Occupy Finance by Alternative Banking/Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Finance Reviews

• 
  Chris Chester

  As clear and succinct summary of the fiscal skulduggery surrounding the 2008 financial crash and subsequent Great Recession as I have read. It lays out how the financial industry works, how banks create money, how they conspire to keep more than their fair share, and the ways they manage to skirt justice and prosecution.
  
  In particular, the explanation of credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations is crisp and clear in a way that even Matt Taibbi's reporting in the Rolling Stone failed to be.
  
  That said, I found the policy prescriptions a sort of lukewarm response to the general outrage. Close the revolving door between regulators in Wall Street? Great! Punish wrongdoing proportionally to the crimes committed? That'll never happen, but right on. Create a "financial FDA" for new financial products? Eh. Match financial industry lobbying with the "people's lobbyists?" What?
  
  For all the damning allegations about the way the system works, whoever wrote this thing is awfully tepid about the possibilities. It strikes me as odd, for instance, that Occupy folks are incapable of envisioning a future that is not merely a slightly more granola version of the status quo:
  
  "A final point about the myth that governments are inherently wasteful and that too much debt is dangerous: at what point is the bond market, as a whole, going to freak out and stop lending to the profligate inefficient US Government? There would have to be something better, safer, and more liquid than the US for this to ever happen. Clearly, this is not happening, and does not look like it is going to happen any time soon."
  
  Really guys? You can't imagine a future where the U.S. bond market tanks? You can't even conceive of this future? I guess they don't want to be perceived as revolutionary, so as to avoid being put on some FBI watch list, but it's going to take more radical thinking than this to affect a change to the financial system.
  
  (I do like the bit about joining credit unions and supporting coops though. That's right on.)
• 
  Robert Postill

  As someone who's followed along with a
  small portion of the stream of media coming out of the 2008 financial crisis as well as being a long-standing reader of
  Private Eye it's probably fair to say this review owes more than a little to my political tint.
  
  So, on to the main piece. I really liked this book. As a reader it's not often you pick up a piece of work that is as well researched as this through independent publication. You normally expect a traditional publishing house to have had to supply the fact checking and external references. The book is organised into small chapters that lead you through the group's take on the issues with the American economy and what that means for you. As an Australian citizen I'm not entirely sure about the directness of the effect of the GFC on me, however it's clear that what's bad for the US has negative impacts on me.
  
  If I'm critical it's in three places. First I wish the research was a little less internet dominated. I understand that is a comment of the times and in a few years I doubt it will be levelled at all. However we still live at a point where research in journals and books trumps online. It's not that the sources are poor, they just feel temporary. Secondly I wish there was a slightly nicer print finish, I believe it makes the book a more pleasant experience. Once you've picked up an Edward Tufte or Don Knuth book you understand the term book as art. It's not that I want that level, but the book somehow feels like it's not going to be there long. Which would be a shame. Finally, I'd like to have seen more on fixing the system and international impacts of the GFC.
  
  When you look at those criticisms they're all minor. So overall read the book. if nothing else it's a wonderful zeitgeist moment but hopefully it actually sparks action on your part too.
• 
  Ed

  A good survey of contemporary finance issues and some potential solutions.