Today's financial system is considerably more complex than in years past, as new financial instruments have been introduced that are not well understood even by the people and institutions that invest in them. Numerous high-risk opportunities are available, and the number of people who unwittingly wander into such ventures seems to grow daily. There is also the realization that people's lives are affected by the financial system without their overt participation in it. Despite no active participation, pensions can be emasculated by a sudden decline in interest rates, or a rise in rates can...

This book thoroughly explores the American banking system from the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 to deposit insurance and other provisions of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, to the Bretton Woods agreements, through years of innovation to the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010.