The Death of Capital

How New Policy Can Restore Stability

By: Michael E. Lewitt

Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

While some semblance of stability has returned to the financial markets, the economies on which these markets must ultimately depend remain structurally weak, and the path toward sustained growth will be difficult. In order to set the economy on a sounder path, we need to understand the sources of instability that caused the failure of the financial system, rethink established ideas, and challenge the intellectual and moral authority of the institutions that control the world's capital.

Written by respected portfolio manager and longtime investment professional Michael Lewitt, The Death of Capital looks at how, in recent years, the U.S. economy has increasingly been dominated by short-term speculation rather than productive investment, debt rather than equity, and short-term thinking rather than long-term planning. These disastrous trends, described here as "financialization," ignore the fact that capital is a highly unstable social process rather than a fixed, historical object or category.

This timely audiobook:

• Explores the most important aspects of capital and capitalism through the prism of four of the world's great economic thinkers
• Addresses "financialization" and its consequences, such as a weaker U.S. dollar, the decline of American industries, and the loss of American economic and political hegemony
• Examines how the legal system contributed to economic deterioration by privileging short-term profitability above other important societal interests such as labor, the environment, and social welfare
• Calls for politically controversial reforms such
• Asks for stricter regulation of hedge funds and private equity firms, banning naked credit default swaps and off-balance sheet financing vehicles, imposition of a Tax on Speculation, and principles-based reforms to improve systemic stability
• And much more

©2010 Michael E. Lewitt (P)2010 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

"In an era of books on the financial crisis, this one is a significant standout. Michael demonstrates a keen understanding of the factors that led to the financial abuses of the past decade and equally importantly advances sound ideas for financial reform. A very engaging and worthwhile audio!" (Leon G. Cooperman, Chairman and CEO, Omega Advisors, Inc.)