7. Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism

By Kevin Phillips
(Viking — $25.95)

Former Nixon campaign aide turned critic of capitalism Kevin Phillips is back with a book that links the current "global crisis of American capitalism" to the politics of peak oil, the rise of financial mercantilism, the triumph of market fundamentalism, and even the spread of religious conservatism. Philips' thesis is one that's now being trumpeted by a bevy of other writers: The financial disaster signals the moment when the U.S. empire begins to follow past powers, from Rome to Britain, into long-term decline.

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