Overview

A readable polemic on the growing dominance of the banks over the UK economy, and what the left can do to challenge it. The last time there had been run a on a British bank was 1886, when Overend, Gurney and Company folded after their appeals to the Bank of England for support fell on deaf ears. Then, in 2008, on the brink of collapse after lending too much money to mortgage-hungry customers, Northern Rock was saved in the largest bank bail-out in history. But why, over one hundred years later, did the Bank of England change tack and intervene? The answer is that, in the years between 1886 and 2008, the UK economy had transformed, and was now more reliant on banks than ever before -- without them, almost every area of economic activity would have ground to a halt. This signifies a fundamental change in the UK's economic model, and this fundamental change has a name- financialisation. Stolen tells the story of how and why this financialisation occurred, what it means for our society and politics, and what the left can do to fight it. At present, the odds are stacked against labour and in favour of finance capital. But what follows it will be determined by which group - the many or the few - manages to take power in this moment of crisis. How we understand this moment, and what we do with it, will determine the course of the future.

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9781912248377

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Reviews

The best thing I've read about how we got into this mess, and how we get out. - Frankie Boyle One of the most inspiring, thought provoking and insightful voices on the left offers a route map out of this crisis - and this is a must read anyone who wants to change the world. - Owen Jones A clear, accessible and informative guide to left economics, showing how we got to this era of capitalist crisis, environmental catastrophe and insurgent socialist revival. Grace Blakeley offers radical solutions to an exploitative and unfair system. - Bhaskar Sunkara, Jacobin Grace Blakeley is one of the sharpest of a new generation of economic and political thinkers, with a gift for clearly and eloquently explaining how we got to the crisis point we're in, and why only radical transformation will get us out. A must-read for today's activists on both sides of the Atlantic. - Sarah Jaffe, author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt

The best thing I've read about how we got into this mess, and how we get out. -- Frankie Boyle One of the most inspiring, thought provoking and insightful voices on the left offers a route map out of this crisis - and this is a must read anyone who wants to change the world. -- Owen Jones A clear, accessible and informative guide to left economics, showing how we got to this era of capitalist crisis, environmental catastrophe and insurgent socialist revival. Grace Blakeley offers radical solutions to an exploitative and unfair system. -- Bhaskar Sunkara, Jacobin Grace Blakeley is one of the sharpest of a new generation of economic and political thinkers, with a gift for clearly and eloquently explaining how we got to the crisis point we're in, and why only radical transformation will get us out. A must-read for today's activists on both sides of the Atlantic. -- Sarah Jaffe, author of Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt

Author Information

Grace Blakeley is an economics commentator and research fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR). She has written on economic issues for, amongst others, the New Statesman, the Independent, and Novara Media, where she has a regular column. She has appeared on BBC News, the Today Programme, ITV Granada Debate, and a variety of other TV and radio programmes.

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