Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World

First and foremost, this is one of the better books I've read, especially on the banking system. Nomi Prins doesn't sensationalize or create fear porn. This entire volume is written very practically. I will warn readers up front that there is a lot of banking and financial terminology and acronyms. There's a glossary to help but it may be a bit of a challenge if you are completely unfamiliar with the banking system.Rather than offer a summary, I'm going to offer a couple of quotes directly from the book that do well presenting the overall theme:- "By conjuring money, the Fed had begun something it couldn't stop." - p. 223- "Nowhere in any of this did the plight of ordinary citizens meaningfully feature in the discussion." - p. 224- "This coddling of the oppressors depicted the illogic of a situation that hurt all those involved to some degree - except the central bankers themselves. It was the central banking establishment that had no real allegiance to voters and that remained virtually untouchable." - p. 242Basically, in 2007/2008, a fiscal crisis erupted, with the epicenter being the United States. This crisis was in part caused by the deregulation of the banking industry during the Clinton Administration, including the repeal of the Glass-Steigal act. Though many who have been following the system are aware of that, Prins gets into detail of why this is true. It lead to out of control "betting" utilizing people's deposits. This "betting" included subprime loans, derivative markets (including derivatives from toxic assets), and so on. When it all came to a head, the bankers went to governments to bail them out. And they did. And the banks made out big time but Main Street did not. And then central banks pushed money conjuring (QE) for a trickle down effect. It didn't work. Banks hoarded it and bet on more derivatives. So the central banks keep doing the same thing and have for about a decade with the same effect.The author does a great job in presenting the elitism of the central bankers, the revolving door between banking positions and government positions, the fact that the bankers are less and less accountable to governments and that governments are more and more held hostage by those bankers. This book should be on the reading list for every college student out there, but it won't be.Political Trigger Warning: The author does not speak highly of any American administration, whether it be Bush, Obama, or Trump. So if you are in love with any of these presidents, you will be triggered.

4 Stars because I am still not convinced that gold, diamonds, etc. are the answer to our problems. Who can afford to buy them back?

First, let me say, that the author was amazing to have done so much research, so well and thoroughly researched. Then, I'll say, this book is HIGHLY technical and detailed. My initial knee jerk reaction was that "This amount of detail would interest those with two Masters Degrees - one in Economics and one in Politics." But after one perseveres and digests that panoply of players / organizations / governments - what at first seemed daunting to digest smooths out and you get a real sense of travesty foisted on the people.One prescient passage is quite a summary on page 220: "But conjuring money was different from Keynesian theories on government spending aiding the real economy. Big banks had no reason or requirements to care about how the real economy might operate. Speculative activities were faster, often more lucrative, and involved less effort to execute."Summary insights like this are sprinkled liberally throughout the book and are backed up by a large amount of supporting detail. The book is uniquely positioned with authority insights and is a ringing indictment of central banks in general and the Federal Reserve ring leader in particular.So persevere though the first few pages and you shall be greatly rewarded and I do not have any degrees in economics or politics. Highly Recommended.

I have heard rave reviews of this book. I have not read it yet but I would give it 5 stars based on past comments

Prins in a just world could easily receive the Nobel Prize for economics . The secret world of Central Banks has a profound effect on how we all survive in this money driven planet . Japan , Europe and the US Central Banks are all in collusion offering the big banks ZIR-Ps , zero interest rate policies while the masses have to settle for convience store sleerpies! The bright side of the story has been how China and other developing countries have been able to challenge the trickle down approach to finance , investing in infrastructure and other social investments. On the other hand with the Fed trillions go to lining the pockets of our big banks while the finance sector pays little attention to the needs of the public.For anyone interested in economics , this is the key piece of the global puzzle. In a just world the Quantitative Easing might be how we ease Climate Change , a strategy environmental groups might consider . Thank you Nomi Prins for your research and moral strength.

This is a superb study on high finance. It shows in great detail how the world's central bankers have been colluding to prop up the world economy with easy money over the last 10 years. She makes a convincing argument that this strategy has failed to do anything but protect the interests of the super-rich. Reformists and revolutionaries alike will find this book a gold mine of information in their battle against a system everywhere dominated by international capital. Since their community is so large now, I would urge conspiracy theorists to take the the time, open their minds, and carefully study this book. Here you will learn of a true world conspiracy run in plain sight by nervous experts on the basis of shaky, discredited economic theory. Because this well-researched book so thoroughly exposes the prevailing neoliberal intellectual framework and despite the author's eminent credentials, it is being informally blacklisted by the mainstream media. But I don't care. This is one of the few books that I will re-read several times.

This is quite a hard book to read.Not just because the font is rather small and the level of detail provided by the author exhaustive but also because the book is about how a few so-called 'experts' have made some highly questionable decisions about the financial management of the world. And no-one really has a clue about how the decisions will eventually pan out.Based on this book I don't think the pan is going to contain gold, at least metaphorically. Although actually their actions may make returning to a gold standard attractive for some nations and accelerate the adoption of crypto in others. Alternatively, it may result in some kind of global financial armageddon the like of which no-one has ever seen or is prepared for (except a handful of highly armed survivalists who may have made the right bet and a hedge fund somewhere betting on this outcome).Not that any of this will be news to watchers of the Keiser show on RT (yes, I know, 'that' Russian propaganda channel). The fact is that collusion generally has made a comeback (also check out Done by Jacques Peretti) and in this case may function as a kind of mutually assured financial destruction, all funded by 'free' money of course. The result of quantitative easing is very likely to be that a significant quantity of us ordinary earthlings could be eased out of our jobs and livelihoods by massive bets made by some of the biggest gamblers on earth.Read this book and you'll get some idea why.

Well. It's nice to have a peek into the global financial games these people play at our expense as most of the world live off the crumbs from their tables.Well researched and presented. I enjoyed this book and in a way I am more tolerant of how governments and countries can be forced into undesirable actions and situations. These situations will always continue, as we are only human and greed and power corrupts.

Though it is a heavy book to read and get to grips with, this book shows how al the money being given to the Banks is being used by them to bet on the stock markets, The should be putting this money into the economy supporting investment in local business major building programs and getting people back to work on a decent wage.

Very small lettering which makes the book a little difficult to read, but has lots of information that you would never find in the regular press. The book is interesting and Nomi shows lots of knowledge, but the book is quite a drag to read.

Awful book - 300 pages of "this happened then that happened then this happened and that happened" that which I didn't already know about I didn't care about. I purchased it because I saw the author interviewed and she seemed to have some very interesting things to say, sadly none of them made it into the book.