The Vandals' Crown: How Rebel Currency Traders Overthrew the World's Central BanksIn The Vandals' Crown, Gregory Millman paints a vivid picture of the new revolutionaries, both the famous and the little known, and he reveals the inside story of the revolution that has stripped governments of their power to control money. Today, traders have taken the law into their own hands. Like vigilantes, they enforce fundamental economic laws not for love of law but for profit, regardless of what regulators or central bankers may think. They are the reason why the Japanese government was powerless to stop the collapse of the Tokyo stock market in 1990; why the concerted actions of all the Western European countries were unable to roll back a speculative attack on the European Monetary System in 1992; why the U.S. government was unable to stop the slide of the dollar in 1994; why Mexico, Orange County, and numerous corporate losses made dire headlines in 1994 and 1995. The new financial vigilantes move more than $1 trillion every day in currency alone - more than all the cars, wheat, oil, and other products traded in the so-called "real" economy. The Vandals' Crown may be the most important story in modern financial history. |
Common terms and phrases
ABN Amro American Bankers Trust began biggest bonds borrow bought Bretton Woods system Britain British capital central banks Chicago commodity companies corporations countries currency options deficit derivatives deutsche mark devaluation dollar Dow's economic economists Elvis Europe European Monetary System exchange rates financial markets financial system France French futures contracts George Soros German gold standard hedge funds Ibid inflation institutions interest rates international financial International Monetary interview investment banks investors Japan Joe Ritchie Keynes Krieger Kristen loans long-term losses Melamed million monetary system money supply mortgage move Negara Nikkei pension percent portfolio pound profit put options regulators rency reserves risk says securities sell sold Soros speculation Staloff sterling Stock Exchange stock market stock prices swap tion Tokyo Stock Exchange trading treasury U.S. dollar United volatility Wall Street wanted York