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Tower of Basel

the Shadowy History of the Secret Bank That Runs the World
Jan 15, 2015baldand rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
This book is the result of impressive research and should be read by anyone interested in international finance. Unfortunately, the book is badly balanced. Although it covers the BIS from its founding in 1930 through 2013, about half of the book relates to the period to the end of the Second World War, covering the sinister links between the central bankers’ bank and Nazi Germany. The rest of the book seems to have been hastily tacked onto the first half and lacks its narrative drive. Mr. Lebor tries to be fair and quotes Canadian economist William White defending the BIS for warning about the Asian debt crisis in 1997 years before it happened. However, he doesn’t even mention the BIS chief economist Mr. White’s role as Cassandra of the Global Financial Crisis, well described in the der Spiegel article, “The Man Nobody Wanted to Hear: Global Banking Economist Warned of Coming Crisis”. Mr. Lebor, conceding that the BIS has long had an excellent research department, still maintains that there Is no need for it. The same work could be done somewhere else. One has to be skeptical about this. Different research departments have different ways of looking at things and, as Mr. White said, the BIS has always emphasized the risks of excessive lending more than its counterparts. If it were abolished, would its voice move elsewhere or simply be silenced?