Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis ofAmerican Capitalism

by Kevin Phillips

Overview

In his acclaimed book American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips warned of the perilous interaction of debt, financial recklessness, and the spiking cost (and growing scarcity) of oil- warnings that are proving to be frighteningly accurate. Now, in his most significant and timely book yet, Phillips takes the full measure of this crisis. They are a part of what he calls "bad money"- not just the depreciated dollar, but also the dangerous attitudes and the flawed products of wayward mega-finance. His devastating conclusion: In its hubris, the financial sector has hijacked the American economy and put our very global future at risk-and it may be too late to stop it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143114802
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/31/2009
Edition description:	Updated
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kevin Phillips has been a political and economic commentator for more than three decades. A former White House strategist, he is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times and NPR and writes for Harper’s and Time. His books include New York Times bestsellers The Politics of Rich and Poor and Wealth and Democracy.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Revised Edition: After the Fall: The Inexcusable Failure of American Fianance xi

1 Introduction: The Panic of August 1

2 Finance: The New Real Economy? 29

3 Bullnomics: Its Favoritism and Fictions 69

4 Securitization: The Insecurity of It All 96

5 Peak Oil: A Potential Pivot of the 2010s 120

6 The Politics of Evasion: Debt, Finance, and Oil 154

7 The Global Crisis of American Capitalism 179

Afterword: Speculative Capitalism Endangered: The Domestic and Global Consequenses 210

Appendix: Global Public Opinion and the Loss of Respect for the United States, 2003-7 237

Notes 241

Index 261

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A harrowing picture of national danger that no American reader will welcome, but that none should ignore. . . . Frighteningly persuasive."
-Alan Brinkley, The New York Times

"An indispensable presentation of the case against things as they are."
-Time

"Sobering . . . positively alarming."
-Los Angeles Times

Editorial Reviews

"A harrowing picture of national danger that no American reader will welcome, but that none should ignore. . . . Frighteningly persuasive."
-Alan Brinkley, The New York Times

"An indispensable presentation of the case against things as they are."
-Time

"Sobering . . . positively alarming."
-Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

There is no one quite like Kevin Phillips. As a political strategist, he earned fame and presidential recognition as the author of The Coming Republican Majority, but since then his astute political and economic commentary has cut across party lines, excoriating leaders on both sides for ineptitude and cowardice. Bad Money might be best seen as the even more focused sequel to his American Theocracy. Clearly, Phillips thinks that the situation has grown worse since that 2006 book: "The parallel to the historical Achilles heels of previous leading world economic powers -- global over-reach, worn-out politics, excessive debt, financialization and exhausted energy regions -- are chilling." No simple jeremiad, Bad Money is an alarum against the politics of evasion.

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.
—The New York Times

Daniel Gross

Longtime political and economic commentator Phillips continues the theme of his American Theocracy(2006)-also narrated by Scott Brick (www.scottbrickpresents.com)-with this gloomy projection of a major economic storm brewing on the horizon. Here, Phillips again draws parallels between our current situation and the declines of 17thcentury Spain, the 18thcentury Dutch Republic, and early 20thcentury Britain, parallels over which historians and economists will likely quibble. However, even if his moody pessimism is not entirely defensible, his warnings should provide useful fodder for enlightened, learned voters in the exhausting 2008 presidential campaign. Brick's steady pacing will help listeners sustain focus throughout this informationpacked read. Recommended for university libraries supporting business and economics curricula and for larger public libraries. [Also recorded by Books on Tape. 8 CDs. unabridged. ISBN 9781415949900
—Dale Farris

Library Journal