The Under-appreciated Essentiality of Wall Street In Daily Life

The assertion that Wall Street underpins all facets of daily life is central to Cohan’s larger argument. Popular opinion holds that Wall Street is a malevolent influence on average Americans, hoarding wealth and risking economic expense at the expense of taxpayers. In contrast, Cohan states that no one who understood its implications would truly advocate for dismantling Wall Street. A key example of this is the history of Apple, as presented in the Prologue. Apple began as a small company, owned by a small group of founders and investors. As Cohan describes, that company only grew significantly when its shares were offered to public investors through an IPO. This provided the company with the necessary capital to expand and develop many of the products it is famous for today. The process also would have been impossible without Wall Street...