Why Wall Street Matters [Hardcover]

USWilliam D. Cohanis theNew York Timesbestselling author ofThe Price of Silence, Money and Power,House of Cards,andThe Last Tycoons,which won the 2007 FT/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. He is a special correspondent atVanity Fairand writes a biweekly opinion column inThe New York Times.He has also written for theFinancial Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune, The Atlantic, The Nation,andTheWashington Post, among other publications. Cohan is a graduate of Duke University, the Columbia University School of Journalism, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.A timely, counterintuitive defense of Wall Street and the big banks as the invisible—albeit flawed—engines that power our ideas, and should be made to work better for all of us

Maybe you think the banks should be broken up and the bankers should be held accountable for the financial crisis in 2008. Maybe you hate the greed of Wall Street but know that it’s important to the proper functioning of the world economy. Maybe you don’t really understand Wall Street, and phrases such as “credit default swap” make your eyes glaze over. Maybe you are utterly confused by the fact that after attacking Wall Street mercilessly during his campaign, Donald Trump has surrounded himself with Wall Street veterans. But if you like your smart phone or your widescreen TV, your car or your morning bacon, your pension or your 401(k), then—whether you know it or not—you are a fan of Wall Street.

William D. Cohan is no knee-jerk advocate for Wall Street and the big banks. He’s one of America’s most respected financial journalists and the progressive bestselling author ofHouse of Cards.He has long been critical of the bad behavior that plagued much of Wall Street in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, and because he spent seventeen years al#Ç