Opinion is increasingly pointing to much more than mere regulation. Many are calling for the dismantling of centuries of banking chicanery.
In The Quiet Coup, Simon Johnson points out that the United States is no better than a banana republic:
The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States.
If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform.
And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time.
Johnson is a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.
Though not scholarly, this 2007 post, American Plutonomy, is one of the most popular on this site with readers popping in worldwide, most often from schools or colleges.