Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights:#1 I first became interested in studying Wall Street in September 1995, when I heard about the massive downsizing of ATT employees. The stock prices of Wall Street investment banks also rose as a result.#2 The past three decades have seen a shift in the cultural code of business, which is reflected in the corporate landscape and the relationships among layoffs, corporate profits, and stock prices. In this period, which includes the so-called greatest economic boom in American history, the economy has experienced record corporate profits and a long rising stock market, while job insecurity has spiked.#3 The primary mission of American corporations is to increase their stock prices for the benefit of their true owners, the shareholders. Employees are no longer benefited when the corporation makes a profit, because they are considered outside the corporation’s central purpose.#4 The ostensible dominance of finance capital has led to a celebration of the stock market and Wall Street financial norms. But how do investment bankers make markets. And how have the severe social dislocations usually attributed to global capitalism been actualized in the form of record corporate profits and soaring stock prices.