Traditional societies were defined by a prevalence of the past in the definition of the present. United States (US) society seems to show the opposite trend: the present is defined as the preparation of the future. Financial temporality can be seen as an example of the present use of the future,...

1 The Ecstatic of the Excess in Bataille, Baudrillard, and Marx -- 2 Overaccumulation and Crisis -- 3 The Hypertrophy of the Excess: Speculative Capital and Derivatives -- 4 The Transformation of the Shareholder Concept and the New Asset Managers -- 5 Financial Capital. Leverage Power and...

While central banks have gained remarkable influence over the past fifty years, promising more stability, global finance has gone from crisis to crisis. How do we explain this development? Drawing on original sources ignored in previous research, this book offers a groundbreaking account of the...