Checking the Banks

This is a marvelous book! Well-written--even enjoyable to read--about local banking! Packed with important information not only for the expert but for anyone activist or public official Put it on top of your reading pile! -- Gar Alperovitz author of What Then Must We Do? A clear accessible practical grounded and authoritative intro- duction to how banks account for their use of your money. -- David Korten author of Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth What do they think theyre doing? The global network of banks brokers funds dealers servicers and all the rest is a marvel of the 21st century--for better and frequently worse. In the aftermath of the worst financial crisis in a generation there has never been a more important time to understand how the system works... and why it doesnt. Checking the Banks is an easy-to-read primer on how a bank--and the banking system--works. Complex ideas like bank capital leverage risk-weighting and repo transactions are explained in clear understandable language. This is a book for People who want to understand banks Activists determined to change them Reformers seeking to build alternatives.