by Matt Taibbi
First published 2010
The 2008 financial crisis was not an accident but a calculated heist. Matt Taibbi reveals how a network of financial elites and complicit politicians has systematically transferred wealth upward for decades. He traces this movement back to Ayn Rand's philosophy and Alan Greenspan's influence at the Federal Reserve. Taibbi exposes the backroom deals that determined bailout winners and losers. He uncovers a hidden commodities bubble that enriched Wall Street while creating global food shortages. The book shows how finance controls politics, from investment bankers selling off American infrastructure to the defeat of healthcare reform. Goldman Sachs emerges as the prime example of corporate predation. Through investigative reporting and insider sources, Taibbi maps the complex financial mechanisms and political maneuvers that have hijacked American democracy and economics.
Genres: business, american, economics, non-fiction, 21st-century, finance
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: expose, insider-information
Setting: America, Wall Street
Period: 2008
253 pages · Hardcover · Spiegel & Grau