Meltdown

A Look at Why the Economy Tanked and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse

By: Thomas E. Woods Jr.

Narrated by: Alan Sklar

The media tells us that "deregulation" and "unfettered free markets" have wrecked our economy and will continue to make things worse without a heavy dose of federal regulation. But the real blame lies elsewhere.

In Meltdown, best-selling author Thomas E. Woods, Jr., unearths the real causes behind the collapse of housing values and the stock market---and it turns out the culprits reside more in Washington than on Wall Street. And the trillions of dollars in federal bailouts? Our politicians' ham-handed attempts to fix the problems they themselves created will only make things much worse.

Woods, a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and winner of the 2006 Templeton Enterprise Award, busts the media myths and government spin. He explains how government intervention in the economy---from the Democratic hobby horse called Fannie Mae to affirmative action programs like the Community Redevelopment Act---actually caused the housing bubble. Most important, Woods, author of the New York Times best seller The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, traces this most recent boom-and-bust---and all such booms and busts of the past century---back to one of the most revered government institutions of all: the Federal Reserve System, which allows busybody bureaucrats and ambitious politicians to pull the strings of our financial sector and manipulate the value of the very money we use.

Meltdown, which features a foreword by Congressman Ron Paul (R - Texas), also provides a timely history lesson to counter the current clamor for a new New Deal. The Great Depression, Woods demonstrates, was only as deep and as long as it was because of the government interventions by Herbert Hoover (no free-market capitalist, despite what your high-school history teacher may have taught you) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (no savior of the American economy, in spite of what the mainstream media says). If you want to understand what caused the fi...

©2009 Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (P)2009 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Provocative, well-written, and deserves to be read." ( Catholic Historical Review)
"Well written, well researched, and the thesis put forth is well argued." ( Journal of American History)

If you like money or freedom, this is a must read!

The author discusses how the U.S. government manipulates currency in America for its own gain and to the detriment of the citizens it supposedly serves. Give it a listen and a few minutes of consideration. A valuable alternative point of view and a good explanation of the forces that caused the 2008 housing bubble and banking bailouts and what is likely to follow. Explained in clear understandable language.

Fantastic

a very well written explanation of the financial crash of 2008. Voiced eloquently explains how the federal reserve caused the artificial boom, And why more credit creation and bail outs or fuel to the fire rather than a remedy to the problem.

Awesome

Awesome a must read. Thanks for all you do Mr. Tom woods. God bless you!

great and very true

Best case study of economic crisis in 2008 I've read. I recommend it even to beginners.

Good things to think about but a little political

This is probably a good primer on Austrian School Economics is you are not familiar with it. It falls into the trap, like most books with political messages, of being a bit sarcastic and dismissive towards the arguments of the other side. I try to read each viewpoint and for the opposing one I would recommend "The Great Crash of 1929" by Galbraith, which also tends toward sarcasm.

I believe the best point of this book is to give us a lot of questions to think about before we spend the equivalent of a warehouse full of 100-dollar bills that we do not have. While it may be too late for this bailout/stimulus we better think long and hard about the questions raised in this book before we do it again. This is a good introduction to the school of economics dismissed as "supply side" by the popular press but it falls short as an in-depth look at the very serious issues we face. If you want to know more a good next step is Sowell's "Applied Economics".