Item Description
The bestselling author reveals how the U.S. financial sector has hijacked our economy and put Americas global future at risk In American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips warned us of the perilous interaction of debt, financial recklessness, and the increasing cost of scarce oil. The current housing and mortgage debacle is proof once more of Phillipss prescience, and only the first harbinger of a national crisis. In Bad Money, Phillips describes the consequences of our misguided economic policies, our mounting debt, our collapsing housing market, our threatened oil, and the end of American domination of world markets. Americas current challenges (and failures) run striking parallels to the decline of previous leading world economic powersespecially the Dutch and British. Global overreach, worn-out politics, excessive debt, and exhausted energy regimes are all chilling signals that the United States is crumbling as the world superpower. Bad money refers to a new phenomenon in wayward megafinancethe emergence of a U.S. economy that is globally dependent and dominated by hubris-driven financial services. Also bad are the risk miscalculations and strategic abuses of new multitrillion-dollar products such as asset-backed securities and the lure of buccaneering vehicles like hedge funds. Finally, the U.S. dollar has been turned into bad money as it has weakened and become vulnerable to the worlds other currencies. In all these ways, bad finance has failed the American people and pointed U.S. capitalism toward a global crisis. Bad Money is the perfect follow- up to Phillipss last book, whose dire warnings are now proving frighteningly accurate.
Product Details
- Author: Kevin Phillips
- Publication Date: 2008-04-15
- Publisher: Viking Adult
- Product Group: Book
- Manufacturer: Viking Adult
- Binding: Hardcover, 256 pages
- Package Dimensions:
- Dimensions: 910L x 610W x 100H
- Weight: 70
- List Price: $25.95
- ISBN: 1615569103
- ASIN: B002HOQ9DE
Buying Options
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Customer Reviews
Average Amazon User Rating: 
Very good book
2010-07-03
Reviewer: K. Christensen
Explains, to a regular person, what it is that banksters say "we" "wouldnt understand". Makes the idea of the Masters of the Universe being "brilliant" look absurd
The future economic forecast for America seems rather dreary...
2010-02-04
Reviewer: Kron
I think many of the reviews here have done an excellent job of giving the interested readers a good overview of the subject matter in the book as well as some thoughtful insight into the author's background. So I will not attempt to give a summary but just my personal opinion of the book.
I do not have a strong background in finance or history so at times the book's subject matter was hard to grasp, but thankfully the author has obvious theses to every chapter and hits on the main themes of his book several times. I really enjoyed the chapters on finance, bullnomics, securitization, and oil. I will say that some of the numbers he gives are absolutely astonishing. It is scary to think what the future may hold for the US and its burgeoning debt.
I would recommend this book to those interested in understanding the background of the current economic climate. For the average layman (such as myself) this book can be a difficult read, but I guarantee that if you stick with it you will be rewarded with some priceless gems of knowledge that most Americans are completely unaware.
Singularly accurate economic analysis
2009-12-24
Reviewer: C2CRev
The reason Bad Money had to be updated is because Phillips' work is so prophetic and so seminal all his 2008-09 readers watched its analysis and predictions come faultlessly true for two years, and we want to know what's happening tomorrow. He totally got it right that Washington "banked on" financialization as the economic sector to carry the US through globalization. He correctly analyzed it as a "mercantilist joint venture with the US government." He correctly layed out our economic future in 2006, and it all came to pass. Many saved fortunes and made big money in bad times because they read Kevin Phillips in 2006. Now, America ignores Kevin Phillips at its peril.
All that's left is to discover how China will take over the world economy in the next forty years. Phillips lays out several roads, and they all go through Peking. Washington plays rhetorical games with Adam Smith vs. J.M. Keynes vs. John Birch--blind to historical, global, economic reality.
Washington cannot fix what they pretend doesn't exist, and all we get from Republicans in pandering about how far right of laissez faire we should direct our broken economy. Then, all we get from Democrats is wallpapered re-regulation of the financial sector that leaves the same bad apples and spoofed theories in control such that we might make money the old way for three more years. Then, we shall surely crash thereafter due to this 20 year con game and gutless political inability to extract ourselves from control of the damaging sectors: financial, oil and war-making.
Two years ago I read the original printing and said, "We are doomed." I search this update in hope that I was wrong. We are double-doomed.
On target
2009-09-18
Reviewer: Douglas J. Wolf
Kevin Phillips has made some brilliant predictions in his long career and and like all prognosticators,some bad ones. In this tome, he hits the target by clearly showing the growth and eventual overwhelming influence and control Wall Street has on the Congress. While this book was out before the death of Lehman Brothers, he predicted the scenario of an over leveraged market and how taxpayers would be expected to bail the crooks out. I would recommend this book to those who want a background on the how finance become more important than manufacturing in this country, which is a very bad occurrence. A more up to date reading is Inside The Great American Bubble Machine by Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone. Marketing Me Book: How to keep your job in any economy
Informative
2009-09-12
Reviewer: Francis E. Carr
It was very informative. The author was non partisan and objective, not placing blame on just one group or party.
