Other People's Money and How the Bankers Use It

The Economist magazine recently called him a Robin Hood of the law American lawyer LOUIS DEMBITZ BRANDEIS (1856-1941) developed the concept of the right to privacy in an 1890 law journal article and-in this classic 1914 work-he denounced investment banking corporatism monopolies and the consolidation of American wealth in the hands of a privileged few. In this collection of essays first published the year before in Harpers Weekly Brandeis championed the progressive economic ideals of Woodrow Wilsons New Freedom explained how entrepreneurial efforts and small businesses were being stifled and innovation and competition smothered in the fiscal environment he saw and offered suggestions for reversing the trend. Hugely influential at the time Other Peoples Money and How The Bankers Use It may have contributed to Brandeiss ascension to the United States Supreme Court Justice in 1916 (he would serve until 1939). Today it serves another purpose: to remind us how the great experiment of American capitalism went astray... again even in the wake of this powerful and important warning about the same dangers a century ago.