The Fall and Rise of American Finance

This book tells the story of the fall and rise of financial power in American capitalism, from the collapse of J.P. Morgan's vast empire to the rise of finance behemoth BlackRock. It traces the making and remaking of the American ruling class as the postwar "Golden Age" of industrial hegemony gave way to the powerful revival of finance in the neoliberal period. Following the 2008 crisis, this remaking culminated in the reorganisation of our financial system around the unprecedented economic power of the "Big Three" asset management firms.

The Fall and Rise of American Finance elucidates the transformations of ruling class power across these periods, highlighting how transitions from one phase to another were shaped by profound crises and marked by the restructuring of corporations and the state. Contrary to what has become the common sense view, advanced by figures from Hillary Clinton to Bernie Sanders, Maher and Aquanno insist that financialisation did not imply the decline of capitalism, the hollowing out of the "real" economy, or the retreat of the state. Rather, it served to intensify competitive discipline to maximise efficiency, profits, and the exploitation of labour—all with the support of an increasingly authoritarian state.