Today, many Americans regard globalization as a significant threat to our work force, and to our very way of life. As unemployment soars, the automotive and manufacturing industries crumble, countless jobs continue to ship overseas, and the retail sector faces the worst slump in decades, cries of "Buy American" have grown louder and louder. But at a time when an Italian company has bailed out one of our most iconic automakers; a French-German consortium...

Presents an analysis of the economic crisis of 2009, citing such factors as expanded home ownership and risky derivative elections in the face of increasing shareholder demands and discussing the role of responsible parties in the government, financial, and private sectors.

Today's economic crisis is the worst since the Great Depression. However, as David Korten shows, the steps being taken to address it do nothing to deal with the reality of a failed economic system. Korten identifies the deeper sources: Wall Street institutions that have perfected the art of creating "wealth" without producing anything of real value: phantom wealth. Our hope lies not with Wall Street, Korten argues, but with Main Street, which creates...