The bestselling author reveals how the U.S. financial sector has hijacked our economy and put America's 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 Phillips's 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. America's current challenges (and failures) run striking parallels to the decline of previous leading world economic powers--especially 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 megafinance--the 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 world's 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 Phillips's last book, whose dire warnings are now proving frighteningly accurate.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Bad Money is right on the Money:
After listening to this audio book I felt like I was beginning to understand some of the financial quagmire big money has gotten our country into, perhaps it will make me a wiser investor. I have bought this book for several of my friends.
Overpopulation---the neglected cause of the next depression:
Kevin Philips has written an excellent book describing the current meltdown of the US economy and building a strong case that the US may well be headed towards a second great depression. He also makes the connection with scarcity of cheap oil, arguing that this is one of the reasons that the US may fall from its position of leadership. The facts presented are chilling, but present only part of the story. For years, Americans have been ignoring one of the most serious problems they face, and... more info
Phillips:
This is a great book about the origins our our current financial straits. It's not a light read but compelling and thought provoking to be sure. It details America's rise as global financial hegemon and offers predictions about what the future of the global economy will look like. Phillips offers four predictions for the future of the world economy namely that (1) Asia will dominate the global economy by 2030 (2) China will be the dominant player within Asia (3) Some city with a large Chinese... more info
A Major Disappointment:
This review covers the audio version of Bad Money, which runs 8 cds. I am a fan of Kevin Phillips, so this audio book was a major disappointment. I found the text disorganized, ill-focused, pompous, and too long by a half. It wasn't until well into disk 2 that he stated his major thesis, then he went off AGAIN on some tangent or another, jumping forward and backward in time, disgressing repeatedly, alternating between being descriptive and analytic. I couldn't follow "the plot" and quit listening mid-way... more info
