The Great Recession, economic collapse, financial crisis or dilapidation of a state – whatever you want to call it – has opened up the eyes of many. Millions of Americans have finally come to the realization that the government, the Federal Reserve and Wall Street have fleeced the American people, stripped the country of its assets and destroyed the very essence of what the nation was founded upon.
Does anyone really think the United States economy is still improving and the fundamentals are sound? If so, then perhaps you should pick up a copy of David Stockman’s “The Great Deformation,” a fascinating look into the past 100 years of U.S. financial history, one that is filled with bubbles, artificial growth and expanding Federal Reserve power.
Stockman, a former budget director in the Reagan administration, goes into great detail outlining the various monetary policies that the central bank has instituted over the years and how the Wall Street titans have personally benefitted from this money and credit expansion and the manipulation of interest rates and financial markets.
Although the book is a heavy read and offers industry jargon that one has to pay particular attention to, the former Michigan Republican Congressman utilizes an incredible writing style to keep you engaged in a topic that much of the general public would roll their eyes at, frown upon and begin to yawn.
“The Great Deformation” makes an assortment of stops at important times in U.S. financial history: the New Deal, the Nixon Shock, the Reagan revolution, the introduction of Alan Greenspan, the Greenspan putsch, the Bernanke bubbles and the Great Recession. Stockman gives the reader an incredible behind the scenes account of what really transpired on the other side of the curtain during these memorable occasions that will never be forgotten.
Stockman runs roughshod on some of the key players that have eviscerated the principles of capitalism and free markets, including former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, former Fed Chair Greenspan, the automobile and construction sector, the presidential administrations since Eisenhower and the list goes on – even to a certain extent Milton Friedman because of his belief that the central bank should expand the money supply by two percent annually, completely negating the dangerous acts of civil servants and cronyists.
Despite opining his condemnation viewpoints of Washington and Wall Street, Stockman put forward a number of remedies that would resuscitate the U.S. economy and the capitalist structure that has led to a fantastic standard of living for millions of people. Some of these include restoring the banker’s bank and sound money, abolishing the federal deposit insurance, adopting super Glass-Steagall II, mandating each two-year congress to balance the budget, shrinking the size of government by eliminating 10 major federal agencies and departments and imposing a 30 percent wealth tax to pay down the national debt to 30 percent of GDP.
Most financial experts and economists have criticized Stockman and his remedies, but with so much moral hazards, malinvestment, unscrupulous, spurious and disingenuous economic and monetary policies, it may be about time for Washington, Wall Street, Main Street and the overall country to swallow that tough pill.
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