There was a tv series called the Ascent of Money with Niall Ferguson which featured the U.S. banking deregulation in one episode, and the tape of the senate hearing around the turn of the century was quite interesting. They realised that deregulating was trusting the bankers to do the right thing or the whole system could implode, and the bankers basically just laughed and said of course you can trust us...

The House of Rothschild and their role in the history of Europe and America is very interesting. I recommend this book, if anyone wants to learn more: "The house of Rothschild: the world's banker, 1849-1999" by Niall Ferguson.

Just recently I finished "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. I had been meaning to read that for years, but never got around to it. Highly recommended. I started on "The house of Rothschild" by British historian Niall Ferguson some weeks ago, but have been too busy to finish it.

For the record, any book by John Steinbeck comes highly recommended by me.