The Global Economic Crisis The Great Depression of the XXI Century [Paperback]

Michel Chossudovsky (Author, Editor), Andrew Gavin Marshall (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2010

In all major regions of the world, the economic recession is deep-seated, resulting in mass unemployment, the collapse of state social programs and the impoverishment of millions of people. The meltdown of financial markets was the result of institutionalized fraud and financial manipulation. The economic crisis is accompanied by a worldwide process of militarization, a war without borders led by the U.S. and its NATO allies. This book takes the reader through the corridors of the Federal Reserve, into the plush corporate boardrooms on Wall Street where far-reaching financial transactions are routinely undertaken. Each of the authors in this timely collection digs beneath the gilded surface to reveal a complex web of deceit and media distortion which serves to conceal the workings of the global economic system and its devastating impacts on people`s lives.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This important collection offers the reader a most comprehensive analysis of the various facets especially the financial, social and military ramifications from an outstanding list of world-class social thinkers. --Mario Seccareccia, Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa

In-depth investigations of the inner workings of the plutocracy in crisis, presented by some of our best politico-economic analysts. This book should help put to rest the hallucinations of free market ideology. --Michael Parenti, author of God and His Demons and Contrary Notions

Provides a very readable exposé of a global economic system, manipulated by a handful of extremely powerful economic actors for their own benefit, to enrich a few at the expense of an ever-growing majority. --David Ray Griffin, author of The New Pearl Harbor Revisited

About the Author

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (Emeritus) at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal. He is the author of The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003) and America s War on Terrorism (2005). He is also a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages. Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent writer both on the contemporary structures of capitalism as well as on the history of the global political economy. He is a Research Associate with the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Global Research Publishers; 1 edition (May 25, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0973714735
• ISBN-13: 978-0973714739
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 1 x 5.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #48 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Colonialism & Post-Colonialism

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth About Global Economic Crisis November 25, 2010

By Joel S. Hirschhorn

Format:Paperback

You want to read The Global Economic Crisis The Great Depression of the XXI Century, edited by Michel Chossudovsky and Andrew Gavin Marshall, if you meet these criteria: you welcome information and analysis about critically important issues that come from great thinkers outside the mainstream media and publishing world; you can handle brain pain from detailed and brutally honest revelations; you are willing and able to challenge your own biases and preconceptions to let in new explanations of how the world really functions.

If millions of Americans read this book, we would probably see a far stronger uprising against the political establishment that has refused to severely punish the countless guilty people in the financial, banking and mortgage sectors that brought down the US and global economic system.

This book ties together a large number of factors in twenty chapters that reveal just how corrupt the world has become because of the power of plutocratic, wealthy and corporate interests. From Wall Street corporate boardrooms to the Federal Reserve and other central banks to the US military and NATO, a multitude of threads get woven into a disturbing tapestry of crimes against society that still have not been prosecuted.

This book is truly an instrument of anti-brainwashing. If you are willing to spend serious time reading it, then you surely will become much angrier about the dismal state of the economy that is causing so much pain and suffering to ordinary people worldwide. If you personally have escaped the worst ravages of the economic meltdown, then you will have much more compassion for those severely affected.

In all honesty, if the current global economic crisis has made you angry, pessimistic, fearful, paranoid, despairing and worse, then this book will most likely exacerbate all such feelings. By revealing still more connections, implications and causes, this book will motivate you to do anything you can to fight the corporate, plutocratic forces devastating the lives of ordinary people. If you already have little confidence in government, it will only make things worse. Does all this mean you should avoid reading it? Absolutely not.

Here are a few statements from the book that resonated with me and that you can use to decide whether the general philosophic orientation of it is compatible with your views:

"Wall Street's Ponzi scheme was used to manipulate the market and transfer billions of dollars into the pockets of banksters."

"Government rescue packages around the world are corporatist in their very nature, as they save the capitalists at the expense of the people."

"The global political economy is being transformed into a global government structure at the crossroads of a major financial crisis."

Just gin up the courage to read it, get out several color markers to highlight passages and expand your knowledge to overcome all the propaganda constantly being hurled at you. We need more citizen unrest to energize more public protests to overthrow the powers that have corrupted and perverted our government. A key voice in the mainstream media that is in sync with the painful messages in this book is Dylan Ratigan who has a terrific daily show on MSNBC. He too should read this timely book.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Analysis of Our Current Situation December 24, 2010

By Elliot Malach VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The book is a compilation of articles written by different authors with a wide variety of backgrounds. It is divided into 5 parts that cover everything from the economic crisis to global poverty, war, monetary systems and the shadow bankers.

Other books I have read and reviewed corroborate most of what I have read here. The big financial institutions with government connections manipulate the markets. Market crashes and rallies are engineered to maximize their profits and expansion at the expense of the government (taxpayers) and individual investors. Everywhere you look in this system the same old "good ole boys" keep showing up. They rotate from the private financial sector to government and back again.

The book brings up some interesting points:
-One I was totally unaware of was that China is cornered into investing its balance of trade surplus dollars in U.S. debt, thus financing the U.S. military buildup against them.
-Workers are seen as merely a cost of production. Globalization is all about installing monopolies, not improving life.
-World agriculture has the capacity in place to feed the entire planet, but the system prevents it from happening.
-Big players move the commodity markets to keep prices high, thus causing starvation - eliminating the poor, because starvation is good for profits.

I got a good laugh out of Ch. 14 & 17, where the writer describes how great the misunderstood Bilderberg Group's "one world order" will be. This guy may be totally clueless, but the editors let everyone express their opinion on the current global crisis, so that is a good thing.

On shadow banking, Pres. Lincoln said it best," I have two great enemies, the Southern army in front of me, and the bankers in my rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Crucial to understanding the mess we're in February 1, 2011

By Doug Welch

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

One thing you can say about mainstream coverage on the causes and consequences of the Economic Crisis which began in Sept. of 2008 is that the more you watch, the less you seem to know. Well, part of the problem is that these same reporters were cheering on the very worst actors in this drama as they were racing into a brick wall. Well, Michel Chossudovsky and his gang of muckraking investigative journalists and academics offer a more balanced and well-rounded review of what the reality on the ground was like for the global economic system before and after the collapse of 2008. Once you realize to what extent the Old Order was essentially based around massive fraud and once you notice that the same crooks who crashed the system are mostly still in charge and are trying to fire up the old bubble machine you too will be rightfully outraged.
Among the topics covered are: to what degree was the Global Economic System founded on corruption, fraud and given cover by the media? How is it that Globalization hasn't delivered on the promise for raising standards of living worldwide? How does the emergence of China as an actor on the global stage affected economic and security concerns? To what extent is the economic crisis related to the advance of militarization, including among powers that had previously eschewed military force as a means of pursuing policy? Read this book and you will be enlightened.