Normal view MARC view ISBD view

Extreme money : the masters of the universe and the cult of risk /

By: Das, Satyajit
Material type: BookPublisher: New York : Pearson Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2011.Description: xxi, 514 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.ISBN: 9780273723974 (pbk.)Subject(s): Money | FinanceDDC classification: 332.6 Online resources: Location Map
Summary:
The human race created money and finance. But our inventions re-create us. Mankind mistook money-a lubricant of society and human well-being-for an end in itself. Finance, the monetary shadow of real things, came to dominate human reality. Extreme Money tells the story of how this happened-and, in so doing, it tells the story of the modern world. Bestselling author Satyajit Das draws on 33 years of personal experience at the heart of modern global finance to narrate this story. Das reveals the spectacular, dangerous money games that have generated increasingly massive bubbles of fake growth, Ponzi prosperity, sophistication, and wealth-while endangering the jobs, possessions, and futures of virtually everyone outside the financial industry. Das shows how "extreme money" has become ever more unℜ how "voodoo banking" continues to generate massive phony profits even now; and how a new generation of "Masters of the Universe" has come to dominate the world. Extreme Money is about: The new financial fundamentalism: false gods, false prophets - Faith in money, faith in risk, faith in shadows The cult of risk and the growth engine that isn't - How financial engineering replaced real engineering and illusions replaced reality Financial alchemy and the "Doomsday Debt Machine"- The rise of the global financial machine we cannot escape The new global oligarchy-and the nihilistic games they pla y - Too smart, too fast, too greedy, too self-absorbed-and far too dangerous.
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.
    average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
Item type Home library Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
REGULAR University of Wollongong in Dubai
Main Collection
332.6 DA EX (Browse shelf) Available T0043861
Total holds: 0

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Table of Contents Extreme Money - The Masters of the Universe & The Cult of Risk Prologue Anecdotes about the world of extreme money (which are then woven through the remaining text). 1.Extreme Money Traces the changes in the nature and use of money and how in modern economies there is increasing focus on extreme money games to generate higher returns as real investment opportunities become scarcer. 2. Chicago Boys Traces the ideas of a few Nobel prize winning scholars (from the GSB in Chicago and MIT) that underpin modern money and how practitioners have mis-used these theories and ideas. 3. Fallen Angels/ Fees'R Us Traces the rise of private equity firms and the use of debt ("junk bonds") to purchase companies (e.g. the infamous transaction involving RJ Reynolds "Barbarians at the Gate"). 4. Risk Supermarkets Traces the development of complex financial arrangements where risks are packaged up for investors and traded in bewildering ways. 5. Slice & Dice The Securitisation Chef Traces the development of how mortgages and other cash flows are stripped and their risk cut up and sold to different investors. 6. Planes, Trains, Automobiles Traces the growth in "privatisation" of basic infrastructure roads, railways, airports, water - as a group of financiers (led by Australia's Macquarie Bank and pension funds) gradually buys up vital infrastructure for private gain. 7. Eldorado to "Chindia" Traces the rise in investment in emerging economies (e.g. the BRIC economies Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the impact of extreme money on emerging countries. 8. Snuff Movies Traces the rise of hedge funds and focuses on their activities and how these investors operate making and losing vast sums of money. 9. Masters of the Universe Focuses on the development, skills, wealth and lifestyles of the financiers (both beginners entering the industry "the Millionaire's Factory" and more experienced players). It examines the vast rewards available that attract the "best and brightest" into finance rather than traditional professions. It also analyses the role of these Masters of the Universe (such as George Soros) and how they increasing parlay their wealth and influence in the sphere of policy and cultural life. 10. The Cult of Risk Focuses on the impact of extreme money games, played with OPM (other people's money); specifically, the lack of supervision and absence of oversight which opens economies to the risk of a serious disruption and (potentially) catastrophic collapse where the citizens and taxpayers would be asked to bear the losses of the Masters of the Universe and their extreme money games. Epilogue Concludes the anecdotes and draws together the themes of the book.

The human race created money and finance. But our inventions re-create us. Mankind mistook money-a lubricant of society and human well-being-for an end in itself. Finance, the monetary shadow of real things, came to dominate human reality. Extreme Money tells the story of how this happened-and, in so doing, it tells the story of the modern world. Bestselling author Satyajit Das draws on 33 years of personal experience at the heart of modern global finance to narrate this story. Das reveals the spectacular, dangerous money games that have generated increasingly massive bubbles of fake growth, Ponzi prosperity, sophistication, and wealth-while endangering the jobs, possessions, and futures of virtually everyone outside the financial industry. Das shows how "extreme money" has become ever more unℜ how "voodoo banking" continues to generate massive phony profits even now; and how a new generation of "Masters of the Universe" has come to dominate the world. Extreme Money is about: The new financial fundamentalism: false gods, false prophets - Faith in money, faith in risk, faith in shadows The cult of risk and the growth engine that isn't - How financial engineering replaced real engineering and illusions replaced reality Financial alchemy and the "Doomsday Debt Machine"- The rise of the global financial machine we cannot escape The new global oligarchy-and the nihilistic games they pla y - Too smart, too fast, too greedy, too self-absorbed-and far too dangerous.

Powered by Koha