Architects of Ruin: How Big Government Liberals Wrecked the Global Economy--and How They Will Do It Again If No One Stops Them

by Schweizer, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780061953378
• ISBN10: 0061953377
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-11-23
• Publisher: Harpercollins

Summary

Was the financial collapse caused by free-market capitalism and deregulation run amok, as liberals claim?Not on your life, says Peter Schweizer. In Architects of Ruin, Schweizer describes how a coalition of left-wing activists, liberal politicians, and do-good capitalists” on Wall Street leveraged government power to achieve their goal of broadening homeownership among minorities and the poor. The results were not only devastating to the economy, but hurt the very people they were supposedly trying to help.This tale of liberal Robin Hood capitalism run wild” has never been told. But more than just a story about the past, Architects of Ruin is also an urgent warning about the future. The very same people who planted the seeds of the collapse are back in Washington, determined to use the crisis they caused as cover for a massive overhaul of the American economic system. These people have learned nothing from their past mistakes and are busy applying the same methods to other sectors of the economy-health care, the auto industry, real estate (again!), and above all the promotion of green” technologies-inflating bubbles that are sure to bring about another crisis. Ordinary Americans who foot the bill for the last state-capitalist bubble have reason to be afraid-very afraid-of the inevitable result.

Author Biography

Peter Schweizer's numerous books include Reagan's War, The Bushes, Makers and Takers, and Do as I Say (Not as I Do). He is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and lives in Florida with his wife and children. www.peterschweizer.com

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Failure of Capitalism-or Liberal Social Engineering?	p. ix
The Robin Hood Agenda	p. 1
How a Gang of Radical Activists and Liberal Politicians Set the Stage for the Biggest Bank Heist in History
$4 Trillion Shakedown: The Left's Activist Jihad Against American Banks	p. 28
The Clinton Crusade: How Democrats Made Credit a Civil Right	p. 46
Cover Your Fannie: How Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Were Taken Over by Liberal Activists	p. 76
The Golden Trough: How Liberal Politicians Used Fannie and Freddie to Rig the Real Estate Market While Lining Their Own Pockets	p. 104
Do-Good Capitalists: Bill Clinton's Seduction of Wall Street and the Birth of the Bailout Culture	p. 120
Minority Meltdown: A Tale of Two Bubbles	p. 152
Robin Hood Comes to the White House: How Barack Obama's Plans to Use Liberal State Capitalism Will Create the Next Big Economic Meltdown	p. 167
Acknowledgments	p. 185
Notes	p. 189
Index	p. 211
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