The Looting of America

Les Leopold’s “The Looting of America” is one of many books that have analyzed the economic crisis of 2008 and its causes. While it may seem to be a bit of a retread as financial instruments are explained in numerous publications, Les does manage to make the subject interesting. He begins by giving an example of a small town in Wisconsin that lost millions of dollars due to being sold derivatives. Leopold then goes on to discuss the origins of the economic crisis and possible solutions.

Les gives a history of money and lending which is quite interesting. He begins to explain how each civilization handled debt laws differently, some allowing interests and some banning it out right. He gives a history of money and how it came about and then explains how the modern financial innovations of the United States last two decades have lead to devastation in the present.

He also makes an argument, similar to Paul Krugman’s in “The Conscience of a Liberal” that the redistribution of wealth from the production economy to the finacncial service economy has been bad for the middle class and has benefited the upper 5% of Americans. Leopold gives possible solutions and approaches to solving the economic problem and possible preventative measures that are quite interesting. One of these solutions, insurance paid by financial institutions to the government to help protect citizens from the effects of the boom bust cycle, was especially fascinating.

The book is well written, although occasionally Leopold comes off as silly when he makes a point. The wine analogy that he uses to explain derivatives and credit default swaps gets tiresome too. Overall, it’s a short, information packed, and interesting book that is worth reading. I rate the book a borrow.