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Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We Can Fix It!)

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Dorgan argues that leaving the free market unchecked is like driving a car without brakes, and asks "if these companies (banks, auto firms, AIG, etc.) are too big to be allowed to fail, why weren't they big enough to be regulated?" Now with the latest takeovers, the U.S. has four banks controlling one-third of all our bank deposits.

By January, 2009, over $8 trillion of taxpayer money had been used to help big financial institutions. During that period some of the same institutions were paying big bonuses - overall, they're year-end results totaled $35 billion of losses, and $18 billion in bonuses.

One of the worst decisions that contributed to today's reckless finance was the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act that repealed the ban on banks investing in securities and real estate. (Earlier legislation that allowed S&Ls to invest in higher risk real estate brought the 1987 S&L Crisis.) Senator Phil Gramm was the major Congressional force behind the change, but it also was supported by President Clinton (signed it), and made worse by President Bush II's choice of willfully blind regulators and a Federal Reserve Chairman (Alan Greenspan) blinded by the ideal of a self-regulating market. Then in 2004, Henry Paulson, Chairman of Goldman Sachs, helped convince the SEC to allow banks to use greater leverage.

Other problems include "no-doc" and teaser (no payments for up to a year, ARMs, interest-only) loans, brain-dead rating firms, low Federal Reserve interest rates (partly to counteract an earlier recession and the inflationary effect of both an Iraq War and major tax cuts), and remarketing of sub-prime loans that appeared to spin gold out of chaff.

Home-equity helped fuel personal consumption in the middle of the new millennium's first decade - $310 billion/year from 2004-2006. Government borrowing exceeded $2 trillion in 2008, and it's expected to be higher in 2009. Meanwhile, we continue with $700-800 billion in trade deficits as well. Dorgan contends this cannot continue.

Government regulators in the last ten years sat by while Enron, Madoff, Tyco, and the MCI WorldCom scandals blew up. Commodities trading is another scandal waiting to explode - Brian Hunter controlled 70% of natural gas on the NYMEX in 2006, without CFTC awareness. Dorgan also attributes last-year's $147/barrel oil to speculators running amok, but offers no substantiation.

The top 1% of households own 38% of the nation's wealth; the bottom 60% own 4%. Warren Buffett pays 17.7% of his annual income in payroll and income taxes, vs. 32.9% as the average of others in his office. The rich should pay more - per both Buffett and Dorgan.

Corporations, until 2004, bought and leased back municipal assets (eg. sewer systems) to allow them to depreciate the assets and lower their taxes. Corporations now only pay about 10% of federal taxes.

Dorgan says he's thinking about a VAT - the advantage is that it can be eliminated for exported products and would make U.S. companies more competitive. (The bad news is that a VAT is VERY regressive in its impact.)

Dorgan realizes we're in a bit of bind regarding the millions of illegals already in the U.S. Before solving that problem, he believes we need to secure our borders and go after companies that hire illegals. Dorgan has nothing to say about curing our job outsourcing problem - that was covered in his prior book, "Take This Job and Shove It."

My one criticism of "Reckless" is Dorgan's treatment of health care. Dorgan does recognized the need for reform, and suggests greater emphasis on prevention, improved personal responsibility (don't smoke, better diets), lower drug prices (aka other nations), less drug advertising, etc. Dorgan, however, doesn't seem to realize that normal workforce-turnover, coupled with a multi-payer system, undermines financial incentives for prevention. In addition, he doesn't come out for a single-payer system - others claim it would reduce expenditures by about 10% (less overheads), nor does he bring up the enormous regional variation in health care practice that, if reduced, could save billions and billions more.

Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We Can Fix It!)

Dorgan writes in a clear and concise fashion in describing the dominating power of corporations in America's politics. This is a must read for those interested in effecting change from the staus quo!

The unchecked free market is like driving a car at ninety miles per hour without brakes - this is best analogy against the free market arguments I have ever heard. I believe that a proper balance is the best. I think that this book is timely because of the current crisis that our country and the entire world are going through.

The author believes that we went too far toward the free market when the public officials that we elected to represent the best interests of the people have betrayed us. Instead of representing us, they aligned themselves with big corporations who contributions, allowing them to call all the shots. He argues that we need to rescue the economy from these influential entities and hold the public officials accountable. But this will not happen unless the people push the government to change.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market

I like his style and how he laid out mistakes that led us to the mess we are in. Wish we had more in Congress like him.

Enjoyed every bit of it!!! Much of it is old information, but when put together in sequence and understood completely, you can see how we were all fooled and used. Surely when the Republicans realize how they also were duped they will see how The Bush Administration and the Military Industry and the CIA were all involved and promoted companies like Halliburton to access huge amounts of money. Debt we will pay off for years to come. It should make everyone angry.

Senator Byron Dorgan warned his fellow senators back in 1999 that repealing the banking regulations in Glass-Steagall would be an extremely shortsighted move that would cause severe damage to America's security. Dorgan was provent right by the recent financial crisis. Like in Dorgan's last book "Take This Job and Ship It" Dorgan advocates for the common people who are suffering in America, because of the recent economic recession and the growth of inequality. Dorgan showcases the many ways Corporations dodge taxes, causing the extra taxes to pass to the rest of the country and the deficit to rise. He calls for closing corporate loopholes so that all Americans pay their fair share.

Dorgan shows that massive war profiteering is occuring in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dorgan calls for a new Truman Committee that would expose corruption among military contractors, the same way the original Truman Committee did during World War II. Senator Dorgan makes some good points about immigration, such as the need to legalize most illegal immigrants who are in the country, while stoping corporations from importing cheap labor and undermining American wages and labor rights.

Senator Dorgan has a lot of ideas about reducing our dependence on foreign oil, by conservation measures and supporting alternative energy sources, however, I am dubious about some of his energy proposals such as encouraging ethanol use.

While Senator Dorgan highlights America's many problems, he reassures his readers that we should be optimistic, and that the American spirit of problem solving can steer us through our current rough patch.

Senator Dorgan explicates information difficult for common sense to deny. For example, our 42nd president, in keeping with the philosophy of the 40th president, allowed financial services to be "modernized" with the freedom to go wild (p.4). However, on page 5, the author is convinced our economy will recover and that a certain computer entrepreneur, who took total advantage of outsourcing while piling up a fantabulous fortune, helped build a stronger economy (pp. 24-25). That one mystified me, gentle reader. Dorgan advocates better not bigger government that would protect the public from the excesses of those who would rule over us. However, I fear this book will do no more to improve our nation's economy for those who actually work for a living than his book "Take This Job and Ship It" did to save the jobs of American workers. His discussion of the Iraq debacle was revealing and the discussion of apalling theft, fraud and general corruption should be read by all. Dorgan stressed the need for energy independence. "So, as we fuel our gas-guzzlers, we fuel Islamic extremism. (p. 193)." The discussion of medical care and wage stagnation were also insightful. But, I am afraid, the book will make no real change in status quo. The words "(And How We Can Fix It!)" from the subtitle remain to be fulfilled. The government is still run by the same lobbyists. But, perhaps, someday, a dedicated gadfly such as Senator Dorgan will make the change for the better.

RECKLESS is about the financial crisis from Byron Dorgan's perspective as a U.S. Senator.
He describes the influence of populism on his political ideology.
This is his second book following Take This Job and Ship It: How Corporate Greed and Brain-Dead Politics Are Selling Out America.
I highly recommend that book for anyone interested in populism or reading about corporate profits vs. the American worker.

On Hank Paulson's role in the Wall Street bailout he observes that Paulson would play a role in trying to fix the mess caused by the very activities that he encouraged.

Another interesting issue is financial monopolizing.
We now have four major banks that control almost 33% of bank deposits in America.
A popular criticism is the lack of accountability for bailout recipients and the outrageous bonuses for those at the top of failing institutions like AIG.

Time has proven Senator Dorgan was correct in his warning about the consequences of passing the Financial Services Modernization Act.

He provides some of the most coherent material on the market manipulation of oil futures. Wild speculation and unbridled greed played a large part in the high cost of gasoline. Some of the same folks who got the taxpayer bailout also speculate on oil futures!

On page 132 Senator Dorgan writes-
"It is unheard of to push for tax breaks during wartime. Yet that's exactly what the Bush/Cheney administration did. They not only decided to fight the war by putting the bills on a charge card; they also pushed tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans at the same time."
Another reason why history will likely judge the past administration as one of the worst in our history. But there's more in this book on that subject.

Another interesting topic is the e-mail from Douglas Feith on approving an RIO contract for Halliburton which states that "action had been coordinated with the VPs office."
The reader can form their own conclusion on how much Cheney was involved in the many no-bid contracts.

The author also touches on the sleazy side of the Iraq war- the war profiteering and subsequent tax evasion by off-shoring of companies like Halliburton.

RECKLESS is an easy and sometimes entertaining read on a dismal subject. I think that Senator Dorgan communicates the outrage that many feel about futures speculation and he sheds a lot of light on war profiteering better than most authors.
This is a good book!