Limitless
The Federal Reserve Takes on a New Age of Crisis
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Narrated by:
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Barrie Kreinik
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Jeanna Smialek
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By:
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Jeanna Smialek
About this listen
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • This fascinating deep dive into one of the most powerful and least understood American institutions—the Federal Reserve—is “a riveting narrative...[and] an invaluable guide to the monetary policy debates of the last few years" (Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lords of Finance).
“The best book on the Fed in our time and a model of financial writing.”–Kirkus
The marble halls of the Federal Reserve have always held secrets; for decades the Fed did the utmost to preserve its room to maneuver, operating behind the scenes as much as possible. Yet over the past two decades, this elite world of bankers and economists speaking a language that only monetary experts could understand has been forced to change its ways. Amid rising inequality, weakening global economic prospects, and a pandemic, the central bank has entered into a new era of transparency and activism that has changed its role in modern society in subtle but remarkable ways.
Limitless tells the inside story of this deeply impactful transformation, and what it means for ordinary Americans. Focusing on characters such as the Fed chairman Jerome Powell; the Vice Chair for Supervision Randal Quarles; Vice Chair Lael Brainard; the Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari; and the long-ago Fed Chair Marriner S. Eccles—and driven by the rising tension between Main Street and Wall Street—this is a thrilling account of the modern Fed’s inner workings during a crucial inflection point in history.
©2023 Jeanna Smialek (P)2023 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"In the thick of the inflation battle, it is tempting to emphasise the Fed’s missteps. Limitless is a useful corrective. [Smialek] provides a bracing account of just how badly things could have turned out when covid shutdowns led millions to lose their jobs overnight—and pushed the financial system to the brink of collapse....An intellectual shift had persuaded officials that they could let the labour market run hotter than once believed without triggering an inflationary spiral....Smialek paints nicely textured portraits of the main participants in these debates." —The Economist
“In Limitless, Jeanna Smialek has crafted a riveting narrative of some of the most astounding few years in the history of the Federal Reserve, a period like no other, during which the economy went from boom to bust and back again, in which the Federal Reserve found itself swinging from one goal to another—first employment, then preventing a collapse of the financial system, and finally to curbing inflation—all the while being battered by criticisms from all sides. As well as being a fascinating read, the book is an invaluable guide to the monetary policy debates of the last few years.” —Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lords of Finance
"In this engaging and highly-readable-book, Jeanna Smialek provides penetrating insights on a matter that affects us all: the Federal Reserve’s evolution in the face of a fluid global economy, fragile finance, and a changing America. Through the eyes of Marriner Eccles, a giant in Fed history, Smialek reminds us that central banking rests on a delicate mix of historical foundation and continuous experimentation. This book is about much more than the Fed’s tricky trade-offs between Main Street and Wall Street, accountability and independence. It is a must-read book for all those wishing to understand how an often-mysterious institution has ended up having such a disproportionate impact on so many economic, financial, political and social matters. —Mohamed A. El-Erian, President of Queens’ College, Cambridge University and best-selling author of The Only Game in Town
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- How Central Bankers Rigged the World
- By: Nomi Prins
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In this searing exposé, former Wall Street insider Nomi Prins shows how the 2007-2008 financial crisis turbo-boosted the influence of central bankers and triggered a massive shift in the world order. Packed with tantalizing details about the elite players orchestrating the world economy, Collusion takes the listener inside the most discreet conversations at exclusive retreats like Jackson Hole and Davos. A work of meticulous reporting and bracing analysis, Collusion will change the way we understand the new world of international finance.
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Fair history survey, lazy characterizations
- By Philo on 05-09-18
By: Nomi Prins
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The Great American Stick Up
- Greedy Bankers and the Politicians Who Love Them
- By: Robert Scheer
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Instead of going where other journalists have gone in search of this story - the board rooms and trading floors of the big Wall Street firms - Scheer goes back to Washington, D.C., a veritable crime scene, beginning in the 1980s, where the captains of the finance industry, their lobbyists and allies among leading politicians destroyed an American regulatory system that had been functioning effectively since the era of the New Deal.
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A great telling of an unfortunate part of history
- By Trace on 10-27-20
By: Robert Scheer
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All the Presidents' Bankers
- The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power
- By: Nomi Prins
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 19 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Nomi Prins ushers us into the intimate world of exclusive clubs, vacation spots, and Ivy League universities that binds presidents and financiers. She unravels the multi-generational blood, intermarriage, and protégé relationships that have confined national influence to a privileged cluster of people. This unprecedented history of American power illuminates how financiers have retained their authoritative position through history, swaying presidents regardless of party affiliation.
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You better like history about the elite and rich
- By Victor on 01-12-15
By: Nomi Prins
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Confidence Men
- Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 22 hrs
- Unabridged
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The hidden history of Wall Street and the White House comes down to a single American concept: confidence. Both centers of power, New York and Washington, learned how to manufacture it - until August 2007, when that confidence began to crumble. Ron Suskind here tells the story of what happened next, as Wall Street struggled to save itself while a man with little experience and soaring rhetoric emerged from obscurity to usher in "a new era of responsibility".
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Insightful, but...
- By Ray on 10-29-11
By: Ron Suskind
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The Age of Oversupply
- Overcoming the Greatest Challenge to the Global Economy
- By: Daniel Alpert
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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The governments and central banks of the developed world have tried every policy tool imaginable, yet our economies remain sluggish, or worse. How did we get here, and how can we emerge from the longest downturn in recent memory? Daniel Alpert, a progressive Wall Street banker and economist, argues that we are living in the age of oversupply.
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Great book but now out of date
- By emory morsberger on 11-30-17
By: Daniel Alpert
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Borrowed Time
- Two Centuries of Booms, Busts, and Bailouts at Citi
- By: James Freeman, Vern McKinley
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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To save the economy and keep Citi afloat in 2008, the government provided huge infusions of cash through multiple bailouts that frustrated and angered the American public. But, as Wall Street Journal writer James Freeman and financial expert Vern McKinley reveal, the 2008 crisis was just one of many disasters Citi has experienced since its founding more than 200 years ago. In Borrowed Time they reveal Citi’s disturbing history of instability and government support. It’s a story that neither Citi nor Washington wants told.
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Biased
- By CF on 08-09-19
By: James Freeman, and others
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The Forgotten Depression
- 1921: The Crash That Cured Itself
- By: James Grant
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1920-1921, Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding met a deep economic slump by seeming to ignore it, implementing policies that most 21st-century economists would call backward. Confronted with plunging prices, wages, and employment, the government balanced the budget and, through the Federal Reserve, raised interest rates. No "stimulus" was administered, and a powerful, job-filled recovery was under way by late 1921. Yet by 1929, the economy spiraled downward as the Hoover administration adopted the policies that Wilson and Harding had declined to put in place.
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Best thinking-sharpener I know of
- By Philo on 03-11-20
By: James Grant
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13 Bankers
- The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown
- By: Simon Johnson, James Kwak
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Even after the ruinous financial crisis of 2008, America is still beset by the depredations of an oligarchy that is now bigger, more profitable, and more resistant to regulation than ever. Anchored by six megabanks, which together control assets amounting to more than 60 percent of the country's gross domestic product, these financial institutions (now more emphatically "too big to fail") continue to hold the global economy hostage.
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Easy to Understand and Comprehend
- By Kyle on 04-11-10
By: Simon Johnson, and others
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Bought and Paid For
- The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street
- By: Charles Gasparino
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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According to business reporter Charles Gasparino, President Obama is faking his outrage at Wall Street, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big-government agenda.
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Revealing and Convincing
- By Walter on 10-24-11
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Naked Money
- A Revealing Look at What It Is and Why It Matters
- By: Charles Wheelan
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Consider the $20 bill. It has no more value, as a simple slip of paper, than Monopoly money. Yet even children recognize that tearing one into small pieces is an act of inconceivable stupidity. What makes a $20 bill actually worth $20? In the third volume of his best-selling Naked series, Charles Wheelan uses this seemingly simple question to open the door to the surprisingly colorful world of money and banking.
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This is a beautiful audiobook, and well-narrated.
- By Thirsty Mind on 11-10-18
By: Charles Wheelan
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Currency Wars
- The Making of the Next Global Crises
- By: James Rickards
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1971, President Nixon imposed national price controls and took the United States off the gold standard, an extreme measure intended to end an ongoing currency war that had destroyed faith in the U.S. dollar. Today we are engaged in a new currency war, and this time the consequences will be far worse than those that confronted Nixon. Currency wars are one of the most destructive and feared outcomes in international economics.
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don't be misled
- By peter on 04-01-12
By: James Rickards
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JFK and the Reagan Revolution
- A Secret History of American Prosperity
- By: Lawrence Kudlow, Brian Domitrovic
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Who invented supply-side economics - the idea that cutting tax rates can result in more growth, more prosperity at all income levels, and even more tax revenue flowing into the IRS? Most people would credit the economic team that advised Ronald Reagan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But in fact supply-side economics came of age two decades earlier. And the first president who embraced it was one of the biggest icons of the Democratic Party - John F. Kennedy.
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Turn the speed up to 1 1/2 to 2 times
- By B. MIDDLETON on 09-15-16
By: Lawrence Kudlow, and others
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An Extraordinary Time
- The End of the Postwar Boom and the Return of the Ordinary Economy
- By: Marc Levinson
- Narrated by: James Foster
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A sweeping reappraisal of the last sixty years of world history, An Extraordinary Time describes how the postwar economic boom dissipated, undermining faith in government, destabilizing the global financial system, and forcing us to come to terms with how tumultuous our economy really is.
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Good review of crucial turning point in history
- By Philo on 11-22-16
By: Marc Levinson
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Alan Blinder, one of the world's most influential economists and one of the field's best writers, draws on his deep firsthand experience to provide an authoritative account of sixty years of monetary and fiscal policy in the United States. Spanning twelve presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden, and eight Federal Reserve chairs, from William McChesney Martin to Jerome Powell, this is an insider's story of macroeconomic policy that hasn't been told before—one that is a pleasure to listen to, and as interesting as it is important.
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Very dense!
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What listeners say about Limitless
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-07-23
very informative
very well written! The author was able to bring a lot of ideas into one place!
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- Anonymous User
- 06-11-23
Great
Listened to the whole thing in one day. Amazing book, learned a lot but was kept engrossed (literally) the whole day. Honestly the only thing I could ask is for Jeanna to go back and add 5 hours of whatever content she felt would be fun. Because I would love to hear it. 10/10
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- Marvin Young
- 10-01-23
Worth a Listen
Excellent introductory overview of the Federal Reserve and its pivotal role in U.S. Economics.
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- Todd
- 03-20-23
A Timely Examination of the Federal Reserve
"Limitless" is a timely and insightful examination of the Federal Reserve's role in managing the economic turmoil of our times. The book delves into the history of the Fed, exploring its response to the pandemic and ongoing crises in the banking system. While the author acknowledges the effectiveness of the Federal Reserve in handling the economy with the tools at its disposal, the book raises important questions about the responsibility of our legislators.
In this day and age, it is concerning that our legislators have not done more to safeguard deposits, strengthen banking regulations, and promote faith in our financial systems. "Limitless" highlights the growing need for legislation that ensures greater protection for depositors, as many individuals and small businesses are already surpassing the $250k limit.
The book provides an excellent introduction to the Federal Reserve's role and responsibilities, encouraging readers to demand more from their legislators. By illuminating the limitations of the Fed and the crucial role of legislation, "Limitless" is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of our current financial landscape and the need for change.
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- Stephanie A.
- 06-03-24
History of 2019 through 2021 of Fed
Longtime economic news nerd learned a lot about the details of Fed internal politics and programs created by the Fed during the pandemic
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- Claylong
- 09-15-24
Complete history of the Fed response pre and post Covid 19
This book covers in detail what the Fed did (and did not do) before Covid and after. Also this book went in to detail on how the Fed arrived in its current form
With a detailed history of the Fed. Great book.
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- Richard Pastor
- 09-22-23
Filled in all the gaps
An extremely informative book, clearly and concisely written. Every sentence seemed to deliver a payload of insight.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-10-23
Liberal leaning nonsense
The book started off decently then dove into a complete woke finger pointing session
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- Anonymous User
- 03-14-24
Decent book. Hard read. Rough reader.
Title says it all. I have no doubt that Jeanna Smialek is a great reporter, but the book was tough for me. I might just be a little too dumb for this kind of book. I wish the voiceover was better too.
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