The Shadow Market, by Eric Weiner

A thought-provoking description of how financial markets and politics are heavily influenced by the multi-trillion-dollar networks of largely unregulated investment vehicles controlled by foreign funds, corporations, private equity funds and hedge funds. These wealth sources are buying up large portions of the world's resources, from companies to agriculture, to secure monopolies and manipulate markets. Books like these show how complex and interconnected our economy is, and how easy it is for pundits and politicians to distort the discussion from the real issues. 266 p.