Age Shock
How Finance is Failing Us

A searing look at the fiscal crisis of an aging society, with radical new proposals.

The last few years have shown how badly the financial services industry performs as a custodian of savings and pension funds. The “skimming” of US mutual funds, the see-saw of the stock markets and a string of business scandals from Enron to Parmalat have wiped billions from the savings of employees on both sides of the Atlantic. They have also exposed the absence of responsibility at the heart of what Robin Blackburn calls 'grey capitalism.'

Here, Blackburn takes forward the argument of his acclaimed Banking on Death and explains why attempts to meet the costs of the ageing society through a proliferation of financial products are doomed to fail and have a host of unfortunate side-effects. In fact, 'financial engineering,' as it is called, has enabled corporations to escape taxation while allowing a new breed of chief executive to accumulate extravagant fortunes at the expense of shareholder and employee alike.

The author does not just expose problems, however; he also explores solutions. Blackburn identifies new sources of pension finance–especially ways of ensuring that corporations make a real contribution–and sketches the shape of a progressive and responsible pension fund regime, embracing all citizens and accountable to them.

Robin Blackburn teaches at the New School in New York and the University of Essex in the UK. He is the author of many books, including The Making of New World Slavery, The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, Age Shock, Banking on Death, and The American Crucible.

 

ISBN	1844677656
ISBN13	9781844677658
Publisher	Verso Books
Format	Paperback
Publication date	23/12/2011
Pages	416
Weight (grammes)	658
Published in	United Kingdom
Height (mm)	228
Width (mm)	153

Robin Blackburn teaches at the New School in New York and the University of Essex in the UK. He is the author of many books, including The Making of New World Slavery, The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery, Age Shock, Banking on Death, and The American Crucible.