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For a straight-talking, sad, and sometimes laugh-out-loud explanation of how America has evolved from a rugged independent nation to a soft Bailout Nation – where financial firms are allowed to self-regulate in good times, but are bailed out by taxpayers in bad times, we recommend Barry Ritholtz’s new book.

Ritholtz has a street-level understanding of the flow of money and no respect for size of a financial institution or titles, including “Mr. President”. He was already chronicling events in real time, on his hugely popular blog, The Big Picture, when he was putting the final touches on his manuscript, but smelling something in the air, he asked his publishers to hold off for a few weeks. Suddenly, the meltdown began. With the collapse of so many financial giants along with GM and GE, new chapters were needed.

He finished by December, but then the publisher objected to some of his conclusions – and vocabulary – so Ritholtz bought back his publishing rights. While negotiating with John Wiley & Sons, even larger events took place. They confirmed his conclusions that the government had become an “adhocracy” with no clear direction.

Here is his own description of his final version, now called Bailout Nation: How Greed And Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street And Shook The World Economy.

“By this time, the amount of bailout money going to mismanaged companies, reckless speculators, and incompetent corporate executives had skyrocketed to 14 trillion dollars. This was infuriating to anyone paying attention. . . The more I researched and wrote, the more it was apparent we were witnessing the greatest heist ever made. By the last section of the book, history’s biggest transfer of wealth — from the taxpayer to the Banksters — was taking place. Trillions were being shifted from the responsible to the reckless, from the prudent to the incompetent. It was infuriating . . . my initial academic tone gets replaced with greater snark and anger. . . I not only had my ending, I had a new cause — exposing those who caused this mess, be they Democrat or Republican, Corporate CEO or derivatives trader.”