by Alan Beattie
First published 2012
The global financial crisis spreads from American suburbs to banks, businesses, and governments worldwide. Economist and journalist Alan Beattie investigates this economic chaos and finds a troubling answer: often nobody is steering the ship. The United States faces political divisions that weaken its traditional leadership role since World War II. Rising powers like China, India, and Brazil challenge American authority but lack unity to provide their own direction. Europe struggles with slow, unwieldy policy frameworks as eurozone countries slide toward crisis. Beattie compares the situation to quarrelsome architects redesigning a house during a fire. He examines how international institutions like the IMF sometimes work and often fail. Governments scramble to respond as economic ground shifts beneath them. Beattie offers readers a clear explanation of spectacular leadership failures and rare bright spots in crisis management, revealing how globalization's speed and complexity became vulnerabilities when trouble struck.
Genres: business, political-science, politics, economics, non-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism
Setting: America, Brazil, China, Europe, India
Period: 21st-century
ebook · Penguin