Name: The long twentieth century
ISBN: 9781844673049

What Hacker News says

kranke155Feb 2026

You could read The Long Twentieth Century by Giovanni Arrighi.

Fiat money is not the problem, the financialization of economy is actually a common by-product of aging great monetary powers. The US chose to become a monetary power in 1945, rejecting Keynes' Bancor proposal.

Then in 1971, it found it couldn't keep it working, due to the very reasons Keynes explained to them at Bretton Woods. Arrighi argues this has happened 4 times already.

So Fiat money and the financialization of life is just an outcome of something else - that being a monetary superpower is just not sustainable.

thread

mitchelldeacon9Mar 2020

I studied economics in college, then I worked for a few years as a business journalist before I finally switched careers to IT systems engineering. The following is a list of my favorite books on financial securities, banking and investment theory. These books are generally comprehensible to anyone with an interest in the subject, regardless of their educational background.

Arrighi, Giovanni (1994) The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Our Times

Brealey, Myers, Allen (2011) Principles of Corporate Finance, 10th ed.

Bruck, Connie (1988) Predators' Ball: Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and Rise of Junk Bond Raiders

Fisher, Philip (2003) Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings, 2nd ed.

Fridson, Martin and Fernando Alvarez (2002) Financial Statement Analysis, 3rd ed.

Graham, Benjamin, J. Zweig, D. Dodd (2006/08) Intelligent Investor, rev ed; Security Analysis, 6th ed.

Greenblatt, Joel (1999) You Can Be a Stock Market Genius

Greenwald, Kahn, Sonkin, Biema (2001) Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond

Henwood, Doug (1997) Wall Street: How It Works and for Whom

Levitt, Arthur (2003) Take on the Street: How to Fight for Your Financial Future

Lewis, Michael (2010/1989) Big Short; Liar's Poker

Lynch, Peter and John Rothchild (2000) One Up on Wall Street, 2nd ed.

Mishkin, Frederic (2004) Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets, 7th ed.

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2005/10) Fooled by Randomness, 2nd ed.; Black Swan: Impact of the Highly Improbable, 2nd ed.

Vilar, Pierre (1976) A History of Gold and Money: 1450-1920

Tracy, John A. (2009) How to Read a Financial Report: Wringing Vital Signs out of the Numbers, 7th ed.

thread

mitchelldeacon9Sep 2016

Here is my short list of favorite books on finance and economics:

FINANCIAL SECURITIES / BANKING / VENTURE CAPITAL

Bruck, Connie (1988) Predator's Ball: Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and Rise of Junk Bond Raiders

Draper, William (2011) Startup Game

Graham, Benjamin and Jason Zweig (2006) Intelligent Investor, revised ed.

_________ and David Dodd (2008) Security Analysis, 6E

Greenblatt, Joel (1999) You Can Be a Stock Market Genius

Greenwald, Kahn, Sonkin, Biema (2001) Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond

Henwood, Doug (1997) Wall Street: How It Works and for Whom

Levitt, Arthur (2003) Take on the Street: How to Fight for Your Financial Future

Lewis, Michael (1989) Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street

_________ (2010) Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

STATISTICS

Ayres, Ian (2007) Super Crunchers: Why Thinking by Numbers is the New Way to Be Smart

Bernstein, Peter (1996) Against the Gods: Remarkable Story of Risk

Kahneman, Daniel (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow

Silver, Nate (2012) Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail, but Some Don't

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2005) Fooled by Randomness, 2E

_________ (2010) Black Swan: Impact of the Highly Improbable, 2E

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT / ENTREPRENEURSHIP / INNOVATION

Christensen, Clayton (1997) Innovator's Dilemma

Stone, Brad (2013) Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

Wallace, James and Jim Erickson (1992) Hard Drive: Bill Gates and Making of the Microsoft Empire

Walton, Sam with John Huey (1992) Sam Walton: Made in America

Wilson, Mike (1996) Difference between God and Larry Ellison: Inside Oracle Corp

POLITICAL ECONOMY / THEORY / ECONOMIC HISTORY

Arrighi, Giovanni (1994) Long Twentieth Century

Braudel, Fernand (1979) Civilization & Capitalism 15th-18th Century, vol. 3: Perspective of the World, trans. Siân Reynolds

Brechin, Gray (2006) Imperial San Francisco: Urban Power, Earthly Ruin

Heilbroner, Robert (1999) Worldly Philosophers: Lives, Times & Ideas of Great Economic Thinkers, 7E

Marx, Karl (1867) Capital, vol. 1

Stiglitz, Joseph (2003) Roaring Nineties: A New History of the World’s Most Prosperous Decade

_________ (2010) Freefall: America, Free Markets and the Sinking of the World Economy

Vallianatos, E.G. (2014) Poison Spring: Secret History of Pollution and EPA

Vilar, Pierre (1976) A History of Gold and Money: 1450-1920

Yergin, Daniel (1992) Prize: Epic Quest for Money, Oil and Power

Would enjoy email correspondence with anyone interested in these subjects: mitchelldeacon9@gmail.com All the best

thread

diogenes_atxApr 2026

All the great Western hegemonic powers have used public debt to finance the requirements and ambitions of the state. This was true of Spain in the sixteenth century, Holland in the seventeenth century, England at the height of its power during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the USA since World War II [1]. Public debt finance is a force multiplier that enables the government to undertake far greater civilian and military projects than it could otherwise achieve. Everyone knows this, including the people who are running the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve.

As a percentage of GDP, government debt is high by historical standards, and it is rising at a fairly rapid pace. That could be a problem if it continues unabated. But there are two solutions: reduce spending and/or raise taxes. Most U.S. federal expenditure goes toward either defense, entitlements or interest on the debt, so it seems unlikely that spending will fall very much. That means higher taxes. At some point, the country will need to find a political reformer who can sell tax increases to the electorate. Until then, the crisis just continues to quietly grow.

[1] Giovanni Arrighi (1994) The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Our Times

https://www.amazon.com/Long-Twentieth-Century-Money-Origins/...

thread