On February 6, 1989, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board contacted Mid America Institute to inquire whether it would undertake an independent, academically oriented analysis of the insolvency resolution crisis in the thrift industry. The Senate Banking Committee, during the course of hearings on the thrift crisis, had suggested to the Bank Board tile desirability of an independent assessment of Bank: Board and FSLIC resolution methodology, specifically as it related to the controversy surrounding the December deals, the Southwest Plan, and the possibility that tax considerations were driving certain deals. The Bank Board had already initiated studies from industry-oriented perspectives. Therefore, it felt that an academic perspective would provide both a valuable addition to the process, and by the nature of academia, perhaps the best prospect of a credible and independent viewpoint. The Bank Board was prepared to give an appropriately structured Task Force virtually unlimited access to all personnel, documents and resources that the Task Force felt necessary to come to an uncompromising assessment. The only significant constraint imposed was that a report had to be available prior to the start of the next round of Senate Banking Committee hearings on March 1, 1989. The Task Force would be given complete discretion as to the scope and coverage of the report, but it was requested that the topic of the December deals, particularly the associated tax considerations, be a significant part of the report.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.

Ashdown analyzes some of the mainstream theories that policy makers and global leaders use as templates in understanding the international system and measures their effectiveness in explaining the policies of nation-states, particularly in regard to trade and power. Throughout, the United States is used as a case study to see how banking and central bank monetary policies affect international trade and investment. The study examines the banking history of the United States and how the corporate consolidation process was institutionalized with the creation of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. Ashdown concludes that current policies fail to support the national interest by creating policy that allows or ignores sustained trade deficits over consecutive years. He demonstrates how institutions can affect, or even constrain, the policies of nation-states, which is then theoretically generalized in demonstrating how other global actors are shaping the post-bipolar international power structure. Of particular interest to scholars, students, and policy makers involved with economic policy, finance, and international business.