Prins Essentials Set
Three books that transformed the way we look at the global economy.
AVAILABLE NOW!
PERMANENT DISTORTION: How Financial Markets Abandoned the Real Economy Forever
The untold story of the ever-growing wedge between the financial markets and the real economy, and the unprecedented crises it has caused. The 21st century has produced two major financial crises and many smaller ones in between. The fallout created chaos and disruption for people at all levels of the global economy. Nomi Prins examines the consequences of the unstable economy that caused what she calls the state of Permanent Distortion; a wedge between a funhouse financial realm that thrives even in times of social and political disorder, and a struggling economic one that does not adequately meet the needs of the general population. Through deep reporting and insightful analysis, Prins navigates the critical points in between the two polarities, including how the concept of “free markets” is dead, how a political power shift is bringing in a new world order, why trade wars have only just begun, and why we’re in for more civil and social unrest, as a result.
FORMATS AVAILABLE: HARDCOVER | AUDIOBOOK | KINDLE | NOOK BOOK | AUDIO CD
COLLUSION: How Central Bankers Rigged the World
In this searing exposé, former Wall Street insider Nomi Prins shows how the 2007-2008 financial crisis turbo-boosted the influence of central bankers and triggered a massive shift in the world order. Central banks and international institutions like the IMF have overstepped their traditional mandates by directing the flow of epic sums of fabricated money without any checks or balances. Meanwhile, the open door between private and central banking has ensured endless opportunities for market manipulation and asset bubbles–with government support.
“[An] unflinching, troubling exposé… well worth a close read by anyone looking to understand the roots of the last crash and prepare for the next.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A somber, important warning that’s likely to cause readers to wonder about the safety of their assets, if not fear for the near-term future.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Prins offers practical and tactical solutions for preventing the downfall of the current over-inflated economy. This thoroughly researched, high-level view of central-bank operations would be interesting to those in the finance, banking, and economic fields.”
—Booklist
FORMATS AVAILABLE: HARDCOVER | PAPERBACK | AUDIOBOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO CD
ALL THE PRESIDENTS’ BANKERS: The Hidden Alliances that Drive American Power
All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances that Drive American Power is a groundbreaking narrative of how an elite group of men transformed the American economy and government, dictated foreign and domestic policy, and shaped world history. Culled from original presidential archival documents, All the Presidents’ Bankers delivers an explosive account of the hundred-year interdependence between the White House and Wall Street that transcends a simple analysis of money driving politics, or greed driving bankers, or bankers controlling governments. It presents the shocking genealogy of American power.
“Highly recommended both to general readers and to students of financial history”
—STARRED Review, Library Journal
“A revealing look at the often symbiotic, sometimes-adversarial relationship between the White House and Wall Street…sweeping history of bank presidents and their relationships with the nation’s chief executives…a valuable contribution…”
—Kirkus Reviews
“All the Presidents’ Bankers’ spins an enormous amount of research into a coherent, readable narrative. Even her frequent kvetches about the lifestyles of rich and famous bankers are entertaining.”
—Wall Street Journal Review, April 14, 2014
FORMATS AVAILABLE: HARDCOVER | PAPERBACK | AUDIOBOOK | KINDLE | MP3 CD
IT TAKES A PILLAGE: An Epic Tale of Power, Deceit, and Untold Trillions
After months of various drafts and political infighting, Congress finally passed, and President Obama signed into law, a bill that was supposedly the biggest financial reform bill in decades. The big question is, do the supporters of this bill really believe it will change Wall Street? Or do they simply hope it’ll be enough to placate us so the status quo can be validated? Nomi Prins assumes the latter, because they can’t be that naive. In It Takes a Pillage, former Wall Street insider turned muckraking journalist Nomi Prins explains how we are building a new bubble with more leverage, bigger bonuses, rampant speculation and fraud, amid extended unemployment and personal financial decline. The cowering of Washington bureaucrats in the face of the power and influence exerted by the Big Banks threatens the economic well-being of us all. The scariest part is that, for all the trillions that have been spent or remain committed to the bloated stalwarts of Wall Street, our economic system is still in disarray. Average Americans continue to struggle while the banks are once again rolling in outsized profits and obscene bonuses. It Takes a Pillage is packed with the information you need to understand the financial crisis and what has followed, and to gain deeper insight into how to fight for real change.
“Nomi knows. Having been at Goldman Sachs, Nomi Prins knows the mind-set, knows how to read spreadsheets, knows the people, and knows Wall Street’s games. Nomi knows and now Nomi tells.”
—Jim Hightower, author of “Swim against the Current”
“If you want to understand why Wall Street is disgraced but still calling the shots, you can’t do better than the brilliantly written and documented It Takes a Pillage.”
—Robert Kuttner, author of “Obama’s Challenge”
FORMATS AVAILABLE: HARDCOVER | PAPERBACK | KINDLE
BLACK TUESDAY
This mesmerizing historical novel captures the swirl of New York City’s greed, power, romance and desperation on the cusp of the Great Stock Market Crash of 1929 and Great Depression, eerily mirroring the present.
In this vivid tableau of New York with its colorful, diverse cast of characters, Black Tuesday evokes the passion and atmospheric tension of one of our most fascinating historical epochs. From the beleaguered immigrant community of the Lower East Side to the feral pit of Wall Street and the alluring glitter of Park Avenue, Nomi Prins reveals a world of fraud, obsession and economic devastation in a turbulent era that shines a revealing, and disturbing, light on today’s world.
Black Tuesday is an epic saga that probes the complex intersections of class, family loyalty, desire, and the terrible consequences of deception, avarice, and power.
Meet Leila Khan – a vivacious, determined immigrant, struggling to find her purpose in a tumultuous America. Her job at a Wall Street diner introduces her to banker, Roderick Morgan – a captivating yet haunted alcoholic – controlled by his ruthless uncle, bank mogul Jack Morgan. As Leila and Roderick’s flirtations deepen into an illicit affair, Leila becomes a marked woman in more ways than one. She uncovers dark, dangerous secrets about Jack’s business deals, and Roderick’s role in them.
But when a body plunges from the top of the Morgan Bank, Leila’s world comes crashing down around her. Trying to balance an allegiance to her family, and a fierce need for the truth, Leila delves into a shadowy world of wealth and corruption. In the process she discovers startling facts about both the Wall Street Empire and herself. Her dilemma is timeless and universal, asking the questions – who are we as individuals? As a country? What is it we finally want to become?
FORMATS AVAILABLE: PAPERBACK | KINDLE
OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY: The Corporate Mugging of America
Critical, independent voices are seldom found within the citadels of international finance. That’s what makes Nomi Prins unique. Through a decade in the upper flights of banks like Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, Prins never lost her ability to see the broader picture. Furthermore, as this eye-opening book testifies, she lived to tell the tale.
The result is an insider’s account of the big banks’ giddy ride through the boom economy. Prins provides fascinating first hand detail of day-to-day life in the financial leviathans, with all its rich absurdities and ceaseless power plays. Uncovering the old-boy networks and hot-money flows between Wall Street, Corporate America, and Capitol Hill, she also exposes the whitewash reforms brought in to control them.
In the first years of the Bush administration some of America’s most prominent corporate executives cashed out billions of dollars in stock options before driving their companies to ruin through fraud and bankruptcy. In their wake they left a tangle of lost jobs, depleted pensions, and shattered lives.
Yet, to write off this corruption as the unbridled greed of a select few is an oversimplification. As Prins shows in this devastating exposé, the much-publicized corporate malfeasance of recent years resulted from deregulation that trashed the rules of responsible corporate behavior. Faced with increasingly absent regulatory agencies, toothless legislation, and an utter lack of accountability, the stock market roared on the back of phony balance sheets while the executives made out like bandits and Congress looked the other way. Worse yet, everything remains in place for a repeat performance.
FORMATS AVAILABLE: HARDCOVER | PAPERBACK | KINDLE
JACKED: How “Conservatives” Are Picking Your Pocket (Whether You Voted for Them or Not)
This book will make you aware of what you’re not getting from your government, why you’re not getting it, what you’re entitled to, and how to get it. It will also show you that you’re not alone. If we do this right, politicians in Washington will become more concerned about the people they represent. That’s what real America should be. Real people, real wallets, real soul, real ideas—and that’s what you’ll find in the following chapters.
Excerpt from the Introduction to Jacked:
“Once upon a time, families talked about politics over dinner, hit TV shows like M*A*S*H openly questioned war, and people didn’t fall in love over the Internet. In the early 1980s, Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA was the working person’s anthem, and it was cool; at the 2005 Grammy awards, Green Day’s timely album, American Idiot, got six nominations. Some-where along the way, we changed. Pride and cynicism switched positions—particularly when it came to politics.
“It’s not that politics became less important; it’s that more Americans checked out of the conversation. That’s one reason for the declining voter turnout over the past couple of decades, and the fact that many people tend not to trust either of the major parties. If you can’t connect to your leaders or feel they “get” you, it’s only natural to disconnect from what they’re saying. Maybe that’s why more people recognize the judges on American Idol than the judges on the Supreme Court. It’s easier to relate to would-be singers with dreams than to guys in robes—or pundits in suits, for that matter. Plus, it takes time to follow these issues as you’re battling traffic, working a job you hate to pay off the school loans that got you there, or stretching your social security checks.
“But politics still touches our everyday lives in so many different ways. So taking the nature of our frantic lives into account, I’ve tried to talk about American politics by starting with something we can all relate to—our wallets. Wallets are roadmaps of our daily realities: they hold photos of the people we love, chunks of our identity, and plastic cards that evoke our financial worries. The cards inside your wallet tell a story. They also tell the tale of the government’s impact on you….”
FORMATS AVAILABLE: PAPERBACK | KINDLE
THE TRAIL
The Trail (written under a pseudonym) follows a young financial journalist who leaves Wall Street only to discover a mysterious document hidden deep within a secret Washington, D.C. network. As the body count escalates, she is trapped in a sinister world of off-shore embezzlement and on-shore power plays, where everyone is suspect, and death, dollars and danger fluctuate faster than the Dow.
Read an excerpt below:
Standing behind his cherry and walnut desk, Ivan Stark gazed out his floor-to-ceiling windows. From the 45th floor, the Empire City spread wide before him. Determined to keep up with trends, he had competed fiercely in the real estate game. He knew how important appearances were, and as the technology and communications companies grew like weeds around him, he joined them in the search for the sleekest offices, the most authoritative views. ITA headquarters was located smack in the middle of midtown Manhattan. Right where the old-style media and publishing houses once dominated. It had taken him years to reach this point in his career. He was king of the communications industry. A powerful force in world business. He had no intention of letting it all slip away.
“Just DO something!” he bellowed on speakerphone to his PR team, his hand smoothing the top of his balding head.
“We’re doing everything we can, Ivan,” said a male voice on the other end. “It might help if–if there weren’t rumors that you were selling our stock, I mean your stock, sir.”
“Tim, I don’t pay you for financial advice, I pay you to work the media–got it?”
“Yes, sir. It’s just that these rumors are saturating the press. That we’re short on the cash necessary to make good on our bond payments–“
“Thanks, Tim, I can read. What other rumors are circulating?”
“Well, it seems that bondholders are dumping ITA bonds. Wall Street traders are smelling blood, sir. They’re calling all their clients, telling them to sell ITA bonds before anymore bad news comes out.”
There was an intercom beep from Ivan’s receptionist. “Hang on, Tim,” said Ivan. “Yes?”
“Sir–it’s Ewan McPherson, in legal. We just received a Form B notice from the SEC about a pending investigation into our books. I thought you should know.”
Ivan had built an empire out of little but spin. His closest circle knew it. The rest of the investors were clueless. Ivan had grown from one man and a handful of speculative bankers into a global communications money machine. His own stake in the company had exploded from an initial $20 million to over $3 billion. Counting that stake, plus the real estate and his other investments, Ivan was worth over $4 billion.
On paper.
FORMATS AVAILABLE: PAPERBACK
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