The Escape Artists
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The Escape Artists
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Narrated by:
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Michael Kramer
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By:
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Noam Scheiber
About this listen
Deeply sourced within Obama's economic team, Noam Scheiber is uniquely qualified to profile the squad of elite administration insiders who have set and managed the president's economic policies from before the start of his term in office, through the crisis, and into our current prolonged recovery. These are people we know-or think we know: Obama, Geithner, Summers, Orszag, and a host of others.
Scheiber shares his profound understanding of each member of the group, examining how they work-or don't work-as a team, peeling back the layers of each personality while revealing the pragmatism, vision, and blind spots each has in the fight to resurrect the American economy. Along the way, he sorts out the truth from the myths and the tactical finger-pointing that surround the recent worldwide financial meltdown.
Here, egos compete, personalities clash, and ideas do battle. Never before have we seen such a crystal-clear, in-depth look at the way economic power is wielded at the highest levels in our nation - in Washington, on Wall Street, and in their effects on millions of households in America. This book will become the key to understanding whether the Obama team will succeed in bringing us back from the brink of economic ruin - or whether they have set us up for another crisis.
©2011 Noam Scheiber (P)2012 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Charles Gasparino
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 36
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
According to business reporter Charles Gasparino, President Obama is faking his outrage at Wall Street, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big-government agenda.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Revealing and Convincing
- By Walter on 10-24-11
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Act of Congress
- How America's Essential Institution Works, and How It Doesn't
- By: Robert G. Kaiser
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 19 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 37
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
An eye-opening account of how Congress today really works - and doesn’t - that follows the dramatic journey of the sweeping financial reform bill enacted in response to the Great Crash of 2008. The founding fathers expected Congress to be the most important branch of government and gave it the most power. When Congress is broken - as its justifiably dismal approval ratings suggest - so is our democracy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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insightful, and eye opening.
- By A&K Schneider on 10-21-17
By: Robert G. Kaiser
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Overhaul
- An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry
- By: Steven Rattner
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
This first real look inside Team Obama mixes political warfare and big-business shakeups in equal proportions, and comes from a uniquely informed source. Steve Rattner is not just the man brought in by the president to save the auto industry, he is a former New York Times financial reporter who also earned a place among the top tier of Wall Street's most informed investment bankers and corporate experts.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Overhaul - A Memoir
- By Roy on 12-05-10
By: Steven Rattner
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The Promise
- President Obama, Year One
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 20 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 189
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 75
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 78
Barack Obama’s inauguration as president on January 20, 2009, inspired the world. But the great promise of “Change We Can Believe In” was immediately tested by the threat of another Great Depression, a worsening war in Afghanistan, and an entrenched and deeply partisan system of business as usual in Washington. Despite all the coverage, the backstory of Obama’s historic first year in office has until now remained a mystery.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Tiresome
- By Matthew on 05-21-10
By: Jonathan Alter
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Volcker
- The Triumph of Persistence
- By: William L. Silber
- Narrated by: Ross Douglas
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 47
Over the course of nearly half a century, five American presidents - three Democrats and two Republicans - have relied on the financial acumen, and the integrity, of Paul A. Volcker. During his tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, when he battled the Great Inflation of the 1970s, Volcker did nothing less than restore the reputation of an American financial system on the verge of collapse.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Required Reading for 2022 Economy
- By Marc Uknis on 11-19-22
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The Great American Stick Up
- Greedy Bankers and the Politicians Who Love Them
- By: Robert Scheer
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Instead of going where other journalists have gone in search of this story - the board rooms and trading floors of the big Wall Street firms - Scheer goes back to Washington, D.C., a veritable crime scene, beginning in the 1980s, where the captains of the finance industry, their lobbyists and allies among leading politicians destroyed an American regulatory system that had been functioning effectively since the era of the New Deal.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A great telling of an unfortunate part of history
- By Trace on 10-27-20
By: Robert Scheer
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All the Presidents' Bankers
- The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power
- By: Nomi Prins
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 19 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 201
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 178
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 179
Nomi Prins ushers us into the intimate world of exclusive clubs, vacation spots, and Ivy League universities that binds presidents and financiers. She unravels the multi-generational blood, intermarriage, and protégé relationships that have confined national influence to a privileged cluster of people. This unprecedented history of American power illuminates how financiers have retained their authoritative position through history, swaying presidents regardless of party affiliation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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You better like history about the elite and rich
- By Victor on 01-12-15
By: Nomi Prins
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JFK and the Reagan Revolution
- A Secret History of American Prosperity
- By: Lawrence Kudlow, Brian Domitrovic
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
Who invented supply-side economics - the idea that cutting tax rates can result in more growth, more prosperity at all income levels, and even more tax revenue flowing into the IRS? Most people would credit the economic team that advised Ronald Reagan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But in fact supply-side economics came of age two decades earlier. And the first president who embraced it was one of the biggest icons of the Democratic Party - John F. Kennedy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Turn the speed up to 1 1/2 to 2 times
- By B. MIDDLETON on 09-15-16
By: Lawrence Kudlow, and others
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The Price of Politics
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 333
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 270
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Story4 out of 5 stars 267
Based on 18 months of reporting, Woodward's 17th book The Price of Politics is an intimate, documented examination of how President Obama and the highest profile Republican and Democratic leaders in the United States Congress attempted to restore the American economy and improve the federal government's fiscal condition over three and one half years. The Price of Politics addresses the key issue of the presidential and congressional campaigns: the condition of the American economy.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Making the Sausage
- By Graham on 10-18-12
By: Bob Woodward
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A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961-2021
- By: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
Alan Blinder, one of the world's most influential economists and one of the field's best writers, draws on his deep firsthand experience to provide an authoritative account of sixty years of monetary and fiscal policy in the United States. Spanning twelve presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden, and eight Federal Reserve chairs, from William McChesney Martin to Jerome Powell, this is an insider's story of macroeconomic policy that hasn't been told before—one that is a pleasure to listen to, and as interesting as it is important.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Listen for Nixon's Sake
- By Tricia on 10-26-22
By: Alan S. Blinder
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After the Music Stopped
- The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead
- By: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Graham Vick
- Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 169
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 149
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 148
Alan S. Blinder - esteemed Princeton professor, Wall Street Journal columnist, and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board under Alan Greenspan - is one of our wisest and most clear-eyed economic thinkers. In After the Music Stopped, he delivers a masterful narrative of how the worst economic crisis in postwar American history happened, what the government did to fight it, and what we must do to recover from it.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Irresponsible, corrupt, and confused book
- By Thomas on 12-22-14
By: Alan S. Blinder
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A Crisis Wasted
- Barack Obama's Defining Decisions
- By: Reed Hundt
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 77
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Story4 out of 5 stars 63
This book is the compelling story of President Obama’s domestic policy decisions made between September 2008 and his inauguration on January 20, 2009. Unlike all other presidents except Abraham Lincoln - who decided not to allow slavery to expand westward before he was sworn in - Barack Obama determined the fate of his presidency before he took office. The results of these fateful decisions led to Donald Trump taking his place eight years later. This book describes how and why these decisions were made, and discusses whether the outcomes could have been different.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Somewhat complicated, not audiobook material
- By Mariana Nolasco on 09-20-20
By: Reed Hundt
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Shaky Ground
- The Strange Saga of the US Mortgage Giants
- By: Bethany McLean
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 119
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 100
In 2008 the US Treasury put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a life-support state known as "conservatorship" to prevent their failure - and worldwide economic chaos. The two companies, which were always controversial, have become a battleground. Today, Fannie and Freddie are profitable again but still in conservatorship. Their profits are being redirected toward reducing the federal deficit, which leaves them with no buffer should they suffer losses again.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Details on the Culture and History of the GSEs
- By Jose on 10-15-15
By: Bethany McLean
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The Center Holds
- Obama and His Enemies
- By: Jonathan Alter
- Narrated by: Jonathan Alter
- Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 162
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 149
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 149
In The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies, Jonathan Alter uses his unmatched access and deep knowledge of politics and history to produce the first full account of America at the crossroads. He pierces the bubble of the White House and of the presidential campaigns with exclusive reporting and rare historical insight. More than a campaign book, this is the epic story of an embattled president facing a historic moment he considered more pivotal than 2008.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Best Telling of the 2012 Campaign So Far
- By Mike on 06-11-13
By: Jonathan Alter
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The New Deal
- A Modern History
- By: Michael Hiltzik
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 19 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
As America struggles with an economic debacle akin to the Great Depression, nothing could be timelier than an authoritative account of the New Deal, masterfully written by Michael Hiltzik, author of the acclaimed history of the Hoover Dam, Colossus.
In this richly peopled, vividly rendered narrative, Hiltzik describes how the urgent short-term relief measures of Franklin Roosevelt’s Hundred Days evolved into a transformative concept of the federal role in American life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Another Excellent New Deal History
- By R.S. on 12-19-11
By: Michael Hiltzik
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America's Bank
- The Epic Struggle to Create the Federal Reserve
- By: Roger Lowenstein
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 413
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 360
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 356
A tour de force of historical reportage, America’s Bank illuminates the tumultuous era and remarkable personalities that spurred the unlikely birth of America’s modern central bank, the Federal Reserve. Today, the Fed is the bedrock of the financial landscape, yet the fight to create it was so protracted and divisive that it seems a small miracle that it was ever established. For nearly a century, America, alone among developed nations, refused to consider any central or organizing agency in its financial system.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Important and Intriguing
- By Jean on 11-02-15
By: Roger Lowenstein