Just Finished Reading: Moneyland – Why Thieves & Crooks Now Rule the World & How to Take it Back by Oliver Bullough (FP: 2018) [278pp] 

The Bretton Woods agreement was supposed to stop it – at least that was the idea. One of the reasons for the long path from WW1 to WW2 was, so financiers and economists agreed, was the free flow of money which destabilised countries and led to war. There was something to that so a new set of rules aimed to make such easy flow either impossible or, at least, very difficult. So it did, for decades after the end of WW2 – until... Making money from money – rather than solid stuff in the real world – wasn't easy after 1945 and the financial sector, even in places like London and New York was rather small. But it the late 60’s a bright idea popped into life – holding money ‘off-shore’ beyond the reach of the authorities. It was a short step from holding money to using it to make more money. Starting slowly, the ‘off-shore’ revolution snowballed. At first it was a few of the new ‘jet-set’ hiding assets from their governments or future ex-wives. Before long it was government leaders themselves, from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the collapsed Soviet Union who hid billions of purloined dollars WAY beyond recovery – even when their regimes finally fell and they escaped with their lives and (apparently) little else. ‘Naughty’ money now sloshed around with ‘evil’ money and both were protected by absolute anonymity with bankers, lawyers and lawmakers vying to make THEIR systems more attractive for those stealing, hiding and (hopefully) spending their money. The virtual space of Moneyland was born and it's been growing ever since. 

I think that anyone paying attention has at least heard of thew growth in tax evasion, off-shore bank accounts, money laundering, asset stripping dictators and the whole sleaziness of the global financial system. There’s certainly been enough scandals and enough world leaders, celebrities and just plain crooks caught using and abusing banking to horde ill-gotten gains. Here the author shows how it started, how it spread, what governments tried (and all too often failed) to do about it and what impact it is having on the world's economy (spoiler – not a good one). I knew about some of this, although not in such detail, but didn’t realise both how complex it all is and how the West both enables it – both by commission and omission – and attempts to fight it. You might imagine that global finance would either be boring (it’s certainly not) or just too complicated to understand (ditto in the hands of the author). Told through the authors own investigations and with interviews with some of the main players this was a fascinating look into a shady world which impacts all of us indirectly. Moneyland is going to be here for a while yet. Although its only around 50-60 years old now its global reach and VERY deep pockets is going to keep it largely free of regulation or even observation for decades to come. It’s a global problem which requires a global solution – and we all know how rare those are (and looking forward are going to be rarer still). But something needs to be done – before every dollar and every dime has been stolen from under our feet. Certainly not the most uplifting book you’ll read this year but an interesting and sobering one. Recommended for anyone interested in Economics or Finance. 

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