Wall Street Capitalism : The Theory of the Bondholding Class

Breaking the chains of the bond market...This book goes behind the headlines of the Wall Street Journal to unmask the ';bondholding class';. Insulated from criticism by a self-serving ideology, the bondholders have redefined the indicators of economic well-being decidedly in Wall Street's favor. Created out of the fiscal folly of Reaganomics, fortified by Federal Reserve officials, and patronized by the Clinton Administration, the bondholding class invented the ';Goldilocks economy'; (never too hot, never too cold). As this powerful class has amassed the greatest wealth in history, ordinary Americans have been losing ground to the ensuing global financial turbulence. In a tour de force, Ray Canterbery shows how the evaporation of personal savings -- ';the Angels share'; -- is as necessary to Wall Street capitalism as it is damaging to growth and wages on Main Street. Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Introduction......Page 14 I. THE BOND MARKET: A NEW AMERICAN ICON......Page 28 1. Goldilocks and the Good News Bears......Page 30 2. The Windows of Chevy Chase Country Club......Page 46 3. The Sacred College of Bonds and Money......Page 60 II. WALL STREET FACILITATES THE TAKEOVER BY THE BONDHOLDERS......Page 78 4. Money and Wall Street’s Bonding: A Love story......Page 80 5. A Wall Street-Federal Reserve Experiment Creates a Monster......Page 99 6. The Rise of the Bondholding Class......Page 115 7. The Final Assault on the Clinton White House......Page 136 III. THE BAD NEWS FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE......Page 158 8. Surfing Today’s Volatile Bond Market......Page 160 9. Risks Become Palpable as Bonds are Traded for Chips......Page 181 10. The Bondholding Class and Alan Greenspan Downsize America......Page 205 11. The Bondholders’ Non-charitable Contribution to Inequality......Page 222 IV. PROBLEMS WITH THE BOND MARKET STRATEGY......Page 236 12. The “Angels' Share" of Personal Savings......Page 238 13. Bond Prices and the Casino Effect......Page 256 V. WHAT TO DO: SOME IMMODEST PROPOSALS......Page 270 14. Lifting the lmpenetrable Veil of Money......Page 272 15. Interest and Principal Without Bondage......Page 288 16. Epiloque: The Final Insult......Page 308 Index......Page 320 Annotation. Breaking the chains of the bond market ... This book goes behind the headlines of the Wall Street Journal to unmask the "bondholding class". Insulated from criticism by a self-serving ideology, the bondholders have redefined the indicators of economic well-being decidedly in Wall Street's favor. Created out of the fiscal folly of Reaganomics, fortified by Federal Reserve officials, and patronized by the Clinton Administration, the bondholding class invented the "Goldilocks economy" (never too hot, never too cold). As this powerful class has amassed the greatest wealth in history, ordinary Americans have been losing ground to the ensuing global financial turbulence. In a tour de force, Ray Canterbery shows how the evaporation of personal savings -- "the Angels share"--Is as necessary to Wall Street capitalism as it is damaging to growth and wages on Main Street "This book goes behind the headlines of the Wall Street Journal to unmask the 'bondholding class'." "Insulated from criticism by a self-serving ideology, the bondholders have redefined the indicators of economic well-being decidedly in Wall Street's favor. Created out of the fiscal folly of Reaganomics, fortified by Federal Reserve officials, and patronized by the Clinton Administration, the bondholding class invented the 'Goldilocks economy' (never too hot, never too cold). As this powerful class has amassed the greatest wealth in history, ordinary Americans have been losing ground to the ensuing global financial turbulence. Ray Canterbery shows how the evaporation of personal savings - 'the Angels share' - is as necessary to Wall Street capitalism as it is damaging to growth and wages on Main Street."--Jacket Preface; Introduction; I. THE BOND MARKET: A NEW AMERICAN ICON; 1. Goldilocks and the Good News Bears; 2. The Windows of Chevy Chase Country Club; 3. The Sacred College of Bonds and Money; II. WALL STREET FACILITATES THE TAKEOVER BY THE BONDHOLDERS; 4. Money and Wall Street s Bonding: A Love story; 5. A Wall Street-Federal Reserve Experiment Creates a Monster; 6. The Rise of the Bondholding Class; 7. The Final Assault on the Clinton White House; III. THE BAD NEWS FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE; 8. Surfing Today s Volatile Bond Market; 9. Risks Become Palpable as Bonds are Traded for Chips.