Hot Money And The Politics Of Debt

Investigates the world of offshore finance, capital flight, money laundering, and tax evasion. The author details the origins of "hot money", explains how corporations and governments have become hostage to it, and discusses the price the world is currently paying for this problem, e.g. Third World debt, international terrorism, etc.

How creditors came to wield unprecedented power over heavily indebted countries—and the dangers this poses to democracy The European debt crisis has rekindled long-standing debates about the power of finance and the fraught relationship between capitalism and democracy in a globalized world. Why Not Default? unravels a striking puzzle at the heart of these debates—why, despite frequent crises and the immense costs of repayment, do so many heavily indebted countries continue to service their international debts? In this compelling and incisive book, Jerome Roos provides a sweeping investigation of the political economy of sovereign debt and international crisis management. He takes readers from the rise of public borrowing in the Italian city-states to the gunboat diplomacy of the imperialist era and the wave of sovereign defaults during the Great Depression. He vividly describes the debt crises of developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s and sheds new light on the recent turmoil inside the Eurozone—including the dramatic capitulation of Greece’s short-lived anti-austerity government to its European creditors in 2015. Drawing on in-depth case studies of contemporary debt crises in Mexico, Argentina, and Greece, Why Not Default? paints a disconcerting picture of the ascendancy of global finance. This important book shows how the profound transformation of the capitalist world economy over the past four decades has endowed private and official creditors with unprecedented structural power over heavily indebted borrowers, enabling them to impose painful austerity measures and enforce uninterrupted debt service during times of crisis—with devastating social consequences and far-reaching implications for democracy.

Why our addiction to debt caused the global financial crisis and is the root of our financial woes Adair Turner became chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority just as the global financial crisis struck in 2008, and he played a leading role in redesigning global financial regulation. In this eye-opening book, he sets the record straight about what really caused the crisis. It didn’t happen because banks are too big to fail—our addiction to private debt is to blame. Between Debt and the Devil challenges the belief that we need credit growth to fuel economic growth, and that rising debt is okay as long as inflation remains low. In fact, most credit is not needed for economic growth—but it drives real estate booms and busts and leads to financial crisis and depression. Turner explains why public policy needs to manage the growth and allocation of credit creation, and why debt needs to be taxed as a form of economic pollution. Banks need far more capital, real estate lending must be restricted, and we need to tackle inequality and mitigate the relentless rise of real estate prices. Turner also debunks the big myth about fiat money—the erroneous notion that printing money will lead to harmful inflation. To escape the mess created by past policy errors, we sometimes need to monetize government debt and finance fiscal deficits with central-bank money. Between Debt and the Devil shows why we need to reject the assumptions that private credit is essential to growth and fiat money is inevitably dangerous. Each has its advantages, and each creates risks that public policy must consciously balance.

Erin Skye Kelly wrote Get the Hell Out of Debt after her own struggle to become consumer-debt free. She was tired of listening to middle-aged men in suits tell her to consolidate and refinance her debt when all that seemed to happen was she’d end up in more of it while they profited from it. When Kelly figured out the two most important tools to money management—and started achieving massive results—other women wanted to join in on the debt-free journey. With her sense of humor and straight-shooting sensibilities, Erin began transforming lives. This book is not only a step-by-step process that will walk you through how to pay off your debt—it’s a deeply personal journey centered around changing your mindset. As you master each of the three phases through repetition, you will create your own financial freedom, allowing you to live debt-free forever and create wealth and abundance that will positively impact your life—and the people you love and serve. No matter how much consumer debt you carry, this book is a judgment-free zone from cover-to-cover. Your dreams are welcome here.

In a savage critique, R.T. Naylor investigates the American government's understanding of and response to 9/11, exposing the official story - and the resulting global War on Islamic Terror - as based on myth and misinformation. Satanic Purses examines how misguided notions about the structure and financing of terrorist groups have diverted attention from more useful measures, and perpetuated the ""War on Terror.""

"From class struggle to crass struggle; that is the defining feature of the times. And the genius of today's political economy has been to convert what used to be a potential life-and-death conflict between haves and have-nots into a minor disagreement between have-lots and wanna-have-mores." Why do those who are extremely well off spend their money in socially and environmentally damaging ways? How do crooks, con artists, and counterfeiters function in the hypercharged markets catering To The whims and fancies of the very rich? and why do so many of the less fortunate insist on slavishly emulating the über rich, spending way beyond what their limited means allow? A critique of the lifestyles of today's ultra rich bolstered by old-fashioned muckraking,Crass Struggleprovides a sharp, original, and often humorous commentary on "the bad side of the good life, The underbelly of the potbelly." Taking the reader inside today's luxury trades, R.T. Naylor visits gold mines spewing arsenic and diamond fields spreading human misery, knocks on the doors of purveyors of luxury seafood as the oceans empty, samples wares of merchants offering top-vintage wines (or at least top-vintage labels), calls on companies running trophy-hunting expeditions and dealers in exotic pets high on endangered lists, and much more. What stands out is that so many high-priced items glitter on the outside, but have more than a spot of rot at the core. Through a series of outrageous but all too true stories,Crass Strugglereveals the appalling consequences of consumerism run amok and its links to repetitive financial swindles And The alarming degradation of the biophysical environment.

Perkins, a former chief economist at a Boston strategic-consulting firm, confesses he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business.