13 Bankers

Reading one of the wave of post-financial crisis books in 2106? Feels so 2010? This was one of the wave of audiobooks I downloaded with my Audible subscription back then, then forgot about until recently. But I'm glad I went back to it.

This book is a great dive into our long, complex political relationship with the financial industry, from Jefferson and Hamilton through the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2008. Johnson and Kwak analyze the history of financial crises, bank regulation and deregulation leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, and how we have mostly failed to make the structural changes necessary to prevent another crisis like this in the future. Along the way they point out how differently we handled our own financial crisis than the reforms western countries have forced on other emerging market countries in similar situations. This book is thought-provoking and depressing. Although our economy feels more secure than it did six years ago - and books like this may be less in vogue - 13 Bankers is a good reminder that if we want to prevent another crisis we need to enact real political change.