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Summary
Summary
Global finance is a system that works for the few and against the many.
We need finance - but when finance grows too big it becomes a curse. The City of London is the single biggest drain on our resources; it sucks talent out of every sphere, it siphons wealth and hoovers up government time. Yet to be 'competitive', we're told we must turn a blind eye to money-laundering and appease big business with tax cuts. We are told global finance is about wealth creation; the reality is wealth extraction.
Tracing the curse back through economic history, Shaxson uncovers how we got to this point. He exposes offshore tax havens; the uncontrolled growth of monopolies; the myths around the Celtic Tiger and its low corporate tax rate; the bizarre industry of wealth management; the destructive horrors of private equity; and the sinister 'Competitiveness Agenda'.
Nicholas Shaxson revealed the dark heart of tax havens long before the Panama and Paradise Papers. Now he tells the explosive story of how finance established a stranglehold on society and points us towards a way out.
This is a book that none of us can afford to ignore.
Author Notes
Nicholas Shaxson is the author of Treasure Islands- Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World and Poisoned Wells- the Dirty Politics of African Oil. He is a journalist, a campaigner and world expert on both tax havens and financial centres; and on the Resource Curse. His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, Financial Times, The Economist, The Economist Intelligence Unit, and many others. He is part of the organisation the Tax Justice Network.
Reviews (1)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this deeply researched cri de coeur, British journalist Shaxson (Treasure Islands) equates the "resource curse" that impoverishes such mineral-rich countries as Angola with the "finance curse" currently afflicting Western economies that are too dependent on their financial sectors. Focusing on England and the U.S., Shaxson argues that the curse is to blame for rising inequality, shuttered public services, slower economic growth, and "the hollowing out of small towns and small businesses." He locates the seeds of the problem in the economic theories of Friedrich Hayek and the Chicago School, the surge in offshore tax havens from the 1950s through the 1980s, and lax antimonopoly laws that have helped to create "gargantuan" tech companies including Facebook and Google. Politicians have abetted the "financialization" of their economies, Shaxson argues, pointing to President Barack Obama's bailouts of "crashing megabanks" in 2008. Shaxson's solutions include "getting money out of politics," reviving antitrust laws, effectively measuring both the benefits and costs of tax reforms, and reining in the activities of tax havens. His urgent tone cuts through the financial jargon to produce clear, commonsense arguments. Though unlikely to change the minds of ardent free-marketeers, this impassioned account will be championed by progressives. (Oct.)