Undue Influence

While the U.S. financial system has evolved since the 1920s, one thing has remained constant—Wall Street has always been a self-serving political force, sometimes at the expense of the overall economy and everyday investors.

Undue Influence shows how powerful institutions and individuals from Wall Street have manipulated, influenced, and outsmarted regulatory and legislative bodies so that they can focus on what Wall Street does best—making as much money as possible. From the Wall Street elite of the 1920s to today's global financial giants, financial historian Charles Geisst demonstrates how the regulatory system always seems a step behind the fast-moving, innovative power brokers of Wall Street. In revealing a financial system that continues to put its own interests ahead of the interests of the economy and investors, Geisst exposes the perils and weaknesses that underlie modern Wall Street.

Undue Influence is an important book that provides a valuable perspective on the relationship between America's financial and political elite. Investors, students of financial history, and anyone concerned about the health of our financial system will find Undue Influence a fascinating, informative, and sobering read.

Geisst, a former capital markets analyst and investment banker, traces the connections between Wall Street and the US financial system from the 1920s to the present day, revealing a mutually beneficial partnership at every step. After describing the inability of the regulatory system to keep up with Wall Street power brokers, Geisst concludes that the financial system is at greater risk now than ever before. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Publishers Weekly

The Glass-Steagall Act, separating commercial banks from investment banks, was passed in 1933 to prevent banks from risking depositors' funds on the still-shaky stock market. It was repealed in 1999, when gambling other people's money on the stock market was considered the height of financial probity. In this engaging history of Glass-Steagall, Geisst (Wall Street: A History) surveys the 70 years leading to this ideological sea change, as the widespread Depression-era populist suspicion of Wall Street subsided, to be replaced with the pro-business dogma of the Reagan era and the New Economy bubble. Formal repeal, Geisst shows, was preceded by decades during which big commercial banks, hungry for a slice of the lucrative investment banking business, increasingly flouted Glass-Steagall restrictions with the connivance of ideologically sympathetic Federal Reserve regulators. The vast sums banks have spent on lobbying and campaign contributions, and the cushy Wall Street jobs awaiting government officials who switch sides, make Geisst wonder whether "the gamekeepers and the poachers had all joined the same club." Geisst provides a lucid guide to the financial issues involved and a colorful account of decades-long political debates and legislative wranglings, while raising troubling questions about the direction of public policy. (Dec.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

CHARLES R. GEISST is the author of fifteen other books, including Wheels of Fortune: The History of Speculation from Scandal to Respectability (Wiley), Deals of the Century: Wall Street, Mergers, and the Making of Modern America (Wiley), and the bestsellers Wall Street: A History and 100 Years of Wall Street. Previously, he worked as a capital markets analyst and investment banker at several investment banks in London, and has also taught both political science and finance. He has published trade articles in magazines and newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Newsday, and Euromoney.