too important to be lost in a fight over right and left.
Les Leopold to the rescue September 17, 2009
A. Hogan (Brooklyn, NY USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
One year ago today, Wall St was in a meltdown of epic proportion, John McCain was dooming his campaign further without his dimwit vp by assessing that the economy "was basically sound" Goldman sachs, the predator of predators, was licking its chops as one after another brokerage house went belly up, and fast.How the hell did this happen? wasnt anyone minding the bank{No not really, as you'll see] Mr Leopold traces the lessening of banking laws [by the odious Phil Gramm, slated at one point to be Senator McCains treasury secretary!}in the LATE 90'S,the generAL lack of regulation by the Bushies,{ and the democrats, too} and the eventual collapse. The results were[are] frightening especially since THEY ARE DOING THE DAME DAN THING AGAIN! As mR LEOPOLD pREDICTS THEY WILL. a FRUSTRATING ,ENLIGHTENING, EXASPERATING BOOK,BECUASE, UPON COMPLETION, YOU REALIZE THAT THESE BASTARDS HAVE HELD THE COUNTRY UP AT GUNPOINT,AND GOTTEN OFF.NOW THAT IS A TRUE CRIME.WONDER IF THEY'LL BE A REALITY SERIES ABOUT THAT?
Showing reviews 1-5 of 37
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