Griftopia~Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, & the Long Con That I torrent

The dramatic story behind the most audacious power grab in American history.

The financial crisis that exploded in 2008 isnt past but prologue. The stunning rise, fall, and rescue of Wall Street in the bubble-and-bailout era was the coming-out party for the network of looters who sit at the nexus of American political and economic power. The grifter class – made up of the largest players in the financial industry and the politicians who do their bidding – has been growing in power for a generation, transferring wealth upward through increasingly complex financial mechanisms and political maneuvers.

Rolling Stones Matt Taibbi here unravels the whole fiendish story, digging beyond the headlines to get into the deeper roots and wider implications of the rise of the grifters. He traces the movements origins to the cult of Ayn Rand and her most influential – and possibly weirdest – acolyte, Alan Greenspan, and offers fresh reporting on the backroom deals that decided the winners and losers in the government bailouts. He uncovers the hidden commodities bubble that transferred billions of dollars to Wall Street while creating food shortages around the world, and he shows how finance dominates politics, from the story of investment bankers auctioning off Americas infrastructure to an inside account of the high-stakes battle for health-care reform – a battle the true reformers lost.

Finally, he tells the story of Goldman Sachs, the vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.