The collapse of the American financial system in 2008 has brought the weaknesses of the edifice of financial risk management, upon which the Anglo-American economic model has been premised since the 1980s, into sharper focus. It has also given rise to the larger question regarding the certainty and, thus, the viability of free-market capitalism as a universal economic system; however, while there are several erudite accounts of the collapse of the financial system and its immediate aftermath, very little space has been given to addressing the larger question. As such, Aggressive Capitalism offers a frank and honest assessment of the opportunities and challenges ahead for both the US and the wider world. This book examines the leading economic, political, and social issues not only in the context of the several rational choice theories that have come to inform behavior since the late 1960s, but also in context of the emergence of the BRIC countries, primarily China, as a challenge to entrenched Western interests.

"Explores the role of the twentieth century's aggressive capitalism in the economic crisis of 2008 and the changes necessary to overcome the collapse. Discusses the economic quagmire - the impossible trinity of mounting debt, balanced trade, and a strong dollar; free-market capitalism in terminal crisis; the 1990s - American triumphalism on steroids; the confluence of rationality, reductionism, and existentialism; the abiding tension between capitalism and equality; China on the world stage; targeted revaluation - a double-edged sword; and biting the bullet - a concluding perspective." - Journal of Economic Literature