The Wizards of Money

This series discusses the workings of the international financial system in a playful way. The title comes from “The Wizard of Oz.”

The series was recorded 2002-2003. It predicted much of what happened in 2008. It is sadly still relevant, as many of the problems were never fixed. Your hostess, Smithy, was purportedly a financial risk consultant who did this series anonymously to protect her career.

Smithy and her website, wizardsofmoney.org, have disappeared.

Part 1: How Money is Created

Most currencies are not backed by anything and are created out of thin air by private banks.

Part 2: Financial Risk Transfer

How taxpayers have been set up as the guarantors of last resort for speculation and risky loans.

Part 3: Banking on poverty

Monetary policy not only ignores the poor, it silently promotes their exploitation.

Part 4: Wizards and warlords

Financiers need war and generals need financing.

Part 5: Monetary terrorism

How financiers and speculators move money to influence political decisions.

Part 6: Democratizing money

How capital markets undermine democracy, and the use of alternative currencies

Part 7: Money Cycle – Water Cycle

How the financial system interferes with the functioning of the environment

Part 8: Trading Nature and “Cooking the Books”

How creative accounting makes the financial system more profitable, but less stable

Part 9: Jack and the Sweatshop

GE’s CEO, Jack Welch, and his influence on corporate culture

Part 10: Back to the Twenties Through the Looking Glass – Steagall

Comparing the pre-crash eras of late 1920s and the early 2000s.

Part 11: House Lever-Edge at the Derivatives Casino

The world of financial derivatives and leverage

Part 12: The Imperial Budget and the Mythical Lock Box

The biggest budget in the history of mankind: the US government

Part 13: Bankruptcy Bill’s Shoot-Out at the Social Safety Net

How the credit system pushes users toward bankruptcy, then makes it unavailable.

Part 14: The Trade Federation and the InterGalactic Banking Clan

A “Free Trade” agreement, GATS

Part 15: Homeland Securitizations and Overseas Vacations

Financial securitization and regulatory relief in off-shore havens

Part 16: There’s a Generic in my Shark Fin Soup!

The only industry more profitable than the commercial banking sector: pharmaceuticals.

Part 17: Caught Between and Dock and a Sweatshop

The ‘Spartacus problem’ and modern labor practices

Part 18: Where Wall Street Crosses Auburn Avenue

Predatory lending in minority neighborhoods

Part 19: The Education Sweepstakes

The funding of public education through state-sponsored gambling

Part 20: The Battle of the Dragons – Oil vs Insurance

The oil industry denies anthropogenic climate change. The insurance industry must pay for climate-related disasters, and have therefore become unlikely allies to the environmental movement.

Part 21: Playing Russian Roulette in The Carbon Markets

Overseas global carbon markets