Griftopia
The financial crisis that exploded in 2008 was only a prologue. The rise, fall, and rescue of Wall Street in the bubble-and-bailout era was the coming-out party for the network of looters who sit at the nexus of American political and economic power. The grifter class--made up of the largest players in the financial industry and the politicians who do their bidding--has been growing in power for a generation, transferring wealth upward through increasingly complex financial mechanisms and political maneuvers. The crisis was only one terrifying manifestation of how they've hijacked America's political and economic life. Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi here unravels the story, digging beyond the headlines to get into the deeper roots and wider implications. He traces the movement's origins to Ayn Rand and her most influential acolyte, Alan Greenspan; he uncovers the hidden commodities bubble that transferred billions of dollars to Wall Street while creating food shortages around the world; and he shows how finance dominates politics with an inside account of the high-stakes battle for health-care reform--a battle the true reformers lost.--From publisher description.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
10mentions
10people
2011–2025years
50% recommend50% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Well, whether they manufacture consent or dissent depends entirely on what party currently controls the White House and the Congress. So he's half-right. I'm a big fan of Taibbi's writing, and especially his books. "Griftopia" was pretty good, too. He's a rare breed - a liberal who is also willing to criticize liberals when they deserve it.
- The article assumes knowledge of facts surrounding the financial crisis. There's plenty written elsewhere about that.
Here's a sampling of books and blogs to comprehend what led to the Great Financial Crisis.
* Griftopia by Matt Taibbi
* https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-9-bi...
- Taibbi has published "Griftopia", a book which I heartily recommend. Perhaps the least partisan of his works, because everyone in it gets it: republicans and democrats alike. Even Obama, believe it or not. He has a knack for explaining complex things in simple ways without cutting that many corners to make them understandable by mere mortals. If you are to this day not entirely sure why the financial crisis happened, you need to read this book. Dude really reminds me of the late Hunter S Thompson.
- If you haven't already, please read Matt Taibbi's Griftopia: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003F3FJS2/ref=dp-kindle-re...
He covers the nitty gritty details on mortgage collapse in an approachable and enlightening fashion. His book lends weight to your assertion about coastal discord.
- The article is a long-winded piece of piffle that says nothing in particular. I would say it was even planted by the banks themselves. After all it easy to use soft criticisms to divert attention from the harsher ones that will receive more attention in the absence of such mild diversionary ones.
Readers don't understanding the sheer duplicitous nature of the media, even the liberal ones who appear critical towards the banks. They simply don't explain the facts that would result in the public asking for bank chiefs to be summarily executed like they occasionally do in China. It makes you wonder whether the writer is a shill, whether the editor chose the most clueless reporter to write about the issue, deliberately or otherwise. I never understood why Max Keiser repeatedly called for the bankers to be hanged until I read Griftopia by Matt Taibbi. Its such an eye opener. I can't even understand most of the instruments involved I see enough to understand why Max Keiser called for their hanging.
Turner’s viewpoint caused consternation in the City of London, the world’s largest financial market? Is the writer serious? That is the City sounding like Brer Rabbit asking not to be thrown in the briar patch.
Let us take US for instance. $1.4 trillion would have been enough to pay of the all subprime mortgages which were allegedly at the heart of the crisis. Why then will the bailout cost $15 trillion? Who then incurred the additional $14 trillion in debt taxpayers, their grandchildren and their great grandchildren are saddled with?
Turner's statement that what investment bankers do is socially worthless must be the understatement of the millennium.
- Matt Taibbi coined the term Griftopia. This problem needs to be investigated, but unfortunately it's being used as cover for larger crimes at the moment.
It's important to maintain perspective here, as one side has an immediate need for this issue to act as a shield. I'm happy to handle this grift, but first I'd like the corrupt politicians out. Sadly we may be in a holding pattern until midterms or all the way until the next presidential elections.
If Bush put us in a quagmire unknowingly, Trump is putting us in one deliberately.
Anyway, just randomly looking at one zip code in Manhattan:
$237,559,093.66 (total loans).
I don't know the answers.
