Download or read book The Fall and Rise of American Finance written by Scott Aquanno and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2024-01-30 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fall and Rise of American Finance traces the collapse and reconstitution of American financial power from the disintegration of robber baron J. P. Morgan's vast empire to the rise of finance behemoth BlackRock. Contrary to what is taken for common sense by figures from Hillary Clinton to Bernie Sanders, Maher and Aquanno insist that financialization did not imply the hollowing out of the "real" economy or the retreat of the state. Rather, it served to intensify competitive discipline to maximize efficiency, profits, and the exploitation of labor-with the support of an increasingly authoritarian state.