金融操作如同黑洞般吞蝕著美國企業！
「大到不能倒」的金融巨獸威脅著所有人的生活，
金融化正一步步危及美國夢的未來！

二○○八年美國的次貸危機導致雷曼兄弟倒閉，造成世界金融海嘯，台灣也在不少人和企業在當中受創甚深。很多人也許都知道，金融海嘯造成台灣許多企業巨大損失、股票崩盤，但很少人知道，這場全球性的經濟災難已經滲透到所有的各行各業，並把我們帶向另一個災難性崩盤之路。

《時代》雜誌助理主編與經濟專欄作家拉娜‧福洛荷(Rana Foroohar)根據長期對金融市場的觀察，在和華爾街與華府最高層人士進行深度訪談與現場採訪後，撰寫了《大掠奪:華爾街的擴張和美國企業的沒落》這本書，探討「美國的金融化」現象及影響，她在書中直指金融業以及金融業的思考方式如何凌駕一切產業的趨勢，讓華爾街繼續支配著各行各業，拉大貧富差距，其不僅威脅著美國夢的未來，也威脅著世界經濟的未來。

《大掠奪:華爾街的擴張和美國企業的沒落》一書深入探討美國企業轉向偏好財務操作而不再是著力於實體生產製造；而當企業不再重視創新、生產，反造就出財務管理人領導生產製造的現象。企業不再追求實質獲利與員工分享利潤，而是以股票市場價格和股東獲利掛帥；企業不再創造就業機會與背後所帶來的社會力量，而是不斷想著如何縮減成本、創造短期巨額收益。種種作為縮減了員工就業機會、剝奪職場創造力，如何解決產品和員工問題已經不再重要，重心轉為可以快速整合拆解出售的空殼公司。過度金融操作導致了像是通用汽車產生「沒有人擁有任何決定權」這類的的不負責任文化；再進一步，則造成生產出點火開關可能會熄滅、然後鎖住輪胎，並讓安全氣囊失效的汽車，導致一百二十四個人死亡、數百人受傷的重大傷亡事件。

透過各種生動觀察與深度分析，拉娜‧福洛荷指出複雜的金融市場其實如黑洞般的空無一物，但它吸取了各種以手續費為名的高額報酬，而華爾街創造了一個世代的高階經理人與富裕的繁華表象，但現在它卻已經成為「大到不能倒」的存在，威脅著所有人的基礎生活：當中有你我在銀行裡的存款、證券市場裡的投資、浮動利率的房貸信貸車貸，甚至是工作與公司。但這不是任何人的錯，錯在制度讓華爾街上的經理人和非洲正在收割的農民一樣走投無路。作者在書中不只劃破粉紅氣泡，更透過書中內容向所有人指出如何把制度改革成更永續、讓更多人分享經濟成果的未來方針。


Is Wall Street bad for Main Street America?

In looking at the forces that brought our current administration to power one thing is clear: much of the population believes that our economic system is rigged to enrich the privileged elites at the expense of hard-working Americans. This is a belief held equally on both sides of political spectrum, and it seems only to be gaining momentum.
 
A key reason, says Financial Times columnist Rana Foroohar, is the fact that Wall Street is no longer supporting Main Street businesses that create the jobs for the middle and working class. She draws on in-depth reporting and interviews at the highest rungs of business and government to show how the “financialization of America”—the phenomenon by which finance and its way of thinking have come to dominate every corner of business—is threatening the American Dream.
 
Now updated with new material explaining how our corrupted financial sys­tem propelled Donald Trump to power, Makers and Takers explores the confluence of forces that has led American businesses to favor balance-sheet engineering over the actual kind, greed over growth, and short-term profits over putting people to work. From the cozy relationship between Wall Street and Washington, to a tax code designed to benefit wealthy individuals and corporations, to forty years of bad policy decisions, she shows why so many Americans have lost trust in the sys­tem, and why it matters urgently to us all.
 
Through colorful stories of both “Takers,” those stifling job creation while lining their own pockets, and “Makers,” businesses serving the real economy, Foroohar shows how we can reverse these trends for a better path forward.