Leverage: How Cheap Money Will Destroy the World

by Karl Denninger, Charles Hugh Smith (Foreword by)

Overview

How the wealthy and powerful abuse finance to skim immense profits

Debasement of the dollar as a result of ill-use of leverage is destroying the global economy, and in Leverage, well known market commentator Karl Denninger follows the path of money throughout history to prove that currencies are debased when moneyed and powerful interests pull the levers of government and policy to enrich themselves at the expense of the masses. The result is ugly: the value of everything—including gold—falls, and even personal safety is at risk in a world where there is limited money even for essentials like food and fuel. History is littered with the collapse of monetary and economic systems from Rome to Germany to Zimbabwe.

• Presents an inside look at how moneyed and powerful interests debase the dollar through the willful and intentional failure to honestly represent short and long-term mathematical truths that underlie all economic systems
• Shows how, if imbalances are not corrected, financial crises will reoccur again and again
• Authored by Karl Denninger, who has been running the popular website The Market Ticker since 2007

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118166161
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	10/03/2011
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

KARL DENNINGER Founded The Market Ticker^® (market-ticker.org), a blog dedicated to uncovering market mischievousness. He is also a columnist on SeekingAlpha.com and has appeared on MSNBC with Dylan Ratigan, on CNBC, and is a frequent guest on WBAL talk radio in Baltimore. He produces a weekly Internet radio segment on BlogTalkRadio with real-time call-ins from listeners and occasional invited guests. Karl is also one of the original founders of the Tea Party movement, and, along with FedUpUSA, launched the first financial protests related to the bailout of banking institutions after the failure and forced takeover of Bear Stearns. Previously, he was CEO of Macro Computer Solutions, and is a self-made entrepreneur and millionaire.

Read an Excerpt

Click to read or download

Table of Contents

Foreword xi

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xvii

Part One Leverage and Its Abuses in the Economy 1

Chapter 1 An Economic Future for America 3

Chapter 2 Principles of Financial Leverage 11

Chapter 3 The Aughts or the Aught-Not-Haves 37

Chapter 4 The Failure of Kicking the Can 95

Part Two A Way Forward 119

Chapter 5 The Folly of Avoidance 121

Chapter 6 Reinstating the Rule of Law 127

Chapter 7 Reforming the Fed, Lending, and Derivatives 137

Chapter 8 Fixing Social Security, Pensions, and Health Care 151

Chapter 9 Structural Fixes for Trade, Taxation, and Federalism 161

Chapter 10 Devising a Sound Energy Policy 173

Conclusion 183

Notes 187

About the Author 193

Index 195