A Capitalist’s Lament: How Wall Street Is Fleecing You and Ruining America

Show #149 | Guest: Leland Faust is the founder of CSI Capital Management where he served as chief investment officer from 1978 through 2011 and managed over $1.5 billion. Since 1978 he has represented over one hundred NFL, NBA and MLB all stars. Barron’s has named him four times to its annual list of top 100 independent investment advisors in the country. He has also been named to the Sporting News’ list of the 100 most powerful people in sports, one of only two investment advisors ever to be included in that roster. He is a tri-athlete, in demand public speaker and author.He an honors graduate from UC Berkeley (economics) and Harvard Law School. | Show Summary: Leland Faust unmasks Wall Street’s unsavory tactics in powerful detail by giving readers a high-level view of how the financial services industry misleads them, overcharges them, and exposes them to needless risk. He documents the financial industry’s alluring come-ons, airbrushed risks, high-stakes gambling, half-truths, misleading statements, outlandish predictions, tricks to overcharge customers, bad deals, and outright fraud by the most prominent and renowned of Wall Street’s players. A Capitalist’s Lament is about what happens when financial firms and their employees forget whose interest they are supposed to protect. It shows how making foolish or wrong predictions is of no consequence to those who make them and how Wall Street luminaries with poor track records still garner celebrity status. Most of all, it spotlights how Wall Street manipulates the system and furthers its own interests at its customers’ expense and puts us all at great risk. Here is what you need to know to protect yourself from “business as usual” and get ahead—instead of getting taken.