In this chapter, we explore economies of scale, banana style. How do you keep the cost of bananas low, low, low to make those delicious fruits available to all Americans day in and day out? If you're an American company, you take over the electric grid and transportation system of your host country and ask the US government for help in staging a coup to keep out any political riff-raff spouting crazy ideas like minimum wage, 8-hour work days, social security, and regulations against child labor. 

We also learn all about: the Nanny State, banana republics, and our obsession with labeling our global enemies "communist."

Tucked away in the New Hampshire resort town of Bretton Woods, the 44 Allied nations met at the Washington Hotel in 1944 and entered into a post-war plan that would set the world on it current trajectory. The lesser told story is that on the US side, the economic outcome of World War II had been decided before we even entered the war thanks to the diligence of the Council on Foreign Relations. The Bretton Woods Agreement, which essentially handed the United States the right to proliferate the Dollar globally, was mere formality. 

This chapter explains why America’s currency is top of the heap, top banana if you will, in all foreign transactions and why what you read, what you see, what you hear on the news might not be completely forthright. Does it venture into the realm of conspiracy? Well, no. These things are well-documented, but if they make you feel kind of gross, like a bad conspiracy theory would, rest-assured it’s because they are real life gross. 

With the end of WWII, symbolized by the technological power and shameless brutality of the atomic bomb, the United States entered an era of high productivity and international exploits all centered around commanding the highest value of the US dollar.

Chapter 5 continued: 

What the hell is a dollar, anyway? Where did it come from and why is so much American currency plastered with slave owners? While we're at it - what are democracries and republics? What exactly are liberalism and neo-liberalism, and how does the political and philosophical founding of the United States affect the economy today?

The answer is American aristocracy, the governing by a powerful minority protected from the whims of the majority. Wealthy but powerless under British rule, America's founding fathers (most of them slave owners) set forth to create a nation in which they would hold power in addition to money. Today, the American aristocracy is still in power - immensely wealthy and powerful with the legal system on its side.

In this chapter we learn all about: Democracies, Republics, Big Government, States' Rights, Enclosure, The Charter of the Forest, Scarcity, Supply & Demand, Cost & Benefits, Incentives, Globalization, Deregulation, Demagogues, Rent-Seeking, the birth of the American financial system, and Monetary Policy.

What the hell is a dollar, anyway? Where did it come from and why is so much American currency plastered with slave owners? While we're at it - what are democracries and republics? What exactly are liberalism and neo-liberalism, and how does the political and philosophical founding of the United States affect the economy today? 

The answer is American aristocracy, the governing by a powerful minority protected from the whims of the majority. Wealthy but powerless under British rule, America's founding fathers (most of them slave owners) set forth to create a nation in which they would hold power in addition to money. Today, the American aristocracy is still in power - immensely wealthy and powerful with the legal system on its side. 

In this chapter we learn all about: Democracies, Republics, Big Government, States' Rights, Enclosure, The Charter of the Forest, Scarcity, Supply & Demand, Cost & Benefits, Incentives, Globalization, Deregulation, Demagogues, Rent-Seeking, the birth of the American financial system, and Monetary Policy. 

Let's take a breather. In the last few chapters we've learned a lot of definitions and how they work in the real-world context of what's actually happening in the economy. 

Of course, we have to use real-world examples because economists really enjoy making assumptions about human behavior and putting those assumed humans in hypothetical situations. But what if - and this might sound crazy - but what if humans were being groomed to be more economically predictable so real-world situations play out more, uh, predictably?

It's about time we excoriate former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Remember, it isn't libel if it's true. 

In this episode, we learn about the foreclosure exploits of Steve Mnuchin when he served as CEO of OneWest Bank, how whistleblowers sparked a California Department of Justice investigation that uncovered widespread fraud in OneWest's foreclosure process, and how the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) rules on compensation fueled the greed that accelerated foreclosure during the subprime lending crisis.

We also take a trip back in time to discuss the origins of redlining and how it still impacts low- and moderate-income neighborhoods and their residents today, we learn about the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and why conservatives - and banks - hate it, we learn about credit default swaps, loan modifications, Purchase & Assumption, amortization, credit bids, substitutions of trustee, and SO MUCH MORE! 

We also learn about the poorly reported-on Yahoo security breaches of the mid-00s and the curious case of over 2,000 fraudulent emails with @yahoo.com email addresses that flooded The Federal Reserve in support of a bank merger. Wild. 

This episode is dedicated to Gloria Waldron.

What happens when predatory lending institutions infiltrate low- and moderate-income neighborhoods as the only viable lender for borrowers? They destroy the lives of borrowers who need financial services with "innovative mortgage products." Borrowers lose their homes, their health, and their livelihoods. 

What happens to foreclosed homes? They wind up in the depressing Real-Estate Owned (REO) marketplace, a dark part of the economy where the despair wrought by losing one's home is written off as line-items on a bank's balance sheet, where occupancy becomes trespassing, and where home values can be manipulated for future investment. 

What happens when the economy crashes and you can't get a job? You go back to school and transform the mortgage lending crisis into the student loan crisis. 

What happens to a handful of actually smart people who see the writing on the wall and predict a huge market crash? They make billions.

What happens to the financial institutions that cause a global financial crisis? They make billions. 

Wanna know why beards, flannel, and DIY home improvement were so popular in the 1980s? Bob Vila. Wanna know how to measure the overall health of the economy? Bob Vila. 

Chapter 3 of Unfuck the Poor explores the economic significance of home ownership and what it means when people can't buy homes. We also look at the 2008 housing market crash and the subsequent depression - yes, depression - that lasted seven (!!) years. 

In this episode, we learn all about: booms, busts, recessions, and bubbles (and balloons!). We also learn that the FDIC knew a major recession - sorry, depression - was about to hit the American economy, knew that it was going to come from the housing market, and then (you guessed it), did nothing. We play a lot of money games with Air Force Ones, learn how hedge funds work, and put it all into context by exploring the subprime lending crisis  and then we point fingers at all the super smart people who made the crisis worse (not Bob Vila). Bonus: if you don't know who Bob Vila is, you'll learn that, too! 

GAMESTOP! But wait - what are stocks, bonds, and short-selling? 

The GameStop fiasco has everything to do with the 2008 housing market crash and subsequent Wall Street bailouts, but why did it feel oh-so-good when hedge fund managers lost billions? 

In this episode, we discuss the incompetence of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin during the COVID-19 crisis, the incompetence of traders at the top of their game, and the double-standard of market manipulation - neat!