Chapter 2: The Biggest Asshole in the Universe Summary and Analysis

It doesn't always take a bad political system to make a society fail and sometimes it's the rise in power of just one bad individual. In the case of the economic collapse of the United States, that individual is Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve. In his twenty years of power, which he attained through deception and cunning, he was able to turn the Federal Reserve into a bail-out mechanism for the ultra-rich. During his reign, political power shifted from elected government to the private sector which was wrapped in self-interest. Profits fell to the rich while losses were shifted to the public. But this transformation was hidden behind a man who was responsible for the stewardship of the economy and who was purported to be a...