Customer Reviews

Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal

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Danny Schechter has compiled a brilliant book based on his documentary work, In Debt We Trust, as well as his news dissector blog. Within the covers of the new book, Plunder, you will find three sections that will help you to a) understand what happened, b) what the unfolding timeline of the events were and c) why the powers that be kept news like this from us all. Speaking truth to power, Schechter has had a difficult time letting the world know just what was as plain as could be, if you really took the time to look for the sources that could be trusted. I highly encourage anyone who wants to help avert further disasters, man-made ones, to read this book in order to learn how to do it. Danny Schechter is a great teacher as well as a great news hound.

If you turn to CNBC, CNN or most of the major media outlets for clarity on the complex issue of our economic meltdown, you can expect anything but clarity. Danny Schechter, true to form, exposes all the cooks who had a hand in poisoning the soup we call our economy. There is plenty of blame to go around, only you wouldn't know it from the major media. The news dissector is unafraid to go beyond the usual attack on irresponsible borrowers and discuss the lucrative world of debt and its players. Get this book. I wish we had a media with many Danny Schechters. It makes it very hard to scheme when you're being watched.

Perfect for : Personal Use, Someone interested in learning about the impacts to the current economy

In a nutshell: I believe that many things have led to our current economic crisis, and I also believe that we will recover. Plunder's author, Danny Schechter, provides investigative insight into some of the events that brought our economy to this point, mainly greed and dishonesty among those involved in the mortgage industry and the credit industry (seems they were able to talk many consumers into using credit cards and buying homes when they should not have been qualified for them). The author does go on to show that what has happened here in the United States is bound to turn into a Global problem in the near future. In all, this was a very informative read that gave me a lot to think about and reflect on.

Extended Review:
Content: While I am not an expert in economics or anything related to it, I can't claim that this is THE book to shed light on what exactly happened, but I can say that Danny Schechter has done his research and put together a lot of information regarding many contributing factors to today's economic issues, especially the mortgage crisis! I also gained insight into why our family was "qualified" for much more than we felt we could comfortably afford when we were looking for a home to buy (over the past 10 years, my husband and I purchased a first home, which we sold in order to buy our current home. In both cases, lenders tried to talk us into doubling what we wanted to pay, telling us we should buy bigger because we were "qualified" . . . boy am I glad we didn't listen to them!).

Format: The book is written in an interesting format that supports the author's claims with documentation. Mixed in with the author's own words and explanations are many quotes and passages from other sources (online and print) pertaining to the subject matter.

Readability: This was a fairly easy read, given the subject matter. There are a lot of financial terms used, but the author did a good job of explaining them.

Overall: A very interesting look into how and why we have reached this point in our credit crisis, which is magnified by the fact that this will most likely become a Global crisis as other countries have taken similar actions with regards to the use of credit.

Having lived in a country during a economical disaster, I could not help to try to learn more about the causes of the current global financial meltdown.
After listening Mr Schechter interview in NPR about his new book, I felt that I would be able to find the answers I was looking for.
I have to say that I have not been disappointed, and I certainly would recommend this book to anyone who struggles to find information outside the main media.

Dan Schecter has done an excellent job of laying out all the pieces and connecting all the dots involved in the housing/credit/financial crisis we are all having to face. Knowing how we got here is one thing, getting mad about it is justified. Doing something about it is another matter all together. Reading this book will make you want to and that is where the solution to this mess lies. This is a must read for anyone with a mortage, a school loan, a credit card or a car loan. Dan Osso,
[ TheCreditSaver.com ]

Danny Schechter can't resist telling us multiple times that he's an "investigative journalist," and that he's one of the few people to have seen the subprime catastrophe coming from afar. Aren't all journalists "investigative" and don't most of them work from more than secondary sources? As far as I can tell (I only got about half-way through this book so some original work may appear later) Mr. Schechter gathered all his material by trolling the Internet and then quoting from the sources he found, even, in some cases, blogs, which most journalists would be very wary of using as authorities.
There is also a constant theme, repeated on almost every one of the first 30 pages or so, of how the subprime scandal was not covered by mainstream media. That is patently not true. The Economist was warning about the subprime bubble and how it was about to burst as far back as 2003. There were plenty of others issuing warnings. And, there was no information in the part of the book that I read that I didn't already know, and I'm by no means an expert on the financial industry, just an ordinary reader of newspapers, books, and magazines.
Mr. Schechter complains that no traditional publishers were ready to "snap up this book despite its timeliness and my track record as an author/reporter." Oooh a conspiracy to hide the truth? No, it's just not a very good book. Poorly written: e.g. "The signs were there, but many eyes were closed because they were looking elsewhere - mostly, at all the money they were making." Neat trick. Poorly edited too e.g. is it subprime, sub-prime, or sub prime? All three appear. Punctuation and proofreading could use some work as well.