Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America

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Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America

4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 · rating details · 3,369 ratings · 517 reviews

The dramatic story behind the most audacious power grab in American history

The financial crisis that exploded in 2008 isn’t past but prologue. The stunning rise, fall, and rescue of Wall Street in the bubble-and-bailout era was the coming-out party for the network of looters who sit at the nexus of American political and economic power. The grifter class—made up of the l...more The dramatic story behind the most audacious power grab in American history

The financial crisis that exploded in 2008 isn’t past but prologue. The stunning rise, fall, and rescue of Wall Street in the bubble-and-bailout era was the coming-out party for the network of looters who sit at the nexus of American political and economic power. The grifter class—made up of the largest players in the financial industry and the politicians who do their bidding—has been growing in power for a generation, transferring wealth upward through increasingly complex financial mechanisms and political maneuvers. The crisis was only one terrifying manifestation of how they’ve hijacked America’s political and economic life.

Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi here unravels the whole fiendish story, digging beyond the headlines to get into the deeper roots and wider implications of the rise of the grifters. He traces the movement’s origins to the cult of Ayn Rand and her most influential—and possibly weirdest—acolyte, Alan Greenspan, and offers fresh reporting on the backroom deals that decided the winners and losers in the government bailouts. He uncovers the hidden commodities bubble that transferred billions of dollars to Wall Street while creating food shortages around the world, and he shows how finance dominates politics, from the story of investment bankers auctioning off America’s infrastructure to an inside account of the high-stakes battle for health-care reform—a battle the true reformers lost. Finally, he tells the story of Goldman Sachs, the “vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.”

Taibbi has combined deep sources, trailblazing reportage, and provocative analysis to create the most lucid, emotionally galvanizing, and scathingly funny account yet written of the ongoing political and financial crisis in America. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the labyrinthine inner workings of politics and finance in this country, and the profound consequences for us all.

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Audio, Unabridged, 12 pages

Published November 2nd 2010 by Random House Audio (first published September 21st 2010)

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Jun 23, 2012 Will Byrnes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, non-fiction

UPDATES - June 21, 2012 - at bottom

You don’t have to be Dorothy or “The One” to know that there is something foul going on behind the economic curtain. Matt Taibbi, a contributing editor at Rollingstone, rips away the misinformation that cloaks some of the most nefarious behavior in American history. He looks at a few elements of what can only be described as institutional organized crime and explains just what is going on in clear, understandable terms.

The engine for looting the old ghetto nei

...more

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Dec 02, 2010 Laurie Gold rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

"'Follow the money' has long been my mantra, and Matt Taibbi's cogent reporting does the best job describing various economic crises of the last fifteen years of any that I've read, peeling away each level of complexity in a way that the layman reader can easily understand our world turned upside down as a result of greedy financiers and their collusion with the government. He details the creation and bursting of the dot.com bubble, the 2004 energy crisis, and the 2008 economic collapse, and lik...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Altonmann rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: disaster-capitalism

This is the 6th book I've read about the recent financial catastrophes.

Fools Gold, The End of Wall Street, The Big Short, How Markets Fail, All the Devils Are Here are all worthy books, but Griftopia tops the rest with its insights and outrage.

Taibbi doesn't simply settle for exposition and analysis. He's angry that business (Wall Street, insurance industry in particular) abetted by our government has robbed us blind while citizens have amused themselves with a media circus that doesn't investi...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Markus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, banksters-and-vultures, 2012

4 ½ stars. A good book to read after Michael Lewis (also excellent) Big Short. I know the story and machinations behind housing bubble of 2008, Matt Taibbi adds his colorful and a funny language to this horror story. The commodities bubble chapter was best for me, since this subject has got a little notice in media or books. I have read many complains that Taibbi is not an economist and therefore is not qualified to write about banksters. Not true. Taibbi knows what he is writing, and how he des...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Carolyn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, I'm back on the crack - financial meltdown. Because I just haven't suffered enough. At least Matt (yes, I call him Matt) has a sense of humor - and he swears appropriately.

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Nov 02, 2012 Kenneth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: essays-journalism

An excellent clarion wake up call. The only thing missing in what I've read so far is any suggestion of solutions. How, if even possible, do we fight the oligarchy. It's clear the government isn't the answer. We have no real political power over those truly in power.
Until the real revolution vs "Wall Street" happens, I'm going to keep raising consciousness.

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May 11, 2013 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: politics

Matt Taibi is a journalist for Rolling Stone. He has taken his engaging and easy to read style and turned his hand to writing about how and why the GFC happened. How it screwed the public over like you and me - this applies whether you live in the US, Greece or Somalia. It is about the rorts that take place amongst today's ruling class - the financiers and banks. Clearly they won't stop until someone puts some big fat regulations in place and because the politicians have been captured by the fin...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Charles Allan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: economics

Matt Taibbi's Griftopia is a good place to start to understand how many believe that derivatives and lack of regulation is damaging our financial system. Especially if you like your economic explanations to come with four letter words.

Taibbi - a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone - chronicles our national transition into a casino, where financialization of the economy takes precedence over allocating capital and actual work.

The result? Higher prices for food and oil, government officials paid...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Clif rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've read three books concerning the financial collapse. The other two were by Yves Smith and Joseph Stiglitz and, while perfectly understandable and, in Stiglitz' case, as a dignified and careful critique, they didn't leave me steaming like this account. Matt Taibbi goes the full mile in this book and fills us in on all the facts that make up the big picture. I'm sorry to say that several of the events he mentioned got right by me when they were happening.

Would that every issue of national inte...more I've read three books concerning the financial collapse. The other two were by Yves Smith and Joseph Stiglitz and, while perfectly understandable and, in Stiglitz' case, as a dignified and careful critique, they didn't leave me steaming like this account. Matt Taibbi goes the full mile in this book and fills us in on all the facts that make up the big picture. I'm sorry to say that several of the events he mentioned got right by me when they were happening.

Would that every issue of national interest had such a carefully researched, all-embracing summary like this one. I'd recommend this book heartily to all - as long as some profanity isn't objectionable, like frequent references to people as assholes - the chief one being the man that could do no wrong for so long, Alan Greenspan.

If you are an Ayn Rand fan, approach this book carefully as Rand is roasted. Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Republicans and Democrats alike get large amounts of rotten veggies all over their faces - and with good reasons that are well documented.

There is a concise four paragraph account of the deception that Barack Obama pulled off - running on positions that he immediately reversed upon taking office. Taibbi tells all about the sell-out to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries in very understandable prose that you could easily (and should) spread around to others. He never fails to place the blame by naming the individuals involved, virtually all of which have come through the mess as millionaires charged with no crime.

He takes us through the history of the last 30 years to let us see how the Beast of Wall Street, Goldman Sachs, played games with the American economy, offering innovations in financial products that were known to be risky, even rotten - to the point that GS was betting against them and laughing about it behind the backs of the customers from which it was taking orders.

One very interested part of the book quotes from the GS literature given to investors, the small print that nobody reads, that clearly states GS is free to do as it wishes, including taking positions (buying or selling in the market) in contradiction to the advice it gives clients.

As Taibbi puts it, America is swirling around the drain and Goldman Sachs did everything it could to be the drain (you'll get a juicy metaphor every dozen pages or so). He identifies all the personalities involved with the bail-out, both in and out of the government, that are Goldman Sachs alumni; a tight circle that always made sure the public paid and GS ended up a winner.

The AIG bailout was complex, involving credit default swaps that had nothing to back them up. If you don't know what that means, you will after reading this book.

Taibbi is understandably irate. The complexity of the economy invites the insiders to play games while the public is left in confusion about what is going on and mistakenly assumes that those in government are properly minding the store.

Griftopia is as easy to read as a book can be. The pages fly by. You might imagine the author lounging on your living room sofa ranting and raving as would a good friend who is concerned that you aren't paying attention to what's been happening.

He's absolutely right. It is exactly the same with foreign policy where all kinds of nefarious activity takes place about which, but for Wikileaks, the public would be ignorant. The powerful act in a world apart and all of us pay the consequences. The considerate, the cautious, the less-than-obsessed-with-ambition do not make it to the halls of power and the ones who do are very much alike in the arrogance and connivance with which they act. Deception is the rule, whether it comes from the mouth of the CEO of Goldman Sachs, or that of the Secretary of State or even the President. All you and I see is the imagery they want us to see.

Lincoln was right in the 19th century when he said you can't fool all the people all the time, but we are far closer to that now than we have ever been and there are many putting it to the test with all the cleverness they can muster.(less)

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Sep 03, 2012 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

taibbi's blunt, profane and clear writing style is worth the read alone. his opening hard-hitting chapters detailing recent financial bubbles and the evil "geniuses" behind them are fantastic. his later chapter on obamacare illustrates two of the weaknesses of his overall argument — 1. any time a company uses influence to get a better deal its profoundly evil. taibbi doesn't, however, distinguish between a company using influence to make money AND make the world a better place (for all its limit...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Erik Simon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

About the corruption between high government and high finance that Matt Taibbi, the best journalist in America, dissects in this book, there is really too much to say. About his refreshing candor and appropriate wit (his essay on Alan Greenspan is titled "The Biggest Asshole in the Universe" because Greenspan is, although Bob Rubin must have been hundredths of a second behind in that race with Sandy Weill and Lloyd "we bankers are doing God's work" Blankfein tying for the bronze), one cannot be...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Curtis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: best-non-fiction

This book will wake you up and smell your coffee too. I don't read Rolling Stone but this is the second book I have finished in as many weeks written by Rolling Stone journalists and they were both excellent. This book in particular just grabbed me and pinned my down to the mat the whole way through. I could not break away from it. Matt Taibbi is a great writer. He makes complete sense out of complex and cryptic financial mumbo jumbo and transforms it into an intensely educational read. I just f...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Aaron Arnold rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: economics, politics, favorites, read-in-2010

There was a lot going through my head when I was reading Taibbi's latest must-read book: disgust, anger, wonder, even laughter at his still-incredible powers of description, but at the very end, after I'd finished and had to take a minute to absorb what I'd just read, what I felt most was sadness. More than anything else, this is a book about a country in decline, a country that can't even recognize what its problems are, let alone try to fix them; instead feverishly running through one fraudule...more There was a lot going through my head when I was reading Taibbi's latest must-read book: disgust, anger, wonder, even laughter at his still-incredible powers of description, but at the very end, after I'd finished and had to take a minute to absorb what I'd just read, what I felt most was sadness. More than anything else, this is a book about a country in decline, a country that can't even recognize what its problems are, let alone try to fix them; instead feverishly running through one fraudulent get-rich-quick scheme after another. If you've been paying attention to the news at all for the last few years, you know that the American economy is not exactly in peak health. This is what happens when both the financial sector and government officials decide that the country is more profitable to loot than to invest in, and use their time to convert money from America's decaying physical assets into NoVa chalets. The chapter on how state and local governments nationwide have started selling off infrastructure to shady megabank investors at fire-sale prices to temporarily plug budget holes is stunning in its depiction of short-term thinking, but it's not like they have any options. Meanwhile, the saying that the easiest way to rob a bank is to own one is still true; it's pretty clear that not only do the lucky recipients of the trillions of dollars of free bailout money not have to worry about continuing to own their banks, they don't have to worry about the robbery either since they've paid people to make their crimes perfectly legal, and, as Tea Party cheerleaders like Rick Santelli repeatedly insist, even noble and laudable. Our entire national dialogue is broken. We've become so used to open corruption and kindergarten-level debates that even after the should-have-been-seismic event of the 2008 election, the same groups of Wall Street criminals continued their business of looting the country practically undisturbed by politicians like Obama who were eager to water down even the most timid reforms in exchange for money. Memories of eras like the New Deal and the Great Society have faded to the point where even suggesting that the government should maybe ask health insurance companies to be slightly less sociopathic puts you in the company of Stalin. PJ O'Rourke had a great line: "When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators." Unfortunately, he might be right. This is an excellent polemical counterpart to the nerdier Hacker & Pierson book, but be warned that you won't walk away from this one feeling very good about America.(less)

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Mar 24, 2012 Rajesh Israni rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Funny, sarcastic, absorbing & ultimately depressing, this expose on how deep the tentacles of Wall Street & big money have dug into Washington is a must read for everyone. As Taibbi says, it isn't Red Vs Blue or Liberal vs. Conservative or even Democrat vs. Republican - it's the big money guys (and it's almost all guys) --ping our country, sucking it dry while they can, vs. everyone else. Some might find Matt Taibbi's rousing & confrontational new book a bit uncouth. It's actually m...more "Funny, sarcastic, absorbing & ultimately depressing, this expose on how deep the tentacles of Wall Street & big money have dug into Washington is a must read for everyone. As Taibbi says, it isn't Red Vs Blue or Liberal vs. Conservative or even Democrat vs. Republican - it's the big money guys (and it's almost all guys) --ping our country, sucking it dry while they can, vs. everyone else. Some might find Matt Taibbi's rousing & confrontational new book a bit uncouth. It's actually more than a bit uncouth - it's positively rude, & more the better.

What surprised me in the entire book was a section that talks about how US is selling itself off piece by piece to whatever foreign country (SWF - Sovereign Wealth Funds) is interested. The wealth of knowledge from its section on Sovereign Wealth Funds itself pays for the cost of entire book. SWFs outreach in the daily lives of most American citizens is most bizarre & shocking. Taibbi drills down in SWF, to talk about the infamous Chicago parking meter deal that outgoing Mayor Richard Daley put in place a few years ago. At the time Chicago got $1.17 billion for leasing the Chicago city Parking meters for 75 years to a conglomerate whose majority owners are the oil-rich Middle-eastern countries. Taibbi wonders why Daley didn't simply issue bonds on the future revenue for the meters. If this wasn't enough, then there are the annual price hikes that come with the deal. But what's really interesting is a part of the Faustian bargain Daley made involving local street festivals. Turns out there's a clause in the contract that allows Chicago Parking Meters LLC, that if an alderman wants to close down a street or streets for a festival, he or she needs approval from the new parking meter owners (i.e. Saudi & & other middle-eastern countries). Not only would Chicago have to get permission for Chicago Parking Meters LLC but would also have to compensate the company for last revenues from the street closings. Imagine that!!! The quarters you pay to park your car at Navy Piers goes to another country that owns it. One cannot even perceive the cunning creativity of the US bureaucrats & its banks in raising funds in the disguise of citizen welfare & then making their own citizens pay & suffer for next 75 years.

From the mortgage to commodities fiasco, from its build-up to the downfall, the people who drove them knew very well of the outcomes & yet not only the general public even their own colleagues & watchdogs couldn't see the deceit & risk involved. One couldn't but draw similarities with the plot of the movie "Usual Suspects", which demonstrates how "A man with a powerful will can bend others to his purpose". In the movie "Verbal Kint", the main protagonist, who is weak, talkative man among a group of ruthless gangsters & policeman, is in actuality Keyser Soze, a man of inhuman will & determination. He is the only one who knows the truth since he is the only one who plots, directs, & plays the entire fictional story out of thin-air, & at the end is able to walk unscathed from the mess.

Matt uses daily-life examples with loads of humor & sarcasm to explain the many cons hacked by the Wall-street bullies. For instance, he relates the sub-prime mortgage fiasco to selling oregano as we-d. Who wouldn't buy that Oregano if you can get away with it? One would find it hard to argue with the in-your-face message from Matt, that we've entered a new world of bureaucratic complexity & political futures are now determined by how much of this sh-t one is going to be able to understand.

Matt doesn't shy from throwing pots on the culprits such as Alan Greenspan & his mentor Ayn Rand whom he calls "The Biggest S-Ole in the Universe". Taibbi's tirades are certain to raise eyebrows. Nine times out of ten, Taibbi's literary lambasting is more than justified. Sometimes I was left searching for even stronger language. He argues that the simple key to this whole mess is delusion, illusion & perspective...where the common man continues to chase the "American Dream" while simultaneously voting against its own self-interests.

In summary, the key thing of what the book is that financial services companies use the government to create a protected industry for themselves. These brokerages & banks use the Fed as an insurance policy. The book is a great way to raise your blood pressure and prompt you to really care & think about the underlying issues with America's economic system. For some that will be worth the price alone, but I imagine others will follow in Taibbi's footsteps & dig into these issues to educate themselves. Either that, or dig a hole in the ground to bury their heads in, until the Easter bunny does some miracle." (less)

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Feb 26, 2012 Marty rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: financial, non-fiction

This is my favorite book so far about the financial crisis. It's not the most informative, or the most well reasoned; you won't really come away with a more sophisticated understanding of derivatives or CDOs; there are few if any policy prescriptions.

But for sheer moral outrage and pitchforked-prose, it is unbeatable. The culprits of "the long con" may not ever be held to account in a courtroom or feel the public's outrage in the pocketbook - but at least they have not escaped Taibbi's poisoned...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Cmreinholz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a book every American needs to read. It's likely that those on the right will be miffed that Taibbi calls their heroes douchebags and assholes. Those on the left will be pissed that he takes Obama to task for his incessant campaign lies and hypocrisy. But hopefully not enough to be deaf to his message: That both parties are owned by Wall Street, which constructed numerous bubbles over the past decade, profiting greatly even though they were merely middlemen. And then, when the inevitable...more

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Feb 16, 2012 Dave rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've been looking for a concise, accessible explanation of the crash for awhile. Taibbi is not an economist (he's not anything, really -- he writes for Rolling Stone), but he's done enough investigation to provide a basic description of intentionally opaque concepts like credit default swaps, option ARMs, toxic assets, mortgage derivatives, the housing bubble, and the role the Fed plays in our economy. This book is delightfully irreverent and destined to piss you off.

I've read a few retellings o...more I've been looking for a concise, accessible explanation of the crash for awhile. Taibbi is not an economist (he's not anything, really -- he writes for Rolling Stone), but he's done enough investigation to provide a basic description of intentionally opaque concepts like credit default swaps, option ARMs, toxic assets, mortgage derivatives, the housing bubble, and the role the Fed plays in our economy. This book is delightfully irreverent and destined to piss you off.

I've read a few retellings of this story now, but none as enjoyable and clear as Taibbi's: Greenspan ("The biggest asshole in the universe") helped launch the 1990 boom by flooding the market with cash every time the market hiccuped. This pushed investors out of the bond market and into stocks, leading to the tech bubble. When the bubble burst in 2001, this momentum transferred into the housing market. Ratings agencies and investment banks colluded together to label trillions of dollars in junk mortgages as AAA quality paper, in order to make billions from all of the fees and commissions that come from trading the debts around. Eventually the debts all wind up in the banks, and since they're AAA grade paper (virtually no risk) and doubly insured by AIG, they're used as reserve instruments to back the bank deposits.

This launches a buying frenzy, which launches a building frenzy. Eventually people stop making their mortgage payments, the mortgages go into default, speculators then investors lose their shorts, and our banks are insolvent because they used worthless mortgage securities as cash reserves. AIG is stuck with a $10 trillion bill, so they go bankrupt. Fed comes in and saves the day by bailing out the fraudsters who created this mess, while leaving the nation to deal with bankruptcy and unemployment.

Hopefully after reading this book, you'll be able to intelligently correct someone when they blame the crash on the free market, or capitalism, or the poor, or a particular political party or ideology. This was textbook-definition illegal behavior, plain and simple, but on such a massive scale that most people still struggle to make sense of it.(less)

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Jan 22, 2012 Gregg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: financial-crisis

Disclaimer: When it comes to money and the business world, I rank somewhere between a pacifier-sucking infant and college freshman stoned on paint fumes in terms of comprehension. Ask me about my financial portfolio and I'll just blink and stare at you. Talk to me about derivatives and I'll most likely suffer an acute case of diarrhea so I can run to the safety of the nearest bathroom. I try to keep these things in my head, I really do. But they leak out.

(Sorry--that was not an intentional refer...more

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Jan 01, 2012 Jorge rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: politics-economics

Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History by Matt Taibbi

"Griftopia" is the irreverent expose of the 2008 financial crisis. In this illuminating and at times infuriating book, investigative journalist Matt Taibbi digs into the main culprits of our economic chaos over the past decade. This 320-page book is composed of the following seven chapters: 1. The Grifter Archipelago; or, Why the Tea Party Doesn't Matter, 2. The Biggest ----- in the Un...more

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Dec 26, 2011 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Emily by: EOB

Shelves: 2011

A little of Matt Taibbi goes a long way, in my experience, but I ended up liking this book more than I expected, because it has an actual point.

There are moments where I felt as though Taibbi asserted something, expected the reader to take it as given, and plowed on ahead. In the end, though, I accepted this style--otherwise, the book would turn into All the Devils Are Here, which I couldn't get through. Talking about Alan Greenspan, Goldman Sachs, commodity speculation, and Obama's muddled prom...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

before griftopia, i used to think of matt taibbi as something of a guilty pleasure. he's always been better than the average left/progressive pundit at grasping the ugly class snobbery behind a lot of our disdain for the tea party, and his writing reliably mirrors my own political beliefs with more exciting bombast than, say, paul krugman. put differently, he's someone i have typically turned to for catharsis and schadenfreude rather than information.

with that in mind, i'm happy to say that grif...more before griftopia, i used to think of matt taibbi as something of a guilty pleasure. he's always been better than the average left/progressive pundit at grasping the ugly class snobbery behind a lot of our disdain for the tea party, and his writing reliably mirrors my own political beliefs with more exciting bombast than, say, paul krugman. put differently, he's someone i have typically turned to for catharsis and schadenfreude rather than information.

with that in mind, i'm happy to say that griftopia is a surprisingly substantive take-down of the near-satanic behavior we've seen on wall street over the past thirty years. better still, it's the kind of no-bullshit journalism that may actually make a difference when all is said and done. i'm thinking specifically of his "great american bubble machine" chapter, which helped initiate an avalanche of horrible press for the criminals at goldman sachs when it appeared in rolling stone about a year and a half ago. months later, goldman CEO lloyd blankfein would be making an ass of himself at a senate hearing... and a few months after that, everyday people would be occupying wall street indefinitely. taibbi isn't directly responsible for any of this, but he's stirring the pot in a more substantial way than, like, keith olbermann or whoever.

in addition, griftopia does a credible job of making this stuff digestible and accessible. which doesn't mean that it's an easy read. if anything, taibbi's snarky, unpretentious approach further proves that there is NO WAY WHATSOEVER to make the financial crisis easily understood. sooner or later, if you aren't a day trader, economist or criminal, sorting out the differences between collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps (and so forth) is going to leave your head spinning. but if you're willing to put yourself through it, you might as well get a few mean-spirited belly laughs along the way, which taibbi offers again and again with great panache.

griftopia isn't limited to the stuff that dominated the news in 2008. there's a particularly compelling chapter about the commodity index market (he'll explain what that is, don't worry) and its adverse affect on gas and food prices. shortly after, he offers an informative, if slightly underdeveloped, chapter about the privatization of city assets (like chicago's parking meters), and their sale to suspiciously anonymous investors. there's even a chapter devoted to obamacare, outlining the myriad sell-outs the obama administration (rahm emmanuel especially) made to insurance companies and opportunistic, "centrist" democrats before finally passing the act in its weakened, wishy-washy state.

my paperback version also includes two follow-up essays which are worth reading, and the intro he wrote to them is really top notch. in it, he compares the rhetoric surrounding the financial crisis to that of the drug war. taibbi notes our readiness to punish low-level drug traffickers with draconian wraith - and its strong contrast to our reluctance to regulate the so-called "job creators" who tore apart our financial system and were bailed out for the damage. taibbi is often criticized for his tone (swear words! oh no!), but he argues not only for a change in rhetoric - but also for an abandonment of the usual left/right media spectacles that distract us from more substantial issues. griftopia's "bi-partisan" approach isn't 100% effective - the fever for deregulation really is a right wing problem in its heart of hearts (though the clinton administration deserves a LOT of the blame for the corruption that lead to the current recession), and occasionally taibbi dismisses things that are worthy of substantial debate (immigration especially). but as a u.s. citizen, it's tough not to feel like i live in a full-blown oligarchy by the end of this book. and if real reform is still possible, it's probably worthwhile to dwell on that feeling and allow myself to be angered by it.(less)

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Nov 27, 2011 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-reads

The word "polemic" comes to mind. Taibbi's Griftopia kicks off to a blistering start, and pretty much maintains that battery-acid tone throughout. The opening essays imply more of an anti-Republican stance than is actually the case - by the end it's clear that Taibbi is pissed at everyone just about equally, but most on the right wing could be forgiven for not managing to make it through the author's vituperation to the bits where he starts in on Obama and the Democrats. Hell, I had a hard time...more

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Oct 25, 2011 judy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I think the appropriate response is just kill me now. Taibbi's (Rolling Stone) story of our near financial collapse is best of many I've read. It's also highly understandable which is completely depressing. In fact, don't read this book before eating. I especially enjoyed his riff on the Maestro Alan Greenspan. What an idiot. I will always remember his testimony where he admitted being surprised by one thing. "Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect sh...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Quentin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of the scariest books I've read in a long time. Too bad it's journalism, not fiction. Taibbi writes with energy and hysterical anger, and isn't afraid to call a spade "a spade" (there's a chapter chronicling the life and times of Alan Greenspan called "The Biggest Asshole in the Universe.")

But this style really works when he is explaining the bank and insurance mechanisms whose collapse led to the current economic crisis, and the government policies that allowed those mechanisms to exists (...more

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Sep 02, 2011 Evan McB rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book very clearly shows the legislative origins of many of the financial problems that have plagued America in the last two decades. One example is the CFTC's deregulation of commodities speculation in the early 1990s leading to the high price of gasoline in the 2000s. Another example is the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945, which indirectly allowed insurance companies to collude and price-fix within their industry, leading to insurance and insurance-related paperwork becoming what is the bulk...more

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Jun 30, 2011 Elizabeth Sulzby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history-politics, nonfiction

I put off reading this book because the title sounded so gimmicky but then I read and heard more about it and realized I had been reading Taibbi's articles in Rolling Stone (magazine). He uses "down and dirty" language to document how greed and deliberate misrepresenting investments was wound all through the American financial institutes.

His explanation of the bundling of mortgages, re-bundling and re-rating the lower mortgages over and over actually made money with each resales. He has a chapte...more

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Jun 24, 2011 Amber rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoy reading Matt Taibbi's works and this book was no different. This book carefully lays out how the mortgage bubble burst in a surprisingly interesting manner although I admit it took me awhile to get through it. I had to reread a few parts because of my lack of knowledge of how the financial world operates but I finally understand how that whole wall street thing works (or doesn't work), or at least I understand parts of it. The scary thing about this book is not reading about how t...more

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May 19, 2011 Zombiestopperuno added it · review of another edition

Bubble Lust

America’s biggest financial bubble burst in 1929 and then the bubbles went away for fifty years until they started re-appearing in the 1980’s as the American economy became increasingly bubblicious, leading to the crash of 2008. The book Griftopia by Matt Taibbi is the story of how the grifter class brought the bubbles back through a campaign of political lobbying aimed at both policy-makers and the general public.

The key to reviving a bubblicious financial system was getting rid of t...more Bubble Lust

America’s biggest financial bubble burst in 1929 and then the bubbles went away for fifty years until they started re-appearing in the 1980’s as the American economy became increasingly bubblicious, leading to the crash of 2008. The book Griftopia by Matt Taibbi is the story of how the grifter class brought the bubbles back through a campaign of political lobbying aimed at both policy-makers and the general public.

The key to reviving a bubblicious financial system was getting rid of the regulations designed to prevent bubbles. In order to sell the de-regulatory proposals it was necessary to offer something in their place, and that something was the concept of self-regulation. As ridiculous as the concept sounds, the advertising campaign for it was successful and this book provides an insightful explanation as to how it was done.

Taibbi gives us an excellent example with Alan Greenspan of the disconnect between what we’re sold and what we actually get. As Taibbi writes, “Greenspan’s rise to the top is one of the great scams of our time. His career is the perfect prism through which one can see the twofold basic deception of American politics: a system that preaches sink-or-swim laissez-faire capitalism to most but acts as a highly interventionist, bureaucratic welfare state for a select few ... If you can see through him, the rest of it is easy.”

Taibbi makes clear how Greenspan was the archetypal player among the priestly class of corporatism. Greenspan used his economics background to provide a thin veneer of academic respectability for each proposal to increase self-regulation. Without this academic endorsement the magical mechanisms of market-induced restraints would’ve been painfully easy to see through.

The book documents the pattern that played out repeatedly where the financial industry lobbied policy-makers for regulatory changes, while at the same time lobbying public opinion by promising rich rewards if the changes were implemented and dire consequences if they were not.

Taibbi more than amply justifies his characterization of the financial industry as grifters. He shows how they mis-represented their product offerings. They never came out and said that their gambling schemes were designed to scoop up money from everyone else and shift it into their own pockets. Instead they presented each new scheme as a magical plan to shower profits on all those who were true believers in these seemingly too-good-to-be-true opportunities. The impression was that the grifters would be taking only a small share of the take, with the majority of the benefit accruing to the public at large. This is the grifter modus operandi.

Books such as Griftopia are essential both to the democratic process and the economic future of the country. It’s imperative that significant segments of the populace become sufficiently capable of discerning the difference between advertising and economics. As essential as a book like this is, it can be a tough sell because many people want to hang on to what they think they know. Taibbi’s message can be a difficult one because it requires us to give up the something-for-nothing fables that the grifters lured us into with the help of their priestly class allies.

There’s plenty at stake here. Bubbles produce massive misappropriations of capital which cause serious damage to the long-term growth of the economy. It is the job of the financial industry to direct capital into the most productive ventures. It has become necessary for the public to insist that this industry get back to doing its job. It will also be necessary to insist that decisions be made based on the empirical record which is pretty clear about how poorly self-policing policies have worked in the past. The current gas price surge in the absence of any change in the supply/demand ratio is an excellent illustration of how the bubble pushers continue to rob us.

If the principle of self-regulation is ever going to be repudiated unequivocally then the public needs to get its head out of its ass, and this book is a great place to start.

On a personal level, my favorite aspect of this book is the fact that the author himself is a vindication of my view that there are heroes out there willing to endure all of the conflict and recrimination and slander and accusation in order to defend those of us outside of the grifter class.

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Apr 26, 2011 Torie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you like acerbic wit, crystal clear explanations of dauntingly complicated financial ideas, and feeling completely hopeless about the future of the country, this is the book for you. Griftopia has had me depressed for weeks. That said, Taibbi is incredibly smart and incredibly funny, so you forgive the dark nature of the book. I can think of no one better to tackle the kind of difficult-to-understand and impossible-to-forgive shenanigans that are the subject matter.

My only real complaints are...more

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Apr 24, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That is Breaking America by Matt Taibbi (pp. 288)

This is an interesting, educational and opinionated look at the recent financial mess. Matt Taibbi is either uniquely positioned to comment or completely out of his element. The Rolling Stones writer, who also ends up as a pool journalist covering the 2008 elections pulls no punches. He lays into to every party, faction and side with the amusing color and ranting of someone who’s just pi...more

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“In a society governed passively by free markets and free elections, organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy.” — 18 people liked it

“We paid for this instead of a generation of health insurance, or an alternative energy grid, or a brand-new system of roads and highways. With the $13-plus trillion we are estimated to ultimately spend on the bailouts, we could not only have bought and paid off every single sub-prime mortgage in the country (that would only have cost $1.4 trillion), we could have paid off every remaining mortgage of any kind in this country - and still have had enough money left over to buy a new house for every American who does not already have one.” — 12 people liked it

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