Over the last several decades, the United States has undergone one of the most radical social and economic transformations in its history: Finance has become America's dominant industry, while manufacturing has nearly disappeared. The financial sector has become increasingly criminalized, with widespread fraud going completely unpunished. Federal tax collections are at their lowest level in sixty years, with the wealthy enjoying the greatest tax reductions. Most shockingly, the United States, so long the beacon of opportunity for the ambitious poor, has become one of the world's most unequal societies. If you're smart and a hard worker, but your parents aren't rich, you're now better off being born in Munich or Singapore than in Cleveland or New York. This radical shift did not happen by accident. Author Ferguson shows how, since the Reagan administration, both major political parties have become captives of the moneyed elite. The Clinton administration dismantled the regulatory controls that protected the average citizen from avaricious financiers. The Bush team destroyed the federal revenue base with its tax cuts for the rich. And the Obama White House has allowed financial criminals to continue to operate unchecked, even after supposed "reforms" installed after the collapse of 2008.--From publisher description.

Where we are now -- Opening Pandora's box : the era of deregulation, 1980=2000 -- The bubble, part one : borrowing and lending in the 2000s -- Wall Street makes a bubble and gives it to the world -- All fall down : warnings, predators, crises, responses -- Crime and punishment : banking and the bubble as criminal enterprises -- Agents of pain : unregulated finance as a subtractive industry -- The ivory tower -- America as a rigged game -- What should be done?