Publishers Weekly
11/20/2023
In this incisive chronicle, Epstein (The Political Economy of Central Banking), an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, surveys how deregulating banking turned the financial institutions into engines of inequality and liabilities to the economy. In the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, Epstein writes, New Deal reforms—most notably the Glass-Steagall Act, which “broke up the financial conglomerates by separating investment banking from commercial banking”—reined in banks’ ability to make risky investments and inaugurated decades of relative stability. However, corporate lobbyists succeeded in rolling back regulations from the 1970s through the end of the century, culminating in the 1998 repeal of Glass-Steagall, which made it easier for banks to push “highly speculative and risky financial products” and precipitated the 2008 financial crisis. Epstein outlines an ambitious slate of reforms, including the establishment of public banks, which he suggests will be disincentivized from risky behavior by their not-for-profit status. Other recommendations to “break up the banks by separating investment and securities activities from deposit taking and lending” and rein in private equity by “limiting the use of debt in buyouts” offer a robust plan for regulation, and Epstein’s skill in describing financial matters plainly is a boon. Epstein convinces with this potent plan for ending the era of “too big to fail.” (Jan.)
Public Seminar
"[P]eppered with colorful metaphors and anecdotes, Busting the Bankers’ Club is a practical and valuable resource for campaigners, journalists, policymakers, and anyone interested in the mechanics of Wall Street’s influence on key institutions of American democracy."
Wall Street On Parade
"Exposes the banking cartel that has hijacked U.S. democracy."
Rana Foroohar
"Gerald Epstein has done something that has needed doing since 2008 — he has written a book that explains our complex, captured financial system to the lay reader. In simple, clear prose, he outlines why we are still fighting financial fires, and what we can do to bridge the Wall Street-Main Street divide. A wonderful way to understand how finance became the tail that wags the dog of our economy. "
Midwest Book Review
"Clear-eyed and hopeful, Busting the Bankers' Club centers the individuals and groups fighting for a financial system that will better serve the needs of the marginalized and support important transitions to a greener, fairer economy. . . . [the book] is an extraordinary and timely study that will have immense value to readers with an interest in the relationship of banks, the U.S. economy, and the methods used by the banking industry to influence governmental policy makers. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented."
Organize North Carolina
"Most people in the United States old enough to seek a job and a credit card probably already vaguely understand the system as rigged against them. Epstein gracefully and readably explains who did the recent version of that rigging and how it works."
Journal of Economic Literature
"Explains how various industry leaders and lawyers sustain the power of the finance industry through multiple channels and techniques of influence."
Financial Times
"Gerald Epstein has done something that has needed doing since 2008 — he has written a book that explains our complex, captured financial system to the lay reader. In simple, clear prose, he outlines why we are still fighting financial fires, and what we can do to bridge the Wall Street-Main Street divide. A wonderful way to understand how finance became the tail that wags the dog of our economy. "
Kirkus Reviews
2023-11-18
An economics professor catalogs the countless ways in which the financial system fails ordinary consumers while favoring the wealthy.
“Finance,” writes Epstein, “is an essential and highly productive part of our economic system; but the financial system can also be a source of stagnation, instability, inequality, and crisis.” The essential inequities in the system have been laid bare at several points, but especially in the financial crisis of 2007-2008, when many corporations and financial institutions walked away unscathed at a cost to taxpayers of $50,000 to $120,000 per household—and not the mega-wealthy households, you can be sure. Some systemic fundamentals are simply off, Epstein shows: A speculator hedges on whether a stock’s value will rise, not whether the company behind it is successful or failing, ethical or criminal. Interestingly, he notes, the long period between 1945 and 1980, marked by stable but constant growth with almost no financial crises across the globe, ended in the turbulence of the Reagan era and beyond—when, by no coincidence, regulations on the financial industry were abolished or weakened. The bankers’ club of Epstein’s title has flourished on the backs of consumers, abetted by policy suggestions from influential economists, who “were not just innocent bystanders: they helped to bring on the catastrophe.” To counter these complex problems, the author proposes thorough reforms of many kinds, including the imposition of a new round of regulations. More comprehensively, Epstein encourages an expanded public banking sector—shorthanded as “banks without bankers”—that, in truth, are devoted less to private profit than to providing low-cost services and low-interest loans to encourage small-scale investments, greater availability of higher education to low-income students, construction of affordable housing, and the like.
A cleareyed view of the financial system’s woes, all addressable if only the political and economic will is there.
