Mark Mullen did an excellent job explaining the Federal Reserve system and the recent mortgage lending fiasco and much more in a very clear, concise, easy to understand manner. Mr. Mullen contends that the super rich financial institutes are responsible for depressions and recession for their own gains while the shrinking middle class ends up the losers. Politicians are bought to insure their interests are front and center with an outcome favorable to their interests. In the end he suggests changing politicians more often will help to keep our leaders from being beholden to these powers. This was a fast, interesting and educational read and I would definitely recommend it to all.

The author has posed an enticing question (which has been asked many times before), but does he deliver?

The short answer: No. The entire book consists of unsubstantiated claims with no tangible proof to back up the authors theories. Mark Mullen will rely on some so-called facts and then make highly speculative leaps of logic that defy reason.

I am an attorney in South Africa who specialises in litigating against big banks and special purpose vehicles, so I am not a neophyte when it comes to the mechanisations of corporations.

This book is full of claims of secret meetings and schemes by certain individuals and groups to cause recessions and destroy farmers and later the the middle class. However, there is no reason given why these groups would purposefully destroy the American economy. As far as I am concerned, the 0.1% richest also suffer huge losses in an ailing economy and massive devaluations in capital, shares and land.

Most significantly, peruse the sources and references that the author relied upon at the end of the book. Extremely scant and with a few exceptions, highly speculative in themselves.

Mark Mullen's book is simply a purveyor of conspiracies without a cogent argument in sight.