When Wall Street Met Main Street

The financial crisis that began in 2008 has made Americans keenly aware of the enormous impact Wall Street has on the economic well-being of the nation and its citizenry. How did financial markets and institutions-commonly perceived as marginal and elitist at the beginning of the twentieth century-come to be seen as the bedrock of American capitalism? How did stock investment-once considered disreputable and dangerous-first become a mass practice? Julia Ott tells the story of how, between the rise of giant industrial corporations and the Crash of 1929, the federal government, corporations, and financial institutions campaigned to universalize investment, with the goal of providing individual investors with a stake in the economy and the nation. As these distributors of stocks and bonds established a broad, national market for financial securities, they debated the distribution of economic power, the proper role of government, and the meaning of citizenship under modern capitalism. By 1929, the incidence of stock ownership had risen to engulf one quarter of American households in the looming financial disaster. Accordingly, the federal government assumed responsibility for protecting citizen-investors by regulating the financial securities markets. By recovering the forgotten history of this initial phase of mass investment and the issues surrounding it, Ott enriches and enlightens contemporary debates over economic reform.

Excerpt from Main Street and Wall Street This book is not just a treatise on economics; nor is it a handy manual for investors. It purports to go deeper than that, down toward the root of things. It is partly the expression of a lifelong aspiration to promote a greater equality of opportunity among men - a more even chance at getting a living all round, and a fairer show at conserving the fruits of such activity thereafter. Only thus can there be any real pleasure in work and in thrift in the world. And it is upon the reasonable exer cise of these virtues that our American democratic polity must depend for its perpetuation. It should be a prime function of government to stimulate and in every way to protect the manifestation of these basic instincts. Property should never be allowed to degenerate into an instrument of oppression. Its only justification in a free state is that it shall contribute to such an equality of opportunity for all members of the community alike, that each one shall be more able to take care of and to make the best of himself. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

A former FDIC chairwoman, who was among the first individuals to acknowledge the full risk of subprime loans, shares expert and insider perspectives on the economic crisis to assess contributing causes and ultimate ramifications.

Excerpt from Main Street and Wall Street This book is not just a treatise on economics; nor is it a handy manual for investors. It purports to go deeper than that, down toward the root of things. It is partly the expression of a lifelong aspiration to promote a greater equality of opportunity among men - a more even chance at getting a living all round, and a fairer show at conserving the fruits of such activity thereafter. Only thus can there be any real pleasure in work and in thrift in the world. And it is upon the reasonable exercise of these virtues that our American democratic polity must depend for its perpetuation. It should be a prime function of government to stimulate and in every way to protect the manifestation of these basic instincts. Property should never be allowed to degenerate into an instrument of oppression. Its only justification in a free state is that it shall contribute to such an equality of opportunity for all members of the community alike, that each one shall be more able to take care of and to make the best of himself. This, then, is really a study in the relation of property to civilization. My theory of it could not be more pithily stated than in the following characterization of William Cobbett by G. K. Chesterton: - He would have been as ready as any merchant or trader to face the fact that man, as God has made him, must make money. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This is a new release of the original 1929 edition.

Includes a new foreword to the paperback edition.

This book is not just a treatise on economics; nor is it a handy manual for investors. It purports to go deeper than that, down toward the root of things. It is partly the expression of a lifelong aspiration to promote a greater equality of opportunity among men. Contents: Before the war; corporate vehicles; getting out from under; giving up control; new thoroughfares; light at the crossways; impublicity; our railroads; planning ahead; more light and power too; public utilities.

In Take on the Street, Arthur Levitt--Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission for eight years under President Clinton--provides the best kind of insider information: the kind that can help honest, small investors protect themselves from the deliberately confusing ways of Wall Street. At a time when investor confidence in Wall Street and corporate America is at an historic low, when many are seriously questioning whether or not they should continue to invest, Levitt offers the benefits of his own experience, both on Wall Street and as its chief regulator. His straight talk about the ways of stockbrokers (they are salesmen, plain and simple), corporate financial statements (the truth is often hidden), mutual fund managers (remember who they really work for), and other aspects of the business will help to arm everyone with the tools they need to protect—and enhance—their financial future.