This book examines the banking crisis of July/August 2007 and its ensuing after-effects in 2008-2009: economic crisis, credit crunch, massive recapitalization of some banks and nationalization of other banks. The author offers his views on the factors which led to this global financial catastrophe and how it could have been avoided.

Dimitris N. Chorafas served on the faculty of the Catholic University of America and as Visiting Professor at Washington State University, George Washington University, University of Vermont, University of Florida, and Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, as well as the University of Alberta, Technical University of Karlsruhe, Ecole d'Etudes Industrielles de l'Université de Genève, Ecole Polytechnic Fédérale de Lausanne, Polish Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences. More than 8,000 banking, industrial and government executives participated in his seminars in the United States, England, Germany, Italy, other European countries, Asia and Latin America. Chorafas is the author of 160 books, translated into several languages world-wide.

List of Tables and Figures Preface PART I: MONEY The Destruction of the American Dream Macroeconomic Crises Money Supply and Inflation The Cost of Money PART II: DEBT Leverage Can Be Highly Counterproductive Asset Allocation, Credit Regulation and Banking Supervision PART III: CASE STUDIES Household Debt and the Housing Markets Debacle Mea Culpa and the Abuse of Virtual Economy's Freedoms The G-20 Conference, Central Banks and Garbage Collection Trillion of Dollars, Euros and Pounds Thrown at the Problem Notes Bibliography Index