Inflated
Money, Debt and the American Dream
2. Edition May 2025
432 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Discover where America's monetary system is heading--and how it will impact you--in the years to come
In the newly revised second edition of Inflated: How Money & Debt Built the American Dream, veteran investment banker, author, and Chairman of Whalen Global Advisors LLC delivers the latest installment of his concise history of the United States' monetary system, putting contemporary financial phenomena like inflation and high housing costs into context. You'll learn to understand how issues like the public debt and the rise of cryptocurrencies can be understood through the lens of how the United States government exploits debt and the monetary system to fund its operations.
The author explains:
* How contemporary concepts like Modern Monetary Theory fit into and influence the American economy
* How and why the United States' debt has tripled in the last fifteen years and the necessary consequences of that increase
* The likelihood and potential impacts of another economic correction during the 2020s
An engrossing and essential read for anyone interested in the economic and monetary realities driving our markets, politics, and societies, the second edition of Inflated is an eye-opening discussion of the drastic changes unfolding in the American economy and the even more dramatic transformations that lie just beyond the horizon.
Introduction xv
Chapter 1 Free Banking and Private Money 1
The Bank of the United States 5
State Debt Defaults 10
The Age of Andrew Jackson 14
The Panic of 1837 19
The Gold Rush 23
Chapter 2 Lincoln Funds Civil War with Inflation 27
The Lincoln Legacy 29
Financing the War 32
Salmon Chase and Jay Cooke 36
Fisk and Gould Profit by Inflation 39
The Panic of 1873 43
Gold Convertibility Restored 46
Chapter 3 Robber Barons and the Gilded Age 55
Republicans Embrace Silver and Inflation 59
The Panic of 1893 62
The Cross of Silver 64
The Turning Point: 1896 66
Chapter 4 The Rise of the Central Bank 73
The Progressive: Theodore Roosevelt 75
A Flexible Currency 79
The Crisis of 1907 83
The National Monetary Commission 86
The Federal Reserve Act 91
Chapter 5 War, Boom, and Bust 99
An Elastic Dollar 107
A Return to Normalcy 113
The Roaring Twenties 116
New Era Finance 118
The Rise of Consumer Finance 121
America Transformed 123
Prelude to the Depression 128
Stocks Fall, Tariffs Rise 131
Deflation and Crash 1929 137
Chapter 6 New Deal to Cold War 145
Broken Promises 148
Gold Seizure and Devaluation 153
Devaluation and Tariffs 158Rise of the Corporate State 160
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation 166
Central Planning Arrives in Washington 171
Federal Deposit Insurance 173
Centralization of the Fed 176
Eccles and the Corporatist Revolution 183
America Goes to War 188
Wartime Finance 193
Bretton Woods 194
Chapter 7 Debt and Inflation 199
Revenues Grow 204
The Fed Regains Independence 207
Postwar Growth 210
Cold War, Free Trade 213
The Golden Age 218
Global Imbalances Return 222
Nixon's Betrayal 226
The Dollar Peg Ends 227
Sovereign Dollar Debt 232
Chapter 8 Leveraging the American Dream 239
The New Uncertainty 243
Full Employment 249
Balanced Budgets and Inflation 254
Shock Treatment 258
The Crisis Managers 263
Latin Debt Crisis 268
Reagan Reappoints Volcker 272
The Neverending Crisis 275
Volatility Returns 278
Boom to Subprime Crisis 281
The Greenspan Legacy 284
Chapter 9 Financial Crisis and Malaise 289
Quantitative Easing 295
The Powell Pivot and COVID 305
The Fed Goes Big 311
Deficits and Central Bank Independence 319
Offshore Dollars and Taxes 325
Chapter 10 New American Dreams 333
The Growth Illusion 341
Inflation and Stagnation 345
A Flexible Currency 352
Tricentennial Dollar? 355
Endgame 358
Notes 365
Selected References 387
Acknowledgments 391
About the Author 393
Index 395
