Böcker av Mehrsa Baradaran

Learn all about banks and the magic of money.When you think of a bank, what comes to mind? A building? A safe, filled with gold? What if we told you banks weren't any of these things? And (get ready for this)...most money isn't even kept in the bank! Banking is a system that allows money to move from one place to another, creating opportunities and growth. And banks only work with a shared belief in the magic of money.

Many Americans believe that something fundamental has gone wrong in their country. Why does full-time work no longer guarantee financial stability? Why does college cost a lifetime of debt? And why have decades of free-market promises yielded not more freedom and liberty but more debt and constraints? In The Quiet Coup, Mehrsa Baradaran, a premier public intellectual, argues that America's problems stem from the market-centred doctrine of neoliberalism. Far more than a mere economic theory, neoliberalism and its adherents transformed American law-yielding not fewer laws but more-complex laws and regulations that benefit the wealthy. From neoliberalism's role as a tool of ideological warfare against racial justice movements in the 1960s to its complete institutional takeover in the 1980s to the crypto meltdowns of the 2020s, Baradaran's essential chronicle shows that the neoliberal era-and legalised mass looting-is far from over and in fact is only accelerating.

"Banks aren't buildings full of gold but are currents where digital money flows.""Money is a current-a wave of potential, hope, and energy. Money is an idea we all agree on. Money is valuable because we all believe it has value."When you think of a bank, what comes to mind? A building? A safe? A locked box full of gold? What if we told you banks weren't any of these things? And (get ready for this)...most money isn't even kept in the bank! Banking is a system that allows money to move from one place to another, creating opportunities and growth. And banks only work well with trust, community, and a shared belief in the magic of money.

The United States has two separate banking systems-one serving the well-to-do and another exploiting everyone else. Deserted by banks and lacking credit, many people are forced to wander through a Wild West of payday lenders and check-cashing services thanks to the effects of deregulation in the 1970s that continue today, Mehrsa Baradaran shows.

In 1863 black communities owned less than 1 percent of total U.S. wealth. Today that number has barely budged. Mehrsa Baradaran pursues this wealth gap by focusing on black banks. She challenges the myth that black banking is the solution to the racial wealth gap and argues that black communities can never accumulate wealth in a segregated economy.