Busting the Bankers' Club

Gerald Epstein is Professor of Economics and a Founding Codirector of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the author of The Political Economy of Central Banking: Contested Control and the Power of Finance.

• ContentsAcknowledgments PrefaceAbbreviations SECTION I FROM BORING TO ROARING BANKING 1. The Jekyll and Hyde of Finance2. Boring Banking and the “Golden Age” of Capitalism 3. Roaring Banking: The World the Bankers Made 4. Are Bankers Essential Workers? SECTION II THE BANKERS' CLUB AND THE POWER OF FINANCE 5. The Anatomy of the Bankers’ Club 6. Lobbyists and Politicians versus the Club Busters 7. The Federal Reserve: Chairman of the Club 8. Financial Regulators and Their Lawyers9. Nonfinancials Flip: The Financialization of the CEOs 10. Bankers’ Club Economics SECTION III FINANCE FOR THE REST OF US11. Financial Regulation for All 12. Banks without Bankers: Finance to Meet Social Needs 13. Busting the Bankers’ Club and Restoring Democracy Appendix: The Bankers’ Club Assault on the New DealRegulatory Structure Notes References Index

"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. "