Fed Up

An Insider's Take on Why the Federal Reserve is Bad for America

By: Danielle DiMartino Booth

Narrated by: Danielle DiMartino Booth

A Federal Reserve insider pulls back the curtain on the secretive institution that controls America’s economy

After correctly predicting the housing crash of 2008 and quitting her high-ranking Wall Street job, Danielle DiMartino Booth was surprised to find herself recruited as an analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, one of the regional centers of our complicated and widely misunderstood Federal Reserve System. She was shocked to discover just how much tunnel vision, arrogance, liberal dogma, and abuse of power drove the core policies of the Fed.

DiMartino Booth found a cabal of unelected academics who made decisions without the slightest understanding of the real world, just a slavish devo­tion to their theoretical models. Over the next nine years, she and her boss, Richard Fisher, tried to speak up about the dangers of Fed policies such as quanti­tative easing and deeply depressed interest rates. But as she puts it, “In a world rendered unsafe by banks that were too big to fail, we came to understand that the Fed was simply too big to fight.”

Now DiMartino Booth explains what really happened to our economy after the fateful date of December 8, 2008, when the Federal Open Market Committee approved a grand and unprecedented ex­periment: lowering interest rates to zero and flooding America with easy money. As she feared, millions of individuals, small businesses, and major corporations made rational choices that didn’t line up with the Fed’s “wealth effect” models. The result: eight years and counting of a sluggish “recovery” that barely feels like a recovery at all.

While easy money has kept Wall Street and the wealthy afloat and thriving, Main Street isn’t doing so well. Nearly half of men eighteen to thirty-four live with their parents, the highest level since the end of the Great Depression. Incomes are barely increasing for anyone not in the top ten percent of earners. And for those approaching or already in retirement, extremely low interest rates have caused their savings to stagnate. Millions have been left vulnerable and afraid.
Perhaps worst of all, when the next financial crisis arrives, the Fed will have no tools left for managing the panic that ensues. And then what?

DiMartino Booth pulls no punches in this exposé of the officials who run the Fed and the toxic culture they created. She blends her firsthand experiences with what she’s learned from dozens of high-powered market players, reams of financial data, and Fed docu­ments such as transcripts of FOMC meetings.

Whether you’ve been suspicious of the Fed for decades or barely know anything about it, as DiMartino Booth writes, “Every American must understand this extraordinarily powerful institution and how it affects his or her everyday life, and fight back.”

Good

Very great insight into the inner workings of Central banking, the politics that influence it and corporate power.

powerful story on how the Fed works in true life

Thanks Danielle for helping to understand how the Fed works, thanks Glenn for having her on.

great Insight on the Fed

really good book to give you an Insight of what the federally does for the economy. Must read for anyone that's interested in learning monetary policy

What a history lesson!!!

Told from a first hand account of a former Fed insider. Eye opening, entertaining, and should be required reading in schools.

Fed Up, required reading is what should be assigned to this book’s description.

Danielle DiMartino Booth provides a great work by bringing all this information to us in one concise book. As I read this book, all the emotions associated with the 2008 financial crisis come to mind. I was on active duty in the US Army at the time, and although the same age as Danielle, my path was military service for 25 years and not financial. I missed the effects of this great crisis unfolding as I was deployed to Iraq at the time. Not only that, but the only meter I had as a measuring stick was to watch my 401(k) disappear. It felt lime i sat there as it had its head cut off initially, and then arms and legs as I was left with half of my previous investments. This book should be a call to action and people should understand that nobody is going to care about your financial situation as much as you therefore, you need to become educated I would start with this book, thank you Danielle DiMartino booth for writing this book and making it available to all of us. Happy birthday to the twins who share my birthday, and to the rest of your family. May good things happen from here out for you and for our US economy. @paalvitre

A must read / listen for everyone.

This book should be required reading! I’ve listened to Fed Up several times. It’s unnerving how our current economy 2023 seems to be playing out like that of the GFC. Yellen was a problem then and even more so today. Thank you Danielle for laying it all out. Not only is the material excellent but Danielle does a fantastic job narrating her work.

Educational and eye opening

Hard to get through in some spots, bit glad I made it through. I found it to be very informative, yet frustrating

One of the most courageous book in my lifetime.

One of the most courageous book in my lifetime. Answered lots of my questions. huge fan of Danielle for her independent thinking. thanks to everyone to help make this book a reality. it's needed.

First Person Account of the inner workings at FED

Danielle DiMartino Booth pulls back the curtain and reveals the facts and the degree of the hubrice of the Federal Reserve and even more so the absolute cowardice of our political servants and how they have turned their power over to the unelected official of the Federal Reserve.

This book goes into depth but takes the reader on the trip with humor and a story line that makes the trip enjoyable and simultaneously educational. The overall temperment is spot on for all levels of understanding.

Excellent!

Great insight into the Fed, great insight from someone who was behind the curtain. Excellent suggestions at the end that I'm sure the Fed will ignore.