Meltdown

Meltdown is the gripping account of the financial collapse that destroyed the West’s investment banks, brought the global economy to its knees, and undermined three decades of neoliberal orthodoxy. Covering the development of the crisis from the economic front line, BBC Newsnight journalist Paul Mason explores the roots of the US and UK’s financial hubris, documenting the real-world causes and consequences from the Ford factory, to Wall Street, to the City of London. In this fully updated new edition, he recounts how the credit crunch became a full-blown financial crisis, and explores its impact on capitalist ideology and politics in our new age of austerity.“A page-turning account ... Mason is refreshingly clear-eyed—and angry.”—Will Hutton, The Guardian

“Excellent.”—Evening Standard

“What people need is a reliable guide to the financial crisis ... Meltdown is the book they are looking for.”—John Gray, The New Statesman

“A lucid and sharply polemical account.”—Oliver Kamm, The Times [London]Paul Mason is the economics editor of the BBC’s flagship current affairsprogram Newsnight and appears frequently on BBC World News America.He has covered globalization and social justice stories from locations aroundthe world, including Latin America, Africa and China. His book Live Working,Die Fighting was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.