Theft of a Nation: Wall Street Looting and Federal Regulatory Colluding by Gregg Barak, (2012)
I had to get this book from Interlibrary Loan. It was a rare time when my local library did not have a book I wanted. It was pretty squeaky new; I suspect it had not been read before, and that is a shame because it is well-written and full of footnoted facts that will remind you again of why we were all mad enough to “Occupy Wall Street” just a few years ago. And the really sad part is that nothing has changed. Republican entrenchment has only become worse. I cannot understand where they get their deep and abiding conviction that the government owes NOTHING to the citizens, not even the right to vote. I am almost too tired, too sad, and too discouraged by the current election cycle (2016) to even bother to bitch about these old and wiped out of current memory catastrophes and the bastards that became millionaires and billionaires through endless corruption, greed, and sense of entitlement. These are people who do not care about the consequences of their actions: we have a surfeit of sociopaths in charge of our economy and government. The effects are catastrophic to Main Street and Wall Street just keeps on stealing the wealth from everyone else with their CEO pay, multi-million dollar bonuses, and casino capitalism.
If your personal wealth is predominantly in capital markets [then] you had a hell of a scare, but you’re 70 percent of the way back to where you were in 2007. If your personal wealth is predominantly in your home, you’re fucked. And for approximately 80 percent of the people in the United States, their only asset is their home.
— Damon Silvers, a lawyer at the AFL-CIO and member of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel 2011 (p. 40)
