The Default Line : The Inside Story of People, Banks and Entire Nations on the Edge

How can a banking system become so unregulated that it offers a gold credit card to a dog? For Channel 4's Economics Editor Faisal Islam, these are examples of nations, institutions, and individuals crossing the 'default line', the point at which the optimism of economic boom flips into fiscal madness. Having exposed the Icelandic banking crisis, watched Lehman Bros crash, investigated emerging economies in India and China and interviewed a host of key international players from the Governor of the Bank of England to the head of the the Chinese sovereign wealth fund, Faisal Islam is the perfect guide to the global economic crisis. Juxtaposing vivid anecdotes with high-level exclusive interviews and trenchant economic analysis, "The default line" is a really accessible way of understanding the economic shape of the contemporary world "'Since the financial crash of 2008, the world has undergone a series of economic convulsions and a new reality is emerging. In a series of frontline dispatches from around the globe, Channel 4's award-winning Economics Editor, Faisal Islam, reveals the inside stories of the people, banks and entire nations who have teetered on the brink of economic failure or succes. He tells the dramatic tales of those who have crossed the new Default Line that is carving up the world. Meet the five-man factory that created 125% mortgages. Track the secret air-drops of billions of euro banknotes that kept Greece and Cyprus afloat. Marval that the UK house market isn't a market for housing but a market for credit, sucking in investors from around the world and, most of all, making generations of young people poorer. Find out which major global bank was just hours from nationalisation by the UK government. Understand why Germany is booming, India is burning and China is saving like crazy as others are stagnating. Discover the truth about drachmail, gangnanomics and domocracy. Crack the ingenios mathematical formula that almost broke Wall Street and sent the world's banking systems into free fall ... The Default Line is a high-energy account of the global economic crisis that marries extraordinary ground-level journalism with incisive economic analysis based on conversations with the world's power brokers: the major figure in banking, finance and government whose decisions are shaping all of our lives.'" Why did Greece have to use military aeroplanes to fly in Euros at the height of its debt crisis? How can a banking system become so unregulated that it offers a gold credit card to a dog? For Channel 4's Economics Editor Faisal Islam, these are examples of nations, institutions, and individuals crossing the 'default line', the point at which the optimism of economic boom flips into fiscal madness. Having exposed the Icelandic banking crisis, watched Lehman Bros crash, investigated emerging economies in India and China and interviewed a host of key international players from the