Yves Smith Bücher

Why are we in such a financial mess today? While there are many proximate causes like over-leverage and global imbalances, these are merely symptoms. Until we address the fundamental causes, the underlying issues will persist. This book examines the role of economists as policy-makers and how their actions contributed to a significant economic disaster. The author explores how economists in influential positions prioritized doctrine over evidence, ignoring worsening conditions and the rising dangers that ultimately led to financial meltdown. Written for the layman, it investigates twenty-five years of misrepresentations, naive interpretations, and rationalizations of poor outcomes, as well as the dismissal of clear signs of instability. Key revelations include: the ineffectiveness of measures taken by the Obama Administration for genuine recovery; the anti-democratic role of economists in policy-making; the continued use of discredited financial models by banks and regulators; the looting of major financial firms by management and employees, leaving taxpayers to deal with the fallout; the enabling of predatory behavior by Wall Street through financial regulation; and the absence of a theoretical framework for financial systems in economics, despite economists prescribing management strategies.