Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism

Aside from going overboard a bit on the vocab, I really liked this fast paced, easy to read, and easy to understand book. The author paints a dark picture of our financial system, and you will have to make your own judgments as to what his analysis means, but as far as the facts the author is spot on.

Mr. Phillips wrote a very thorough and complete review of the reasons why America and the world community are suffering during the current fiscal crisis. This book should be read by all who aspire to public office and by all who are in a position to put this knowledge to good use by correcting the monumental failers of our government leaders and the ruthless criminals who were the Corporate bosses that brought the failure to fruition. As an aside I will not be satisfied until they have been stripped of their ill gotten gains and sent to prison to rot.

Phillips does a great job of describing the specific causal factors for the housing bubble and its related credit bubble. These are not frequently written about in the popular press and the "experts" (Paulson, Bernanke, et.al) don't talk about it either. Phillips shows that the debt instruments that brought down the financial system were chimeras, figments of value, that reflected no real value at all. Our economy has been operating a giant Ponzi scheme and all of us were suckered into it. The only real wealth in it is the gazillions that the creators of the debt instruments have run away with. This should be "must" reading in business school finance and economics courses.

Arrived in excellent condition. You can't go wrong with Kevin Phillips' books--well researched, well written. Everyone in America should read this and other of his books.

This is a fascinating and illuminating book that spares no blame for anyone who has contributed to the financial mess we now find ourselves steeped in. Democrats, Republicans, and financiers are all justifiably pilloried.

Some readers have unfairly characterized Phillips's writing as inaccessible or devoid of solutions. I would urge the former group to get past trying to absorb all the details on the first reading and just take note of how vast an issue this is and how negligent our leaders of both parties have been in trying to understand and address it. It's a complex topic that's been under-discussed, but any reader should be able absorb at least the main points here.

As for those seeking solutions, I am afraid Phillips might just have to say, "you tell me, and then we'll both know." As we're seeing right now it's going to take a lot of work to get us out this mess.

Phillips has a thorough understanding of the subject as is evident from this and his earlier works. He add others saw this mess coming, and while they can take little comfort in saying "I told you so," readers can gain valuable insight from his writing.