★★★★★ 5
A Complete Autopsy of the 2008 Financial Crash and the Government Response
Format: Hardcover
First, let me say that I can't believe one person wrote this entire book. Tooze handles everything - economics, finance, politics, diplomacy, public policy, housing, discrimination, trading platforms - and does it expertly. The author's detailed understanding of such a wide arrange of topics is dazzling, especially his handle on inscrutable national bank mechanics.
Second, if you want a macro understanding of how governments responded to the 2008 financial crisis and how these responses produced such wildly differing results, read this book. The analysis at times is like eating sawdust and it is excruciatingly detailed. There were entire chapters on the European side of the crises that I felt were repetitive and could possibly be removed from the book without losing too much. However, clearly Tooze has done his homework and the data underlying his conclusions is vast.
Third, I learned a lot and I had previously read "Too Big to Fail" by Sorkin and some other lesser known books on the recession. Tooze handles everything from a policy perspective and his data support his overarching theme: the US had a cohesive, massive stimulus program that probably could have gone further, while the EU responded in nibbles. The US rebounded well, albeit not perfectly while the EU went from crises to crises. He also shows that there were massive consequences from the bailout of the financial system: Brexit and cartoonish clown politicians like Trump in the US, and Farage in the EU, who are supported at their roots by a dangerously racist and nationalistic surge of those left behind by the modern global economy. This is an excellent read.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2018
