Easy Money
The Evolution of Money from Robinson Crusoe to the First World War
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Easy Money
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Narrated by:
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Kaushik Ramachandran
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By:
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Vivek Kaul
About this listen
“A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest,” wrote singer and songwriter Paul Simon some decades back. Books on the current financial crisis which started in late 2008 are a tad like that. Until now they have tended to deal with certain aspects of the crisis without looking at the bigger picture of what really went wrong. That bigger picture of the ongoing financial crisis has now started to evolve. Easy Money captures this big picture.
The history of money and the financial system as it has evolved over the centuries stand at the heart of this endeavor. It explores the idea that the evolution of money over centuries has led to an easy money policy being followed by governments and central banks across the world, which in turn has fueled humongous Ponzi schemes, which have now started to unravel, bringing the whole world on the brink of a financial disaster. The book also explains how the lessons of the financial crisis have still not been learned, and in trying to deal with it, governments across the world are making the same mistakes which led to the current crisis in the first place.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2018 Vivek Kaul (P)2018 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 167
In what is sure to become the standard account, Rothbard traces inflations, banking panics, and money meltdowns from the colonial period through the mid-20th century to show how government's systematic war on sound money is the hidden force behind nearly all major economic calamities in American history. Never has the story of money and banking been told with such rhetorical power and theoretical vigor. You will treasure this volume.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great facts (if selective); ideological rigidity
- By Philo on 02-04-16
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When Money Dies
- The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar, Germany
- By: Adam Fergusson
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 600
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 478
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 474
When Money Dies is the classic history of what happens when a nations currency depreciates beyond recovery. In 1923, with its currency effectively worthless (the exchange rate in December of that year was one dollar to 4,200,000,000,000 marks), the German republic was all but reduced to a barter economy. Expensive cigars, artworks, and jewels were routinely exchanged for staples such as bread; a cinema ticket could be bought for a lump of coal; and a bottle of paraffin for a silk shirt....
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2 out of 5 stars
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Useless details, missing the big points
- By Jean Le Lupi on 07-04-12
By: Adam Fergusson
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Borrowed Time
- Two Centuries of Booms, Busts, and Bailouts at Citi
- By: James Freeman, Vern McKinley
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
To save the economy and keep Citi afloat in 2008, the government provided huge infusions of cash through multiple bailouts that frustrated and angered the American public. But, as Wall Street Journal writer James Freeman and financial expert Vern McKinley reveal, the 2008 crisis was just one of many disasters Citi has experienced since its founding more than 200 years ago. In Borrowed Time they reveal Citi’s disturbing history of instability and government support. It’s a story that neither Citi nor Washington wants told.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Biased
- By CF on 08-09-19
By: James Freeman, and others
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Why Wall Street Matters
- By: William D. Cohan
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4 out of 5 stars 50
William D. Cohan is no knee-jerk advocate for Wall Street and the big banks. He's one of America's most respected financial journalists and the progressive best-selling author of House of Cards. He has long been critical of the bad behavior that plagued much of Wall Street in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, and because he spent 17 years as an investment banker on Wall Street, he is an expert on its inner workings as well.
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2 out of 5 stars
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An Inch Deep and A Mile Wide
- By Doug Sheridan on 04-26-17
By: William D. Cohan
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The History of Money
- By: Jack Weatherford
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 550
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 397
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Story4 out of 5 stars 398
From primitive man's cowrie shells to the electronic cash card, from the markets of Timbuktu to the New York Stock Exchange, The History of Money explores how money and the myriad forms of exchange have affected humanity, and how they will continue to shape all aspects of our lives--economic, political, and personal.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Interesting annecdotes, but very biased reporting
- By Dean on 10-13-11
By: Jack Weatherford
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Wall Street
- A History, Updated Edition
- By: Charles R. Geisst
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 107
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Story4 out of 5 stars 107
Wall Street is an unending source of legend - and nightmares. It is a universal symbol of both the highest aspirations of economic prosperity and the basest impulses of greed and deception. Charles R. Geisst's Wall Street is at once a chronicle of the street itself - from the days when the wall was merely a defensive barricade built by Peter Stuyvesant - and an engaging economic history of the United States, a tale of profits and losses, enterprising spirits, and key figures that transformed America into the most powerful economy in the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Many books in one; best linking of stories, eras
- By Philo on 03-23-14
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Money
- The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
- By: Jacob Goldstein
- Narrated by: Jacob Goldstein
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,719
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,472
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,466
The cohost of the popular NPR podcast Planet Money provides a well-researched, entertaining, somewhat irreverent look at how money is a made-up thing that has evolved over time to suit humanity's changing needs.
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3 out of 5 stars
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well researched and written but,
- By C&S on 09-29-20
By: Jacob Goldstein
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The Story of Silver
- How the White Metal Shaped America and the Modern World
- By: William L. Silber
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 298
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 251
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 252
This is the story of silver's transformation from soft money during the 19th century to hard asset today, and how manipulations of the white metal by American president Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1930s and by the richest man in the world, Texas oil baron Nelson Bunker Hunt, during the 1970s altered the course of American and world history. FDR pumped up the price of silver to help jump start the US economy during the Great Depression, but this move weakened China, which was then on the silver standard, and facilitated Japan's rise to power before World War II.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Detailed Account of Silver's Monetary History
- By Brandy Crosby on 01-11-21
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Money Mischief
- Episodes in Monetary History
- By: Milton Friedman
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 442
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 268
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 266
What kind of mischief can result from misunderstanding the monetary system? The work of 2 obscure Scottish chemists destroyed the presidential prospects of William Jennings Bryan, as well as Franklin D. Roosevelt's decision to appease a few senators from the American West who helped communism triumph in China, are just 2 such mishaps cited in this important work by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman. This accessible work also provides an in-depth discussion on the creation of value.
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1 out of 5 stars
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This book is not unabridged.
- By James on 01-18-09
By: Milton Friedman
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Money
- The Unauthorized Biography
- By: Felix Martin
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 114
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
From ancient currency to Adam Smith, from the gold standard to shadow banking and the Great Recession: a sweeping historical epic that traces the development and evolution of one of humankind’s greatest inventions.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Difficult to imagine how it could be worse
- By J. M. Batista on 09-19-17
By: Felix Martin
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The History of Banking
- The History of Banking and How the World of Finance Became What It Is Today
- By: K. Connors
- Narrated by: Michael J. Cover
- Length: 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 12
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 11
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 11
Have you ever wondered who started banking and for what reason? Or where money came from and how it's regulated? Ever wonder how banks are able to lend out billions of dollars at a time? This book gives a detailed outline of the history of banking from the 15 century to present day. Whether you are a fellow banker like myself, aspiring to work in the world of finance, or just plain curious, this book covers everything you need to know from top to bottom.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Changing Lives..
- By jency on 12-12-17
By: K. Connors
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Currency Wars
- The Making of the Next Global Crises
- By: James Rickards
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,772
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,504
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,510
In 1971, President Nixon imposed national price controls and took the United States off the gold standard, an extreme measure intended to end an ongoing currency war that had destroyed faith in the U.S. dollar. Today we are engaged in a new currency war, and this time the consequences will be far worse than those that confronted Nixon. Currency wars are one of the most destructive and feared outcomes in international economics.
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2 out of 5 stars
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don't be misled
- By peter on 04-01-12
By: James Rickards
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Money for Nothing
- The Scientists, Fraudsters, and Corrupt Politicians Who Reinvented Money, Panicked a Nation, and Made the World Rich
- By: Thomas Levenson
- Narrated by: Dan Bittner
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 96
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
In the heart of the Scientific Revolution, when new theories promised to explain the affairs of the universe, Britain was broke, facing a mountain of debt accumulated in war after war it could not afford. But that same Scientific Revolution - the kind of thinking that helped Isaac Newton solve the mysteries of the cosmos - would soon lead clever, if not always scrupulous, men to try to figure a way out of Britain’s financial troubles.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Financial innovation's first song of the siren.
- By Michael Barnett on 09-06-20
By: Thomas Levenson
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A History of the United States in Five Crashes
- Stock Market Meltdowns That Defined a Nation
- By: Scott Nations
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 910
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 778
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 773
In this absorbing, smart, and accessible blend of economic and cultural history in the vein of the works of Michael Lewis and Andrew Ross Sorkin, a financial executive and CNBC contributor examines the five most significant stock market crashes in the United States over the past century, revealing how they have defined the nation today.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A solid telling of crucial history
- By Philo on 06-17-17
By: Scott Nations
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The Forgotten Depression
- 1921: The Crash That Cured Itself
- By: James Grant
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
In 1920-1921, Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding met a deep economic slump by seeming to ignore it, implementing policies that most 21st-century economists would call backward. Confronted with plunging prices, wages, and employment, the government balanced the budget and, through the Federal Reserve, raised interest rates. No "stimulus" was administered, and a powerful, job-filled recovery was under way by late 1921. Yet by 1929, the economy spiraled downward as the Hoover administration adopted the policies that Wilson and Harding had declined to put in place.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Best thinking-sharpener I know of
- By Philo on 03-11-20
By: James Grant
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The End of Alchemy
- Money, Banking, and the Future of the Global Economy
- By: Mervyn King
- Narrated by: Greg Wagland
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 416
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 345
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 347
Something is wrong with our banking system. We all sense that, but Mervyn King knows it firsthand; his 10 years at the helm of the Bank of England, including at the height of the financial crisis, revealed profound truths about the mechanisms of our capitalist society. In The End of Alchemy, he offers us an essential work about the history and future of money and banking, the keys to modern finance.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Two books in one, both very fine
- By Philo on 07-13-16
By: Mervyn King