Financing Failure

Overview

Probably no issue during the most recent financial crisis aroused more passion than financial institution bailouts. Focusing on the policymaking behind the decisions to bail out these institutions—not just during the most recent crisis, but also throughout history—this account argues that the genesis of financial crisis lies in government policy, whether in the mismanagement of monetary policy during the 1930s or in the extraordinary push of consumers into homeownership leading up to the current crisis. This detailed analysis is an essential read in order to understand why the United States has become so reliant on such interventions.

Reviews

“Financing Failure shows us the appalling lack of logic in regulators' responses to financial crises and how, sadly, we can expect more of the same in the next crisis. McKinley has produced an excellent history of the flawed analysis of financial crisis policy of the last century.”  —Jean Helwege, professor of business administration, University of South Carolina

“Reading Vern McKinley’s Financing Failure will lead you to a logical conclusion: Failure should be allowed to happen just as success should be allowed to happen. Mr. McKinley demonstrates not only that we have gone to great extremes to keep failure from happening, but also to protect the turf of the regulators who have intervened to keep it from happening. We have done this by putting at risk great sums of public funds and by creating fear in the public mind on the consequences of financial failure. To get a balanced view of the experience we are still going through, this book is a must read.”  —William Wallace, adjunct professor of economics, University of North Texas

"This is a phenomenal, detailed policy review of American bank bailouts from the 20th century onward, with a specific focus on the most recent crisis and its aftermath. . . . Going forward, I suspect I will be returning to this book often. Well done.”  —Matt Stoller, former senior policy advisor for Congressman Alan Grayson

Author Biography

Vern McKinley has more than 25 years of experience as a consultant, an attorney, a financial analyst, and a policy analyst. He has been a legal advisor and regulatory policy expert for central banks and financial agencies, including the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. Treasury, and the World Bank. He has also contributed a chapter to Central Bank Modernization and has contributed articles to various national and international publications, such as Regulation magazine, USA Today magazine, and the Washington Times. He lives in Ashburn, Virginia.