Michael Dinowitz <[email protected]> wrote: > I think you're going to have to go into more details on this in another > thread. >> >> I also read Lords of Finance on vacation too
Lords of Finance is about "the bankers who broke the World"; i.e., the Great Depression and the 4 central bankers who controlled international finance leading up to and through that time period. First off, this book is awesome and terrifying all at the same time. Awesome in that you get a fantastic historical walk-through of 1900 - 1950, and a front row seat to the forces that likely caused the Great Depression. Here's some provocative gristle: After reading this book, you could be on semi-firm ground for claiming that the French were directly responsible for setting events in motion that led to WWII and caused the Holocaust. How? During WWI, despite the fact that pretty much everyone 'started it', the Germans basically quit first. The French (granted with lots of help from the British) decided the Germans needed to be punished big-time and imposed insane amounts of reparations. This led to Germany's economy melting down for over a decade and the on-going humiliation of the Germans (like, for example, their delegates would be made to stand during international conferences because opps! not enough chairs!) Eventually the Germans got so fed up they elected Hitler who, just a few years prior, was considered a complete wack-a-doodle. Now for the terrifying part. You realize after reading this book that not only are all the forces that caused our 2008 meltdown still in place, but that they're the same ones that caused the Great Depression - only today things are more complicated! And further you see the Man Behind the Curtain of international finance for who it truly is: actually a dim-witted monkey and its the slower in-bred cousin of the one from the 1920s. For whatever reason I thought things like the economy, trade, currency, the banking system were mostly figured out it's just that we weren't executing well. nope. None of those things has ever been figured out. Anyway, yeah, relative to my "men's trash" as wife calls it this book is dry. But relative to other books on international economies it's a page turner that'll keep you up through the night. (it did me!) "[FDR explained] the banking crisis so clearly that even the bankers understood it. -- Will Rogers Scary stuff. -- "A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise du ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:335530 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
