Reddit mentions: The best banks & banking books

Panama Papers among other investigations into tax avoidance and evasion, yes.

Maybe, but everything I've read suggests that once the money is safely offshore the best outcome is that it gets taxed heavily when it gets repatriated.

As an example, Apple have trillions currently sat in Bermuda hoping that Trump will change the tax laws.

If the UK was serious about addressing the problem there are two obvious and important measures they could take.

The first would be to tackle the huge British-controlled network of offshore territories ranging from the City itself, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey etc etc and all the way to BVI, Cayman etc etc.

There is an excellent book called Treasure Islands which explains this complex web and the role it plays in global tax avoidance.

The second would be to adopt transparency laws, like those already used in some Scandanavian countries where individuals tax returns are published publicly. It was those laws which helped journalists determine that tax evasion is actually extremely concentrated to the top 0.01% of households. This is an interesting read on this investigation.

Of course neither of these will be adopted as, far from being a force against tax evasion, the UK represents one of the most powerful enablers of it and you only need to take a quick walk around Mayfair and hear the conversations to appreciate why.

>This is laughable as a CSI:Cyber scene.

Hahahaha, the laughable part is that you didn't know shit and somehow still felt like commenting.

>A currency is good for three reasons

1. Hard to fake.
   
2. Ease of use.
   
3. Respected by many for use as currency.
   
   Your first two rules fall under Information. Your third exists through backing Wealth or backing Power (either from a single issuing body or via the power of consensus). Your "reasons" don't account for inflation. Weimar Republic dollars were hard to fake, easy to use, and respected by many for use as currency. Didn't mean shit when two days later, at the supermarket, you couldn't buy a slice of bread. Overinflation is a failure to properly represent value in currency — it's an Information problem.
   
   If you really want to talk about what makes a good currency, use the canonically accepted 7 attributes of money: durability, portability, divisibility, uniformity, limited supply, and acceptability. Sure, a few of them (like durability) have become abstract with digital currency. I'm mainly bringing them up to let you know that you need to retake economics. The 3 principles of currency viability (Information, and Power x Wealth) are factors that enable each of the 7 attributes. They are also worth talking about because they apply to the power dynamics in the show, which is what I'm really here to talk about.
   
   All modern currencies are arguably fiat. But only to the extent that they are accepted as currency (which is either a result of consensus or a powerful backing body).
   
   As I mentioned, commodities can also be used as a currency (ex. the historical use of rice spanning multiple cultures and centuries). It's just not done that often anymore, especially in the developed world.
   
   Gold is and was a commodity. Gold's value isn't "magic." Scarcity and usefulness have value. Gold was historically scarce (hard to find, mine, and purify) and fit for a purpose (malleable, distinct, shiny, good for making jewelry; later for use in microchips), hence it was chosen as currency. Being a currency of course manipulates its value, but that doesn't change the fact that it has value beyond its use in currency. Is gold a great commodity? I'd say no, not anymore, it's been replaced by more useful things. Its value has become historical/symbolic.
   
   You don't really know enough about the elements of currency to make discussing it further enjoyable, so understand that this will be my last comment to you.
   
   Here's a good book on currency if you want to learn more. In the meantime, do not try trading on Forex. ;)

>I wasn't comparing public vs. private.

Well seeing as how public vs private is what we've basically been discussing all along you've sorta take your eye off the ball then

>My point was that teachers make less than a lot of other professions.

Well no shit sherlock. And you must not have read that article you linked to me because it basically says teachers used to teach in private schools for less money but now, since private schools are way better, their salaries have risen, while public salaries and pensions rise markedly. Nice source fail.

>I disagree. The Libertarian stance is illogical. Reforming the system makes more logical sense then scrapping it.

I know you disagree, that is why we are having this discussion. And you may think that reforming the system makes more sense, but the facts state otherwise. We've tried reforming the system with a shitload of policy changes and budget increases, and newslfash, they didn't work.

>Yes, the Libertarian party wants to do away with public schools. Something that you denied earlier.

Again, this isn't true. I'm not going to deny that some libertarians may want to end public schools (they have a good point btw) but the platform calls for an end to the Department Of Education, which is a notoriously wasteful bureaucracy that has repeatedly been reformed to no avail. Am I making this clear?

>There's no monopoly on education. Private schools are an option.

Actually there is. Its actually the worst kind of monopoly, you are made to purchase a service which is getting more expensive and isn't improving, even if you don't utilize it. Vouchers, or dollar for dollar tax credit, would solve this problem.

>Money? Do you want private companies to start printing a competing currency or something?

Yes I do but I suspect you don't know much about monetary policy or you would realize that the Federal Reserve IS a private institution with a monopoly on the power to print money and artificially set interest rates. Recommended reading.

>Oh, we're too diverse! I don't see this as a valid argument.

No shit you don't see it as a valid argument, you disregard evidence at will. Even when a Swede points out that the socialist model in Sweden won't work in the US because its too diverse, you will probably deny the evidence again. Also, their school system includes vouchers for private schools, so you can credit Sweden's school system success because it adopted a classical liberal (libertarian) stance.

>Again, your diversity argument I don't find reasonable. And in the long term it leads to consistently better and more efficient healthcare.

Except that it doesn't. It leads to higher costs, rationing, and waste. Not to mention the fact that the current bill isn't even socialized medicine, its outright corporatism.

>This guys whole premise is flawed since socialized medicine consistently ranks higher.

Except that it doesn't. And in the end it only produces debt. But you'd probably prefer to reform debt than abolish it, abolishing it would be batshit crazy libertarianspeak.... Here is a quick quote.

"There are endless stories about Englishmen who trade their government-issued eyeglasses, wigs, and even false teeth, for beer. There are housewives who trade government-issued medicine for perfume and cigarettes. And there are some who pick up extra money by selling the gold fillings out of their teeth-getting them replaced by government dentists and then selling them again."

>The healthcare bill is far from perfect, it should have at least included the public option. It will help a lot of people though.

This is the sort of the blind faith collectivism that so worries me. The healthcare bill won't help me, in fact it hurts me. And as for helping a lot of people, you should really do more research because a lot of the analysis I've seen is that the current law helps the corporations more than anybody else. Even my doctor who prefers a single payer system or a medicare buy-in is opposed to this bill, because it does NOTHING TO ADDRESS THE SOARING COSTS. If HSAs were tax deductible that would drive the price of insurance down.

>They defined their beliefs and libertarian ideals as completely doing away with all government oversight on private industry and complete faith in greed and profit to fix all problems. Utterly unrealistic.

Yes well just because you believe something doesn't make it true anymore than what they believe is unrealistic. Fact is you can call anyone crazy for their beliefs it doesn't always make it so.

>Libertarianism seems to have quite a range and contradiction of beliefs though. Of that list what category do you see the Libertarian party most closely resembling and your own beliefs most resembling?

Yes we are a divided bunch, thats for sure. But its less contradictory than either party right now. But its not fair, and its dishonest to paint anybody with any belief set with such a broad brush. I'm more of a free market classical liberal. That traditionally lumps me in the the small L libertarians, which I'm fine with. I like Rands work a lot, I think objectivism is consistent. I think institutions like the Cato Institute and The Mises Institute broaden the debate in a non partisan way. I read Reason Magazine and the Economist, both of which are basically classical liberal publications.
I wholeheartedly support Ron Paul on monetary policy (I read his book a few times now and I think everyone should) and I support Dennis Kucinich on ending wars. I supported Franken when he goes after corporatism, and I support Peter Schiff because he understands economics better than any man alive. I'm a complex individual as are we all, which is why onesize fits all solutions won't work in the US. Freedom of choice and of association is the best bet to fix market problems.

>Thanks! A bunch more follow ups, Could you please help answer these too?

Hello! We are glad that you are with us. Thank you for your interest in our project!

1. You can pay for our services of various projects. Take a look at the projects we have launched on our website: https://bankex.com
   
2. BKX token is a utility token. This means that this type of token allows you to use the BANKEX platform and pay for the provided services using BKX tokens. This token does not yield dividends.
   
3. Any changes lead to the fact that some part of the changes that is a record of manipulation of the object will get into blockchain.
   
4. The blogger has legal obligations to fulfill the contract for advertising. If a blogger doesn't fulfill the terms, we will suspend payments under the contract. Buying and prompt termination of actions for unscrupulous bloggers minimizes risks for tokenholders.
   
5. So, you and your friend want to simulate situations in which the well-known business areas could issue tokens? Do you want BANKEX to disassemble your case? We have a series of articles with analysis of tokenization. Read now: https://blog.bankex.org/tokenization-explained-part-1-c91d678861f6
   
6. We think yes. All these services and areas will be applied on the Internet of Values. On this occasion, you can read the book of our adviser Chris Skinner «How Fintech Firms are Using Bitcoin Blockchain and Mobile Technologies to Create the Internet of Value». Learn more about the book: https://www.amazon.com/ValueWeb-Fintech-Blockchain-Technologies-Internet/dp/9814677175
   
7. Thank you for your question!
   The opening of the exchange originally requires a certain number of tokens. That’s the kind of transactions you seem to observe now.
   
8. For example, the MovieCoin financing platform will tokenize the movies and television programs using BANKEX’s Proof-of-Asset Protocol, smart assets and smart asset assembly.
   
9. Yes, now we are working on Instagram. Other social media in our strategic plans.

I think there would be a great amount of benefit to be found in a group of leftists pushing to really create a movement to bring to the fore the crushing realities of global liberal finance, the city of London's role in this and the tax avoidance commonwealth.

Because when you perceive what is going on with some clarity the picture is truly staggering.

As a starting point for us interested folk, I'd recommend

Western Media’s Narrow, Colonial Definition of "Corruption" - Citations Needed podcast.

Noam Chomsky: "Free Markets?" - Chomsky on Free Markets and Liberal capital.

The City: London and the Global Power of Finance - The City of London Corporation.

Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World by Nicholas Shaxson

And then ask yourself to name a Commonwealth territory.

The Virgin Islands? Tax haven.

The Isle of Man? Tax haven.

Jersey? Tax haven.

Guernsey? Tax haven

The Cayman Islands? uhggg I dunno chief, they a tax haven?

>"But we can't impose our tax laws there! It's an independent territory!"

>"But of course, we can transfer cash over there! To impede liberal cash flows would be to impede the free market and cut them out of our liberal banking institutions"

The wealth transfers from the global North (Western world) to the global south via charity and government aid is nearly $2 trillion a year.

The global wealth transfers from the global South to the global North via liberal finance as proscribed under neoliberalism and facilitated by institutions such as the world bank and IMF are over $5 trillion a year.


The majority of this is through the city of London Corporation.

We as a nation are histories greatest thieves, and the saddest fucking fact is those who benefit from this, won't even allow us to fund the NHS.

It is beyond a travesty, if this was known by every citizen in the country right now, I fully believe the government would be out on the streets by this time tomorrow.

Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions by Pearl and Rosenbaum.

Damodaran on Valuation: Security Analysis for Investment and Corporate Finance by Damodaran.


Both of these books provide solid walkthroughs of valuation.

If you want the Coles Notes of a simple DCF, here they are:

• Use previous financials to project revenues and expenditures going forward;
  
  
• From that, determine FCF;
  
  
• Determine WACC and use that to discount FCF into the future;
  
  
• If you don't want to forecast into infinity, determine a terminal value using DDM/GGM or some other metric (even BV);
  
  
• Add all discounted FCFs to terminal value to determine value of the business;
  
  
• Or divide by shares outstanding to determine intrinsic share value.
  
  Edit: Apparently Damodaran put that entire text online for free: http://raj.rajaditi.com/finance/corp/pages.stern.nyu.edu/_adamodar/New_Home_Page/valn2ed/book.htm

No, don't pay for WSJ if you already have the FT. Honestly, if you're more interested in the Alphaville section and markets - perhaps you're more suited to a capital markets or even S&T role than M&A advisory.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Investment-Banking-Valuation-Leveraged-Acquisitions/dp/1118472209/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372779058&sr=8-1&keywords=Investment+banking+pearl

This book is a classic. If you learn it from cover to cover you're pretty set. The WSO guide is also very helpful as well as the Vault guides. These are much easier to understand for a newcomer and focus on interview questions. The pdfs of these should be online for free on some random website. Do some googling. Your investment society at uni may have paid for membership as well. But don't wait for uni to start back again.

Investopedia is not sufficient. M&I (and WSO) is good to read to understand the level of knowledge expected of people being interviewed. If you're technically proficient - it will be a big plus.

If you want an introduction to the Financial Markets and banking in general I can recommend you:

• Mishkin: Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets.
  This was one of the mandatory books at the Amsterdam University when studying banking. It is an excellent book dealing with most of the the issues you mentioned. It starts of with very simple and general questions like "What is money?" and goes all the way to complex issues like investment theories and transferring mechanism of central banks. The author really takes the time explain things with lots of comparisons and metaphors. I'd recommend this book to everyone looking to understand the financial markets and institutions.
  
  
• If you want and introduction to financial instruments and derivatives I'd recommend: Valdez: An Introduction to Global Financial Markets. Don't let the name fool you. This book assumes you already have some basic knowledge of the financial markets. It tries to explain instruments and fluctuations in text and mathematical theories rather than in big images and examples like Mishkin does so some math skills would be advantage. The books focuses more on instruments and the theories behind them.
  
  Also http://www.investopedia.com/ is a great place to learn more about investments economics and banking.
  
  

For me the hardest challenge was finding really valuable cryptocurrencies and figuring out which could be the winner in the long run.

So I put together a short book that helps anyone evaluate and analyse cryptocurrencies for long-term investment. I compressed as much value as possible into this book, I really hope you will like it.
It’s available on Amazon for free: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07588PNMR

Here is a PARTIAL list of economics books I've read cover to cover, and why I appreciated Bitcoin earlier than most:
Adam Smith

• An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
  
• The Theory of Moral Sentiments
  
  Ludwig von Mises
  
  
• Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
  
• The Theory of Money and Credit
  
• Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis
  
• The Anti-capitalistic Mentality
  
• Planned Chaos
  
• Liberalism
  
• Bureaucracy
  
• Economic Freedom and Interventionism
  
• Liberty and Property
  
• Omnipotent Government; The Rise of the Total State and Total War
  
• Interventionism: An Economic Analysis
  
• Profit and Loss
  
• Nation, State, and Economy
  
• Planning for Freedom
  
  Murray N. Rothbard
  
  
• Man, Economy, and State
  
• History of Money and Banking in the United States
  
• The Anatomy of the State
  
• For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto
  
• What Has Government Done to Our Money?
  
• Egalitarianism as a Revolt against Nature
  
• The Ethics of Liberty
  
• America's Great Depression
  
• Making Economic Sense
  
• Conceived in Liberty
  
• The Case Against the Fed
  
• Power and Market
  
• What Has Government Done to Our Money?
  
• The Irrepressible Rothbard : The Rothbard-Rockwell Report Essays of Murray N. Rothbard
  
• Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure
  
• Education: Free and Compulsory
  
• Economic Controversies
  
  And many many more: https://forum.bitcoin.com/economics/blockstream-supporters-mock-those-who-study-economics-t49159.html

I found this to be a pretty good resource from a non-biased source. Granted it gets decently technical and doesn't read like a novel.. but if you're actually interested -- should be worth the skim. (particularly the section on market-micro-structure). There's probably a better book out there more focused specifically on market-micro-structure, but I haven't read it.

http://www.amazon.com/Science-Algorithmic-Trading-Portfolio-Management/dp/0124016898/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1412367379&sr=8-5&keywords=algorithmic+trading

Intermediate econ if you're up for it:

http://www.amazon.com/Macroeconomics-N-Gregory-Mankiw/dp/1464182892

http://www.amazon.com/Macroeconomics-Policy-Practice-Pearson-Economics/dp/0321436334

http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-Microeconomics-Modern-Approach-Ninth/dp/0393123960

http://www.amazon.com/Money-Banking-Financial-System-2nd/dp/0132994917

EDIT: For intro econ, you can just get started with the books by Krugman and Wells. I'm sure we all love Krugman here yea?

As far as history goes, just FYI, Zinn's People's History has a very poor reputation among (even left leaning) academic historians. You can ask about it at /r/askhistorians if you want to know more. You can also check their excellent book list, organized by region and topic.

EDIT: For an overview of US history, The Oxford History of the US series is an excellent primer.

I know less about sociology, but I think a good intro would be Khan's Privilege in that it touches on a contemporary sociological issue in a lay friendly manner but also goes into some theoretical foundations in the tradition of Bourdieu.

I don't have much knowledge about banking systems, but have grown curious about the current technical limits to microtransactions. What are some good sources to get a basic understanding of details surrounding settlements and clearing systems, related intra-/interbank operations, and the various systems in use nationally+int'l around the world?

Willing to read a textbook or two if that's what it takes, but videos and other good sources are welcome. Found this one, anyone familiar with it? https://www.amazon.com/Settlement-Operations-Management-Securities-Institute/dp/0750654848

That's a good list, BUT they should be secondary reading, sure you can get insights from them that can relate to any type of investing but you want to be RE specific right? Here is a list I would look into.

Private Real Estate Investment: Data Analysis and Decision Making

Real Estate Finance & Investments

Multifamily Housing Development Handbook

Real Estate Market Analysis: Methods and Case Studies, Second Edition

The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartment Buildings

How to Pay Little or No Taxes on Your Real Estate Investments: What Smart Investors Need to Know

Investing in Real Estate

Real Estate Investing, Cash Flows, and Due Diligence: Making Better Investment Decisions (Volume 2)

What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... And 36 Other Key Financial Measures

That's a lot, also info in those books may over lap so pick which ones you would want to answer your specific questions. Hope this helps.

This is an excellent book and will give you a very good, broad overview of how financial institutions and markets work.

You can get it for less than $10 used on amazon, and it's a pretty easy read. Give it a shot.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0070359040/ref=ed_oe_h_olp

Unbelievable work. One of my all time favorites.
I'd recommend checking these out as well:

Modern Macroeconomics by Brian Snowdon (Really good historical overviews of Economic thought)

Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles by Jesus Huerta de Soto

Man, Economy, and State by Murry Rothbard

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt (EXCELLENT if you are just beginning to study Economics)

Forget Shkreli. The usual sources (besides in-house proprietary models) are:

(1) Macabacus. (see http://macabacus.com/learn).

(2) Rosenbaum and Pearl, Investment Banking - book and excel models

A bit more academic, but more in-depth:

(3) Penman's Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation (excellent book and he has a running example that guides you to create your own valuation spreadsheet)

(4) Dan Gode and Jim Ohlson models These guys are genuine experts from the academic side.

(5) Damodaran, as others have mentioned.

(6) McKinsey, Valuation. Some people like this one.

(7) Fernandez, Company Valuation Methods and Common Errors. Something of an acquired taste, but might be worth the read since he provides a list of the most common valuation errors. Gives analysts an awareness of how they can f**k up which can be useful.

Seriously this!

Start focusing on your computer science degree. Get a job at a FinTech company. And learn on the job. A lot of what we’re doing is so new that there aren’t single resources to learn.

Given that here are some books:

• https://www.amazon.com/Payments-Systems-U-S-Third-Professional-ebook/dp/B074PB7T1K/ref=nodl_ - this is the book I give to all new hires to my team. It gives a solid foundation of how money moves in the US. Without understanding how it currently works, it will be hard to innovate.
  

• https://www.amazon.com/Bank-4-0-Banking-everywhere-never/dp/9814771767/ref=nodl_ - Brett King is foremost leader in banking of the future. He is founder of Moven.
  
  Also there’s a bunch of good podcasts. Breaking Bank is a good one to start with.
  
  The thing is FinTech is a big field. Figure out whether you want to be in Payment, Lending, Banking, or whatever else.
  
  Feel free to Ask me questions or DM me. I’ve spent my entire career in FinTech

If you're looking for a practitioner's perspective from a book which doesn't look like a tome (e.g. Security Analysis), Best Practices for Equity Research Analysts by James Valentine is an excellent read. It gets to the heart of the detail and straddles a very delicate balance between investing principles and methods. Highly recommended for intermediate reading.

I like your lateral thinking. There is an endless amount of research one can do, but not all information has the same weight. I'd say having two booths next to whomever is not significant.

This is a great book on equity research methods by a highly respected former sell-side analyst: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Practices-Equity-Research-Analysts/dp/0071736387/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541832325&sr=8-1&keywords=equity+research+valentine

His message: focus on the stock's critical factors.

But don't ignore obscure data (it could be critical).

​

I developed ASimpleModel for those new to financial modeling. The site introduces the three primary financial statements in the context of Excel / modeling. From there it will walk you through an integrated model, DCF and LBO. All material is video driven with notes and templates available for download. With that introduction there are quite a few more advanced options available:

Free Resources:

http://ASimpleModel.com

www.Macabacus.com

NYU Stern Prof. Aswath Damodaran - check his website. It is an incredible resource.

Specific to investment banking, but a great resource:

http://www.amazon.com/Investment-Banking-Valuation-Leveraged-Acquisitions/dp/0470442204

if you'd like to point your economic eye(s) toward Delaware, you'll see it hosts 60% of the fortune 500 and 882,000 "active business entities" (according to this book). it's a rather good book at that, i recommend reading it if you want to know why to revolt against the government.

It's a pretty interesting place in a crazy way. Because it's been around for about 1000 years, the laws they have haven't changed (because of it's independence) and so there's odd quirks such as the laws it has - which noone really knows who writes them or why - and voting for the mayor also is kinda odd as votes are issued on the amount of property you own, so banks with sky scrapers obviously get a huge influence. Source

I can't remember where I saw it (looking for the wiki article now) but there's also meant to be a couple of bank accounts which have existed for several hundred years, and thus no-one has any idea how much money they actually have, though it's likely to be huge amounts. There's this article though I'm fairly sure there's more than one account, or at least this isn't the one I saw originally.

City of London Corporation reveals its secret £1.3bn bank account

Hi, former Wall Street-er here. Sounds like you're more interested in fundamentals investing instead of technical? If so, read:

• The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Investing
  
• Ratio Analysis Fundamentals
  
• Best Practices for Equity Research Analysts
  
• Applied Equity Analysis
  
  The last two are fairly specific to the equity research career, but if you're doing fundamentals investing you'll be using the same principles.
  
  If instead you're interested in technical investing, Getting Started in Candlestick Charting is my go-to.

My go-to book

As a person in investment banking, the best way to learn forecasting/financial analysis was with a book tailored to this industry.

Macabacus.com is also a phenomenal learning source (and their excel plugin is amazing).

I don't know how to read but if I did, the only book I would ever recommend is "Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Banker: And Other Baller Things You Only Get to Say If You Work on Wall Street" by LSO.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Hrk2vq58L.jpg

sure - try Gary Gorton's Misunderstanding Financial Crisis or Perry Mehrling's Lombard Street - and Eichengreen is always great!

> You got three economic experts discussing very specific details of the situation. You really have a problem with this?

If their arguments/conclusions are based on speculation, they ought to be taken with a grain of salt. Furthermore, you have to question the decision to print a story that offers very little in the way of conclusive analysis. And expert opinion, especially an economist, is simply that. You have to evaluate it for yourself.

The conclusions of the second article are:

1. investors are confident (as evinced by the fleeing to US treasury securities)
   
   
2. CDC spikes indicate some anxiety about a debt ceiling deal
   
   
3. Things will return to normal after the deal is made since CDC prices are lower in the long term.
   
   This is all well and good I suppose in terms of a short term outlook. The attitude towards it is just infuriating though: "Nobody panic. We're the largest economy in the world, and now matter how shitty things get, we'll be fine because our treasuries are as good as gold." It's nothing more than a reassuring bedtime story. The CDC analysis is interesting, I guess, but doesn't explain anything. It's just a bad omen detected by our economic shamans.
   
   The problem I have is that this article, and the others, avoids the obvious explanation for all this turmoil. That is that the US Government is/will soon be insolvent. It sounds scary, I know, but there's no other way of putting it when a government can't pay off its debts.
   
   Raising the debt ceiling to meet short term obligations doesn't address the underlying issue. Because if we allow everything to return to "normal", we'll simply be back in this situation a few months/years down the road. Each iteration of this cycle will be shorter and shorter until there's no choice but to abandon our delusions and admit to ourselves: the US government is insolvent.
   
   When you stand back and look where all this money has gone, you'll notice that while nearly every corner of the country is crumbling from neglect, the defense industry, finance, pharma, agrobusiness, auto manufacturing, retail, etc... have all become increasingly monopolized. They become fat on government subsidies and protective regulations. Would lockheed martin even exist without taxpayer money? Probably not. I'd be so bold to say the existence of all of these monopolies is illegitimate. If this is normal, then we're truly fucked.
   
   > This is the crux of the issue right here. You want a news outlet to be a university.
   
   Absolutely not. University research is funded by the industry (eg. lawrence livermore academy.) I want independent thinking. The MSM is a gigantic circle-jerk proclaiming the greatness of this empire. American hegemony may be a fact of life now, but its current course is unsustainable. It's so easy to allow ourselves to be seduced by this superpower status and simply report on stories like the debt crisis as mere hiccups in a well oiled machine. "There's no way the US could possible default because it's the mightiest nation on earth. People flock to our treasuries as a safe haven. Let's all put our earmuffs on and stay positive and let this crisis resolve itself."
   
   This thinking is akin to an elephant believing its flying after jumping off a cliff. In reality it's speeding closer and closer to the ground.
   
   What's needed is a little common sense. We are the elephant (or donkey if you prefer) that is taking a leap off a cliff. Don't you think we have a better shot at survival if we for one moment face the reality that elephants can't fly and pack a parachute instead?
   
   > Where would you go to find out about how a credit rating drop would affect the US?
   
   I've read a lot of theories about US currency over the years. I think my current understanding is based on that. Not everything I read was correct, but they contain bits and pieces that I used to formulate my opinion. I use my judgement.
   
   > where would someone who didn't know anything about economics go?
   
   Regarding I haven't read it myself, I've heard good things about Secrets of the Temple.
   
   An excerpt of an Amazon customer review:
   
   > One might think of William Greider's "Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country" as "Central Banking for Poets." If you've ever scratched your head in wonder when reading how Alan Greenspan and the Fed have "lowered interest rates" or are "easing monetary policy," this book will be extremely enlightening and well worth the time it will take you to plow through all 700 plus pages. If (like me) you majored in economics, you'll be surprised how much better Greider is in explaining arcane economic theory than your college professors (and you'll probably learn -- or re-learn -- quite a bit in the process).
   
   Banking isn't really that difficult to understand. It's just swathed in "arcane" language like "Quantitative Easing." Any newcomer can understand the concepts with relative ease once this obfuscation is removed. I read a book written by Edward G Griffin, who would be commonly regarded as a conspiracy theorist. The guy is obviously wrong in some areas, but I still think his description of "The bailout game" is probably the best thing I've every read on the subject. I was able to predict the TARP bailout in advance and understand what was going on during the initial crisis as bearsterns and lehmen brothers.
   
   http://www.theantechamber.net/UsHistDoc/CreatureJekyllIsland.html#mm
   
   He has an obvious libertarian slant, but the gist of the story is essentially verifiable. Please please suspend disbelief for a moment and consider what this guy is saying.

I will link for him: http://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Supernova-Electronic-Currencies-Dominate-ebook/dp/B00IJ0AHVU/

It is a 26 page "essay." I use the word in quotes because from the preview pages it reads as disjointed thoughts from someone who still doesn't fully understand how cryptocurrency works. I recall a previous essay of his being on sale in the /r/bitcoin sub. The same was said about that essay. When something is that short and is essentially an opinion piece, it would do better to be a free article on a bitcoin blog. Perhaps if he had a books worth of research and writing, it would be worth something. Just my two unsolicited verts.

Who Will Tell The People - William Greider, is a great book though his examples are slightly dated. I wish he would do an updated re-release. Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country is another classic.

Toward the end of the essay I explain why I like Vertcoin and why it could become a major force within the crypto world.

Also, you can read a free sample on Amazon or your Kindle before deciding to get it
http://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Supernova-Electronic-Currencies-Dominate-ebook/dp/B00IJ0AHVU/

The Fed is a private corporation that is the largest single creditor to the US government. The Fed however has never been audited, and it is not accountable to US Congress, the President, or to anyone.

The pivotal issue in the documentary is that the Fed has a monopoly on printing money, which opens up the possibility for schemes for profit. It's kind of just saying an open secret because the Fed is already known to be a private corporation.

Critics and former politicians in the video argue a few additional points: 1) The Fed is the most powerful organization in the world, and 2) the Fed is the "one of the most corrupt institution in the world," and 3) the Founding Fathers particularly and sincerely believed that banking institutions are dangerous to liberty and sovereignty, 4) the Fed profits and gets power from the national debt

The video suggests as a solution, that the people and government should issue their own currency.

I have academic training in economics. Honestly, at that time, I was sold on mainstream economic theory on the Fed. It took me years to appreciate and realize the problems of inconsistencies and lack of disclosure surrounding the Fed.

Back then a professor I had recommended a great book, Secrets of the Temple. At the time, I burned a bit of credibility with him as I admonished him of the fact that this is fringe conspiracy territory, not accepted by mainstream economics. Years later I actually read the book. I should go and thank him for recommending it -- the fact I've come to realize is mainstream economics is not science; there are no experiments, no falsifiability of mainstream ideas: "distinguishing the scientific from the unscientific—[...] such that what is unfalsifiable is classified as unscientific. The government won't let the public audit the fed. They won't allow any investigation.

I bought this one and it has stayed with me ever since, highly recommend to make sure you are on top of your game.

"How the financial system works" is a broad topic. Are you thinking something about how the monetary system and central banks work? If so, take a look at The New Lombard Street: How the Fed Became the Dealer of Last Resort.

There is literally tons to read out there, so a list of topics or more detailed questions would be helpful. :)

The Federal Reserve creates the currency, that is why your dollars say 'Federal Reserve Note' at the very top. If they choose to print dollars with abandon they can.

One other thing to note: the Federal Reserve is a private institution with a public board. It is owned by some of the country's biggest banks. Now you see why the Fed will protect the banks first.

The best book on the fed: Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country I haven't read it yet, unfortunately.

You should read
Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World by Nicholas Shaxson. It shows the british are still the best in town (city of london has been in the game longer than anybody...) even though there's plenty of competition out there. After reading that then this article merely states the obvious.

Damn it feels good to be a banker

Secrets of the Temple is another good one that I've just finshed, although it is quite long.

It's a vast topic with much to chew through. A good one to start you off would be Secrets of the Temple by William Greider

I dont think there is any single tutorial can provide all the guidance of Step 1-5.

(1) Need to understand webscraping.

https://blog.hartleybrody.com/guide-to-web-scraping/

(2) Need to operate with docx/pdf/excel, as well as basic NLP for information extraction.

Python with Docs: https://automatetheboringstuff.com/chapter13/

NLP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfoudtpBV68&list=PL4LJlvG_SDpxQAwZYtwfXcQr7kGnl9W93

(3) This one is very tricky, but typically a combination of webscraping/data extraction if you are not working in institution and not buying data from vendor

(4) Financial Modeling and Valuation, here are two introductory texts:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Investment-Banking-University-Second-Acquisitions/dp/1118472209

https://www.bookdepository.com/Investment-Valuation-Aswath-Damodaran/9781118130735

(5) Well, if you know how to do (1) to (4), (5) should be now a piece of cake

http://www.amazon.com/Damn-Feels-Good-Be-Banker/dp/1401309682

Read the preview. It's like a mix of /r/firstworldproblems and /r/corporatespeak (if that were an actual subreddit).

>Any source that exposes the master plan?

Yes.

http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Temple-Federal-Reserve-Country/dp/0671675567

If you want a good read into the timeframe considered in the article, pick up a copy of Secrets of the Temple by William Greider: http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Temple-Federal-Reserve-Country/dp/0671675567/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8258595-1742228?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178733039&sr=8-1

The Federal Reserve can affect changes almost immediately and in secret without any oversight. Presidents do not have this power, unless of course, they decide to use nuclear weapons or something. The effects of any administration-based tinkering with the economy take a long time to become apparent; sometimes, these effects are lessened by the Federal Reserve itself because of its tinkering.

I always love these articles that involve blaming one president for something really started by another. Reagan's actions only exacerbated what had been happening during Carter's time and before. Case in point: George Bush did not originate the idea of overreaching government control in our current lives, Bill Clinton did. We lost a lot of freedoms under that man, yet nobody makes the connection.

Jack

Yeah, that's true, "custom-made" is more common.

After hearing it in reference to tailoring, I later heard it in reference to prepay models in (again) finance, where a bank can buy a model from a vendor, or it can create a bespoke prepay model in-house.

Prior to hearing about the tailoring thing, though, I'd never heard the term. That blog I linked to is an affectionate satire written from the point of view of a fictional douchebag, and it was kind of a running gag in his book. There's a section titled "Even This T-Shirt Is Bespoke."

https://www.amazon.com/Damn-Feels-Good-Be-Banker/dp/1401309682/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493063890&sr=8-1&keywords=damn+it+feels+good+to+be+a+banker

Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country

Read Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal reserve Runs the Country by William Greider. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Temple-Federal-Reserve-Country/dp/0671675567/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465262591&sr=1-1&keywords=secrets+of+the+temple

http://www.macabacus.com

http://www.amazon.com/Investment-Banking-Valuation-Leveraged-Acquisitions/dp/0470442204

http://www.amazon.com/Valuation-Measuring-Managing-Companies-Edition/dp/0470424656

And a little later down the road upon graduation: http://www.cfainstitute.org/programs/cfaprogram/Pages/index.aspx

Oldie but goodie: Secrets of the Temple

http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Temple-Federal-Reserve-Country/dp/0671675567

I have this book and actually worked with these guys (Rosenbaum and Pearl). It's more banking-specific, but the valuation information is more universal. They even walk you through the modeling/comps/valuation formulas step-by-step. Fairness opinions will require knowledge of a lot of the information covered in the textbook.

Sorry, couldn't remember. The Rosenbaum/Pearl book:

http://www.amazon.com/Investment-Banking-Valuation-Leveraged-Acquisitions/dp/0470442204/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368650208&sr=8-1&keywords=investment+banking