'An almost indecently pleasurable read' The Times In this vigorous polemic John Kenneth Galbraith, a lifelong critic of unbridled corporate power, distils years of expertise to deliver a scathing attack on the modern financial system. Sounding the alarm on the gap between 'conventional wisdom' - a phrase he coined - and reality, Galbraith warns that the private sector and the public realm are becoming increasingly intertwined. He shows how politics and the media have colluded in the myth of a benign market system, accepting obscene pay gaps and unrestrained self-enrichment – ultimately meaning that we have come to condone legal, legitimate, 'innocent' fraud. First published in 2004, this extraordinarily prescient analysis of capitalism now has even greater power and relevance for our times. 'I agree with Galbraith. The bonus culture is skim, bribery, corporate theft' Simon Jenkins, Guardian 'The most stylish writer on economics of the past half-century ... it will please those who appreciate Galbraith's dry wit and laconic iconoclasm' Financial Times 'America's great liberal economist, the intellectual heir to John Maynard Keynes' Economist